Speech Writing
Speech Writing
Overview
A speech is built to be heard, not read. The writer’s job is to construct sentences that survive the air between the speaker’s mouth and the audience’s ear — sentences that can be re-listened-to in real time only by the listener’s short-term memory.
Core Concepts
1. The talk arc (Duarte / Gallo synthesis)
Every well-formed speech has the same five-beat skeleton:
- Hook — a sentence, image, statistic, or question that earns the next 30 seconds.
- Frame — what this talk is about and why the audience should care. One sentence.
- Three acts — the body. The rule of three is not aesthetic; it is cognitive. Three things stay with the audience, five don’t.
- Turn — the moment where the talk pivots from explanation to implication.
- Call to action — what the audience should do, feel, or remember.
2. The 18-minute rule
Carmine Gallo’s distillation of TED’s curation rule: 18 minutes is the ceiling for a focused, memorable single-speaker talk. For longer slots, structure as multiple sub-talks with clear act breaks.
3. The rule of three
Three is the smallest number that creates a pattern. Use it for:
- Top-level structure (three acts, three stories, three asks)
- Sentence-level lists (“government of the people, by the people, for the people”)
- Repeated refrains (Jobs: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” — repeated three times)
4. Applause-line placement and craft
| Shape | Example pattern |
|---|---|
| Contrast pair | “They told us X. We chose Y.” |
| Triple build | “Not A. Not B. C.” |
| Reversal | “We didn’t change the rules. We changed the game.” |
| Naming the moment | “And that — that is why we are here tonight.” |
Place applause lines at act transitions and the CTA. Never two in a row.
5. Speech reads differently than essay
| Written | Spoken |
|---|---|
| Long, subordinated sentences | Short, declarative sentences |
| Nested clauses | One idea per sentence |
| Visual punctuation (em-dash, semicolon) | Audible punctuation (pause, breath) |
| Reader sets pace | Speaker sets pace |
| Re-reading allowed | Live-only, no rewind |
Read every draft aloud. If you run out of breath, the sentence is too long.
6. Stage-direction annotation craft
Stage directions are inline notes to the speaker about delivery. They live in the delivery script, not the published transcript.
[pause]— short pause, one breath[long pause]— full silence, 2–4 seconds[lower voice]— drop volume to draw the audience in[slow]— drop pace to weight the line[wait for laughter]— explicitly note that the speaker should hold
Place directions on their own line above the line they modify, in brackets.
7. Trust the audience
Amateur speeches over-explain. Professional speeches withhold, then resolve.
- Tell a story before naming its lesson; let the room reach the conclusion one beat ahead.
- Use specific detail, not abstraction. “A blue notebook on the kitchen table” beats “a personal object.”
- Cut your second-best example. Two strong points land harder than three uneven ones.
- Don’t apologize for the topic, the time slot, or the room.
8. Ghostwriting ethics
- Capture their voice. Listen to 30+ minutes of their existing speech before drafting.
- Their stories, not yours. Use anecdotes from their life.
- No misattributed lived experience. Never invent a personal anecdote they did not actually experience.
- They get final cut. The speaker must be able to change anything.
9. Type-specific conventions
| Type | Length | Tone | Open | Close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keynote | 18–45 min | Authoritative | Story or stat hook | Call to action |
| All-hands | 8–12 min | Direct, warm | Headline / why we’re here | What’s next + Q&A |
| Conference talk | 18–25 min | Expert, specific | Concrete example | One thing to take home |
| Panel intro | 60–90 sec | Brisk, generous | Premise of the panel | Name + 1-line bio each |
| Toast | 60–180 sec | Warm, specific | Concrete moment | Raised glass + 1 line |
| Eulogy | 5–8 min | Loving, honest | Specific memory | Carry them forward |
Keynote skeleton (18-minute)
[HOOK (0:00 – 1:00)]
[step to center stage]
[look up, scan audience for 2 beats]
Twelve years ago, I was sitting in a parking lot at 2 a.m.,
trying to figure out how to fire myself.
[pause]
[FRAME (1:00 – 2:00)]
Tonight I want to share three ideas: [A], [B], and [C].
[ACT 1 — [A] (2:00 – 6:30)]
Story → claim → evidence → micro-CTA
[ACT 2 — [B] (6:30 – 11:00)]
[ACT 3 — [C] (11:00 – 15:00)]
[TURN (15:00 – 16:00)]
[step toward audience]
[lower voice]
Here is what these three things have in common.
[CALL TO ACTION (16:00 – 18:00)]
[slow]
So when you leave this room tonight, do one thing:
[the directive, in one short imperative sentence].
[pause]
Thank you.Anti-Patterns
- The written-essay-read-aloud. Long sentences, semicolons, nested clauses.
- The five-point list. Audiences forget points four and five.
- The apology open. “I’m not really a speaker…”
- The unmotivated joke. Humor that doesn’t serve the arc.
- The buried CTA. Telling the audience what to do in the third-to-last sentence.
- Stage directions in the published transcript.
References
- Nancy Duarte, Resonate (Wiley, 2010).
- Carmine Gallo, Talk Like TED (St. Martin’s Press, 2014).
- Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, June 12, 2005.
- Sam Leith, Words Like Loaded Pistols (Basic Books, 2012).