Step Two: Brainstorm

The next item on your speech writing to do list -- think about how you want to present your themes and content to your audience. For example, if this is a graduation speech, you may want to talk about what commencement means to your class; share important lessons learned; or talk about the future. Each of these ideas are common in graduation speeches. Above all, think about the values or points you want people to take from your speech.

After you decide on some basic concepts you want to cover, brainstorm how you plan to talk about the subject or subjects. Don't forget to WRITE ALL OF YOUR IDEAS DOWN. (If something doesn't work once you start writing it, you'll have all of your other ideas there to try.)

Do you want to share some fun anecdotes? Recite a famous quotation and explain how it applies? Use metaphors to describe your point? Or use a character, like a teacher, to represent your idea? How you talk about your topic, greatly increases the effectiveness of your point.