Knowing your Audience and your Subject

Speechwriting is fascinating. It challenges a speaker to convey a message to an audience. That message may express his or her deepest beliefs. It may simply seek to amuse. It might, on the other hand, try to persuade the audience to take a certain course of action. Speechwriting is about the art of putting your thoughts and feelings into words.

Speakers, should, of course, know their audience. If they are speaking to a specialist group such as engineers or teachers they can use expressions that will mean something to that particular audience. They should speak about the interests and concerns of that audience. If, however, the audience is a general one speechwriters should try to speak about something that is relevant to everyone such as sleep or shopping. After all we all sleep and we all shop.

A speechwriter must ask himself why he is speaking. He might have a vested interest in a particular subject. He might, for instance be a landowner explaining a public meeting why he does not want the public to have a right of way across his land. Obviously he would need to explain the consequences for him if someone had an injury on the land in question. He would need to explain that he couldn't afford the extra insurance he might have to pay or that the public might damage his crops pr children chase his animals. In other words he would need to have his arguments ready. Good speechwriting will sell your particular message whatever it may be.

A local councillor at a residents' meeting might be trying to sell the idea of opening a residential home for young offenders in a rich suburb. He would probably have to assure the neighbours that the value of their property would not be affected. He would also have to assure them about safety aspects of the new proposal. He might also like to point out that, hopefully, this home would mean less anti social behaviour by the teenagers in future. He might challenge the audience to include the offenders in their comfortable lifestyle by becoming involved in some way. Speechwriters have to touch hearts.

Whatever t he topic speechwriting challenges a writer to get his or her message across in a concise and interesting way. If he can add a touch of humour so much the better. Speechwriting is dependent on the writer knowing his or her facts and figures and writing them in an entertaining fashion. Then all the speaker has to do is to captivate his audience with a speech that is ideally suited just to them and the occasion.