Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy…
Everyone knows these names today. And while most people remember them for their political, cultural, and other inputs to humankind's heritage, public speakers appreciate these people as deliverers of some of the most powerful speeches that have shaped history.
Public speaking specialists have been studying and admiring these speeches for years, aiming to extract a set of actionable writing techniques from them to use in their own public talks.
And here comes the challenge:
There are no official parameters defining a successful speech. Some are rich with storytelling and fascinating language patterns, while others are brief and to the point. The filigree combination of arguments, images and ideas is pivotal to mastery: It ensures the undeniable impact the speech will have on the audience.
In this post, we've gathered the seven secrets of powerful speeches based on the public performances of famous historical figures. Feel free to use it for inspiration or as a practical toolkit to use in speechwriting for engaging and motivating your audience.
A must-have for a successful speech to be engaging and memorable, power words are emotional lexical items packed with persuasion. They are active (verbs) and descriptive to trigger an emotional response from the audience. This response can be either positive (encouragement, safety, curiosity) or negative (fear, anger, greed).
When listening to a speech filled with active and descriptive words, the audience feels encouraged to take action.
Given the effect power words have, no wonder they are the instrument of all men of pen: fiction writers, sales copywriters, freelance writers, and marketers use them to spice up their content and evoke the desired reaction from the target audience.
Here's how Margaret Thatcher juggled with power words in her speech, The Lady's Not For Turning:
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