How to Write a Motivational Speech

Before dealing with how to write motivational speeches, let’s try to define what motivation is. “Willingness to do something, or something that causes such willingness” — this is how Cambridge Dictionary defines motivation. Being the cherished thing we need to be successful and proceed in our lives, motivation isn’t something you can get in the blink of an eye. It’s a powerful force you can receive only if you’re truly desperate about something. And, as a part of the definition suggests, “something that causes such willingness,” there are quite effective tools for conceiving this force and boosting it.

A motivational speech is an inspirational address aimed to encourage the audience, boost their confidence, and enhance their belief in themselves. People who deliver motivational speeches should possess a vast streak of assertiveness and determination, much as the speech itself. This type of speech is always expected to be teeming with optimism, high spirits, and hope.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how to write a great motivational speech!

Steps to Writing a Successful Motivational Address

1. Let’s begin with the audience. Yes, in order to write a compelling motivational speech, you primarily need to have a solid grasp on the audience you are to deliver it to. Why? The answer is simple: knowing your audience can help you address their struggles in your speech as well as provide the listeners with solutions, which is the touchstone of a successful motivational speech.

Find out everything about age, gender, nationality, as well as the cultural identities of your listeners. You can also do some research on their political, social, and other backgrounds. You should hinge the theme of your speech on these factors, shaping it into an audience-friendly address.

2. Now, focus on the topic of your speech. Determine it before you start writing. The topic is what you dedicate your speech to, what you build it around. This may be self-development, goal-setting, decision-making, etc. It’s only that the topic should be relevant to the motivation theme. Then, develop your writing according to your topic. It’s important to note that the topic should be up to date. There’s no need to center your speech around some outdated problem no one cares about these days.

3. Research the topic. Delve deep into the topic you’ve chosen. Look for some fascinating stories related to it; find some useful tips on how to self-develop, or how to set goals and then fulfill them.

4. It’s time to think about the structure. Making your speech structured will give it coherence and consistence. Plan your address thoroughly, and structure it into a beginning, a middle, and an end. Think in advance of what you’d like to include in the speech and where you want to put it in the text.

Tips for How to Write a Motivational Speech

• Be emotional. Don’t be embarrassed to fill your speech with emotions, as this will make it sound more natural and help the audience relate to it. Be brave enough to use phrases like “Oh, come on,” “And guess what,” “My sweet 16,” etc. Don’t be afraid to express yourself (unless it’s irrelevant to the topic.)
• Give it a purpose. Have one major purpose of your speech, which will underpin the theme of your address and serve as the main concept of it. Rambling through various points without sticking to the most important one will merely make your speech garish. So, everything you cover in your speech has to come down to one utmost point.
• Steer clear of common cliches. Try to avoid things that are tastelessly typical for such speeches. It may be some overused phrases like “Peace of mind,” “May God be with you,” or rather questionable stereotypical dogmas like “Dedicate your life to your kids.” Make you speech unique and fresh; break through the fear of conveying your opinion and be comfortable with asserting the things you know to be true. Eschewing cliches in your writing is one of the fundamentals of how to write a motivational speech for high school students.
• Be sincere. There’s no point of making a motivational speech if you don’t care whether or not it will actually motivate the audience. Your speech can impress the audience only on the condition that you intend it to, and providing that you really mean what you say.
• Keep it short. It’s always recommended to make it short when writing anything, probably except for fiction. The same applies here. Keeping your writing concise and complete at the same time will prevent your speech from being gaudy and even tedious. This is especially helpful when you don’t know how to write a motivational speech outline – this is where the rule “the shorter, the better” is the most applicable one.
• Include a call to action. One of the foremost principles of a motivational speech is persuading the audience to take action about something. Urge the audience to change their lives if they want to, make them the way they’ve been dreaming of, or inspire them to do something about whatever they wish to be in a different way.

Motivational Speech Example Analysis

We made an analysis of a motivational speech for your better understanding of how to create one yourself. Just take a look at the picture below:

Finale

We bet you are now wondering if someone like Dale Carnegie, one of the most outstanding speakers of the 20th century, ever googled something like “How to write motivational speeches?” Or maybe his inborn genius just spared him from doing research into the subtleties of speech writing. Or, he may simply have had a ghostwriter as a last resort. The thing is, to write a prominent motivational speech that will rock someone’s world, you don’t have to be a mastermind of rhetoric. All you need is diligence and…yeah, motivation!