Four questions to ask event organizers before writing speeches for nonprofit leaders

How do you write a speech for a nonprofit leader that really connects with audience members? How do you figure out the balance between the messages you want to deliver and those your audience wants to hear? You ask questions.

Excellent speech writing requires an understanding of your audience’s needs, motivations and hot-button issues. Because you might not have direct access to attendees or participants, a good source of this information is the event planner or organizer.

When writing a speech for a nonprofit leader, ask for just a few minutes of the event organizer’s time to explore their answers to these questions:

“Why have you invited or selected this speaker? In what ways do you hope she or he will add value to your event?”

The answer to this question helps you to understand what it is about your speaker, in particular, that the event organizer values. Is it their particular expertise, the organization they represent, or their standing in the community? Also, is there a key message or call to action that organizers are hoping attendees will take with them from this speech? Rather than guess or assume, understand the specific reasons why your nonprofit leader has been asked to speak.

“What is it about this person that you believe will resonate with your audience?”

Beyond position title, organization and credentials, is there something about your speaker in terms of personality, background or life experiences that will help the audience relate to them? The answers to this question will help you to think about and decide upon anecdotes and references to include in the speech, in order to create a personal connection.

“What do audience members want to learn from this speaker?”

What is the specific information that attendees want to learn? Are they keen to know the speaker’s expertise and perspective on a particular issue? Are they wondering about your organization’s plans to address it? Has your nonprofit been going through change or strategic planning and audience members want to know what to expect?

“What are the pressing or ‘hot button’ issues for this audience?”

What is top of mind for your audience right now? What fires them up and excites them? What topics or references will upset event participants because this particular keynote or presentation is not the right time or place to address it? Know by asking; what topics should your speaker address and what should she or he avoid?

Understanding audience insights is well worth it

I once wrote a speech for a nonprofit organization’s president who would be appearing in front of a group that perceived him with great skepticism and as a definite outsider; we knew there was even potential for hostility. I used the questions above as part of my research, resulting in a speech that ended with a queue of people waiting to meet and hug this ‘outsider’ who had connected with them so deeply.

Ask event organizers these questions to help take off the ‘blinders’ and to prevent you from pushing your priorities messages on unreceptive attendees. Know where your audience is coming from to find the middle ground and shared priorities. The answers you get from event organizers will provide inspiration about the main messages, the structure of the speech as well as ways to add interest and colour as you write – making your job easier and increasing the likelihood of a speech well received.

Do you have any of your own tips for shaping speeches that really connect? Please share them in the comments!