Writing a good speech is primarily about understanding your audience and being able to organize your ideas and message into a clear and accessible style. The structure and tone of the speech depends on the occasion and the purpose ~ is it a best man speech, an educational report, a business presentation? In the first case, you can adopt an informal, jokey tone, including anecdotes about the groom, with room for improvisation on the day. Writing it therefore becomes more about loosely ordering your ideas and clarifying anecdotes. For more formal speeches, you will need to pay attention to structure and vocabulary. A good speech, like a good piece of writing, requires a clear beginning, middle and end. At the opening of the speech, you should introduce your main points and explain how you are going to develop them. This might be aided with a Powerpoint or written accompaniment. The middle part of the speech should concern itself with going into detail on key points and linking them together to form a coherent argument. The end or conclusion of the speech should then summarize your conclusions, reiterate or rephrase any arguments you make and leave room open for questions.
