Social Speeches
In a hurry? Here’s a (79 word) summary:
Helping you:
- Write your speech from scratch
- Edit a draft you’re not happy with
- Deliver your speech with confidence
Through:
- One-to-one help
- Either face-to-face or over the phone / email
- Without a penny to pay until you have a first draft (and you like it!)
My aim:
For you to call me after giving your speech because a number of people told you it was the best that they had ever heard.
Prices range from £100 – £600 + VAT
The Detail
You are probably browsing through this site because something is bugging you. Perhaps you don’t have the time to create a speech appropriate to the occasion. Or you don’t really know where to start. Or you are much more worried about delivering the speech, and want some help to overcome that fear.
Experience suggests that you are probably thinking about how best to write and deliver one of the following:
- A wedding speech as:
- Best Man
- Groom
- Father of the Bride - A eulogy
- An anniversary speech
- A birthday speech
- The speech at a christening
- A masonic speech
- An after dinner speech at a club or society (golf club, cricket club etc)
Whether or not you fall into one of these groups, I’d be delighted to help you.
From my perspective, it doesn’t matter who or what your subject is because you will know much more about them than me. Where I hope to help you is by drawing out relevant information and helping you decide what will and won’t work in a speech, how to pull it together, and, more often than not, how to weave in some humour.
I write speeches in a way that makes them very simple to deliver. And so instead of writing long sentences like this one, a good speech will be set out more like this:
With short sentences …
… linked by dots …
… so you can pause in the right places …
… and emphasise the key words …
… ensuring that you can look up between sound-bites …
… and engage with your audience.
A great social speech tends to be easy to follow, and doesn’t have any awkward pauses, long stories, or punch lines that could fall flat. It should link seamlessly and weave in the appropriate levels of sincerity and lighter content for your audience.
My blog will feature a number of tricks and tips to do this for yourself, but I would, of course, be more than delighted to do it for you.
How I help
People tend to approach me from one of these angles:
1. I’ve written a speech. Could you edit it for me?
2. I’ve written a speech. Could you train me to give it?
3. I’ve a few ideas but I’d really like you to help write the speech for me.
4. I really haven’t got a clue. Could you take me through it all step-by-step?
The majority sit in group ‘3′.
They want a bespoke speech full of original content, in a style they are comfortable delivering, and with absolutely no recycled jokes or stories from the internet or speech books.
Process
I’ll send you a questionnaire outlining the key information required in the speech. It’ll ask for information about you, your subject and the event. There’s no need for you to fill it in, but it will help you gather the relevant information we’ll need to start planning and writing your speech.
If it’s convenient we can then meet up and run through it. That has the benefit of allowing me to get to know you and the way you speak. It’s also possible to do the whole thing electronically or over the phone and I’ve had clients based overseas (or in a great rush) who I’m yet to meet.
Having received the information, I’ll book in a day or so to write it. If your subject requires research at my end then this extra time will be factored in. I’ll also be able to confirm the price at that stage – although you won’t be charged unless you like what I’ve written for you.
We’ll agree a date for me to email you a first draft. You then get a chance to read it quietly and to decide what you’d like me to edit.
What happens next is up to you. Some clients take away draft one and use it in its entirety. Other want a few sections amended. Other want to meet and practice it in front of me. I’ll leave that to you.
I can guarantee you that every client I have worked with has been overwhelmingly positive about their speech.
Booklets for sale
I have written a booklet to help the Best Man prepare for, write and deliver his speech. Please click here for more information.
