There is a lot of work and preparation that goes into writing a speech. If you’re writing a speech about yourself, you need to consider a variety of factors, including your audience, the purpose of the speech, and how long your speech should be. With a good amount of preparation, planning, and editing, you can craft a speech that introduces yourself effectively and entertainingly.

Steps Edit

Part One of Three:
Prewriting Your Speech Edit

Clarify the purpose of your speech. Is the purpose to explain why you’ve joined a class about metal working? Is the purpose to introduce your place and history with your company to a work seminar? Before you write a single thing down, you should have a clear idea about what this speech is meant to accomplish. Write down the purpose of your speech at the top of the page. [1]

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Brainstorm on what important things to include. If the speech is a general introduction of yourself, include things like where you’re from, how you ended up here in this group, what your passions and interests are, and what you hope to get out of this event or group. If this is a work-related speech, it would be wise to include things like your own qualifications and important skills, things that bolster your credibility and reason for being there. Ultimately it’s up to you to decide what topics and ideas should make up your speech. [2]

• One method for brainstorming is to create a mind map. You can do this with a paper and pencil, starting by writing your central idea or theme in the middle of the page. Then use lines to connect ideas and points that branch off from this central idea. For a speech about yourself, you might start with a central bubble labeled “Me”. Then you might have three or four bubbles connected to the central one that say things like “Interests”, “Aspirations”, etcetera. Then as you continue branching out the bubbles will get more specific. [3]
• There are other methods for brainstorming you might find useful. You could try the alphabet method, where you list a few things related to the subject of your speech for each letter, starting with A and working down. [4]
• Another brainstorming method is the three perspectives method. You think about the subject of the speech in three perspectives. First, describe the subject, which is yourself in this case. Then, trace it. Trace your history, where you came from and where you’ve come to, and how you’ve changed over that journey. Finally, map it. Think about who and what has influenced you and how. How do you fit into the bigger picture. [5]

Tailor your content to your audience and purpose. First, determine who your audience is. It could be work colleagues, classmates, a hobby group, etcetera. Think about how big the audience will be, what the age range will be like, and why the audience has gathered. Then, think about what your audience is interested in. What is it about you that you think people would want to know? What kind of information are they expecting? Ask yourself these questions and then decide how the answers will inform the content of your speech. [6]

• It’s worth thinking about various aspects of the audience, because this will determine various aspects of your speech, such as its length, its tone, etcetera.
• For example, if your audience is a wedding reception, and this is a best man speech, your audience will be most interested in your relationship with the groom and your history with him. You also don’t want a speech like this to drag on because the best man isn’t the focal point of the event.