What's the "Big Idea"?

After you've gathered the data, but before you prepare an outline, the all-important question is. What is the main point we want to make with this speech? Just as the advertising copywriter must be able to reduce the en­tire message to a phrase, a slogan, or a headline, the speechwriter should be able to summarize the big idea of the speech in a single line: "XYZ Cor­poration believes high property taxes are driving business out of Central Valley" or "The main goal of the state Environmental Protection Agency during the next year is to clean up the air in our cities."

Deciding on that single thrust will help you to sort out information that may be interesting but that does not support or illustrate the main point. It may cause some tension with your spokesperson, since there may be pressure to "tell them about all of the wonderful things we're do­ing and all of the problems we think are important to overcome." Cer­tainly, you should try to work in some background about the organization and its many concerns, but as one professional PR speechwriter suc­cinctly puts it, one of the simple but hard-and-fast rules is to "keep your eye on the ball" at all times.

Before writing the speech, make sure that speaker, speechwriter, and public relations staff agree on the purpose of the speech. That way you can judge whether every piece of information and every rhetorical device is serving the main purpose of the speech event. Speeches have these main purposes:

Persuade/Defend—Present your organization's point of view and defend its actions. Data should support the views of your organization. Especially in the two-way symmetric model, opposing views should be acknowledged.

Inform/Explain—Present information on what your organization is doing and explain the reasons for the actions.

Entertain/ Welcome—Greet guests, represent your organization, and spread goodwill. May include some facets of inform/explain function.

Background—Similar to inform/explain, but without the urgency of breaking news event or public issues. Sometimes referred to as a "technical" presentation.

Pro-forma—Includes "welcome" speeches, award acceptance speeches, and other occasions where your organization is respond­ing to the needs of others rather than serving its own communica­tion needs. Should serve your purposes while fitting the scene and setting created by the sponsoring organization.