A great motivational speech isn’t just about powerful rhetoric – it’s also about timing, structuring and exemplifying the unique voice of your brand. After all, the last thing your customers want is to be stuck through a boring and longwinded speed that doesn’t lead anywhere. In many cases, less is more when it comes to motivating your audience and leaving them with something to think about.
Planning and Structuring
A motivational speech should be engaging and, ideally, conversational in tone. Since you’re effectively telling a story, it’s also a good idea to tell your audience at the beginning what you intend to talk about and, even more importantly, how it concerns them. You’ll need to structure your speech carefully by dividing it into multiple sections if necessary, each with a quick and easy-to-follow introduction of their own. However, it’s also wise to stick to a single main point, since you don’t want to risk losing your audience to confusion.
Connect with Your Audience
Although a motivational speech will likely involve you doing all of the talking, it’s a good idea to approach it as a normal conversation. Your primary goal should be to connect to your listeners in a meaningful way. As such, you will need to understand the desires and needs of your audience and craft a speech which you can deliver confidently. For a start, people tend to love stories, and by telling a story, you can help to humanize your brand and instil trust by speaking about the key inspirations and actions that make it what it is.
Practice Thoroughly
Almost no one can give a great motivational speech without careful planning and plenty of practice. While the ability to come across as confident is paramount to a successful speech, you’ll also need to adopt some creativity before honing your speech to perfection through several rewrites and modifications. You should always be wary of using the same material for multiple speeches, though it is also important not to lose the unique tone of your brand.
Leave People Wanting More
It’s far easier to bore people, particularly when they already know that you’re trying to sell something. To hold your audience’s attention right up until the end of the speech, you’ll need to keep the suspense and leave them wanting more. It can also be a great idea to leave some extra time at the end of the speech to give your audience an opportunity get involved themselves by asking some questions. After all, an inspiring motivational speech should never be a one-sided event.
