How to Organize the Body of Your Speech
Most presenters write the body of their speech first. This enables
you to get the ‘nuts and bolts’ down of what it is you want to say. The
body of your speech will take on what you said in the opening and build
on it. There are some components that you will need to include in the
main body of your speech:
* Transitions or segues. These sentences or change in what you are doing
signal to the audience that you are moving into a different section of
your speech. You need to begin the main body of your speech with a
transition from the opening. If you are talking about writing for
children your transition from opening to main body might be a simple
sentence like “I first thought I should write for children when I
realized the books I was reading to my children were rubbish”. This will
signal to the audience that you are moving in to the central part of
your speech. Transitions need to be another form of ‘attention getters’
for the audience. If you are losing the audience’s interest, your
transitions should gain their attention again. Some are funny, some
might involve audience participation (“if you turn to the second page of
the handout”) or you, the speaker, may move about the stage to your flip
chart or other visual aid. Transitions keep your audience’s attention
right where it should be – on you.
* Once you have a few segues or transitions you need to look at the main
points you wish to discuss in your speech. Write them all down then list
them from most important to least important. Whittle down the number to
approximately three. Your first point should be the most important. The
least important point next, then build back up to the most important
point. These statements will have all been outlined in your opening so
there should be no surprises here for the audience. If you said you were
going to talk about the difficulties of getting an agent and you
completely miss this point, members of your audience won't be happy. If
possible, present both sides of the picture to the audience, the
positive and negative of each statement. Use your own personal
experiences to demonstrate at least one of your points. Human interest
is important when presenting a speech. If you are using visual aids they
can help explain some points. Write two or three paragraphs on each
point, noting what visual aids may assist in the explanation.
Once you have prepared the body of your speech, you will need another
transition to move into the conclusion. Some speakers will recap the
main points. How you finish the body of your speech is up to you, just
ensure you have covered what you said you would in your opening.