Often in business an employee may be required to give a speech, especially in the case of recommendations. A manager may be required to recommend an employee for a bonus or promotion. An employee may need to recommend a course of action to a group of his superiors. Whatever the situation, there are several key steps to take to organizing and writing an excellent three-minute recommendation speech, including varied vocabulary, logical thought flow and concrete supporting details.
Instructions
1. Identify your thesis for your speech. This will be the main argument in your speech. A recommendation speech is a persuasive speech in which you need to tell the audience what you are recommending and why and to support it with facts. Include in your thesis what you are recommending and why. For example, you may be recommending your company start a recycling program because it will help the planet.
2. Outline a list of three to five key arguments that will support your thesis. These are the reasons that you believe our recommendation is sound. Using the example, arguments may include financial rebates for recycling, increased client approval and instilling in employees a sense of environmental responsibility. Remember who your audience is and think of reasons that will make sense or appeal to this crowd.
3. Collect data or evidence that supports the truth behind the claims you wrote for the example. Gather numerical evidence where applicable. Collect quotes and statements from authorities on your topic that will support your recommendation.
4. Begin writing your speech. Open with a paragraph outlining the purpose of this speech and clearly stating your thesis. Use shorter sentence lengths that are easier for the audience to follow instead of confusing longer ones.
5. Follow your opening paragraph with one paragraph for each of the arguments you outlined for your example. Open each paragraph stating the main point and follow this with evidentiary reasoning for these arguments. Create segues between paragraphs that will help your speech flow continuously.
6. Finish your speech with a closing argument that summarizes your arguments and reminds the audience of your thesis. Leave listeners with no question about what or whom you are recommending.
7. Read your speech out loud at a normal speaking pace. Time yourself as you read your speech in its entirety. Go back and edit your speech to take out unnecessary details if your speech exceeds three minutes in length. Look for examples of unnecessary information, which may include personal stories, unnecessary jokes, off-topic sentences and negative information about your subject. Keep your speech limited to under 500 words, which at a normal speaking pace will be approximately three minutes in length.
8. Practice and time yourself as you say your speech out loud, so you can verify the three-minute time limit is consistent. At three separate places in your speech, write the time it took you to talk up to that point to give yourself a reference point while giving your speech.
Tags: your speech, your thesis, that will, minutes length, normal speaking, normal speaking pace