Diary of a community organizer

How to write a good public speech

Community organizing requires speaking in public people from the community you’re trying to organize and to people outside the community who you’re trying to influence.

Winston Churchill, a renowned orator, wrote in The Scaffolding of Rhetoric that the best public speeches tend to have five elements.

Precision of diction

This, according to Churchill, is the most important element of an effective public speech: The careful and thoughtful selection of words to convey the precise meaning the speaker intends them to communicate. No more and no less. Short, homely words, he argues, are often the best choice for public speeches irrespective of how familiar the audience is with longer, more esoteric words.

Rhythm of sentences

An effective public speech starts with well-chosen words and then organizes them in sentences that establish a comforting rhythm to entrance an audience. Long, steady, and resonant sentences that resemble blank verse are the most powerful, according to Churchill.

Accumulation of argument

In its argument, an effective public speech builds slowly but deliberately in a clear direction. This methodical layering of facts helps the audience anticipate the conclusion before it is made. This way, Churchill argues, the last words of a public speech can be delivered “amid a…