Your Voice Matters, So Use It

If you’ve ever felt nervous about giving a presentation, making a toast, or telling an anecdote at a party, you’re in good company: The fear of public speaking is one of the most prevalent phobias. But you must strive to overcome it because, according to renowned speechwriter Terry Szuplat, public speaking is a vital skill: It can help you engage more fully in opportunities, raise your profile, tell your story, and entertain, engage, inform, and inspire others.

Szuplat knows just how hard public speaking can be. Despite being an accomplished speechwriter — he wrote speeches for Barack Obama throughout Obama’s eight-year presidency — Szuplat found it difficult to speak for himself, even at low-key social events. He began to notice the cost — missed chances for professional advancement, less enjoyment in social gatherings, and a feeling of playing it too safe.

Everyone has a sacred story, and your story is worthy. Your voice matters. You deserve to be on that stage as much as anyone else.

Eventually, Szuplat applied the lessons he’d learned from writing speeches for and with Obama. The resulting book, which, Szuplat notes, is the first book on public speaking by a presidential speechwriter in 20 years and also the first of the AI era, offers a winning combination of empathy and authority. Szuplat also gives an insider’s view of working at the White House and on the road with one of the greatest orators of the 21st century. Both practical and entertaining, Szuplat’s best-selling book has been translated into eight languages.

Practice, Prepare, and Stay Positive

Szuplat begins by dispelling the notion that successful speaking depends on innate talent. Instead, it comes from practice, preparation, and a positive mindset. Hold a firm belief in your ability to improve, Szuplat says, ignore your inner critic, and take every opportunity to hone your skills.

The first step of giving any good speech or presentation…is believing that we can. It’s having the confidence that our voice matters and that we deserve to be heard.

At the beginning of his career, Obama wasn’t the accomplished orator he is now, Szuplat points out: He became a great public speaker by deliberately developing his ability, speaking first in front of small political gatherings and later in university lecture halls and at political rallies. Obama grew as a speaker each time he practiced. Over time, he found his voice and embraced the power of the unique story he had to tell — and so can you, Szuplat promises.

Be Yourself

Szuplat advises focusing on a few fundamentals, the first of which is authenticity. It might seem counterintuitive to place attention on yourself when you’re trying to engage an audience, but Szuplat argues that if you truly want your speech to resonate, it should be rooted in your authentic thoughts, feelings, and motivations, and it should contain personal stories. After all, your audience is there to hear you speak, and they want to know your story. Regaling people with tales from your life is not only easy — no one knows them better than you — but it also sets you apart. Imagine being the last of a group of speakers to present, suggests Szuplat. When your turn comes, you’re horrified to discover that the other speakers have already covered all the points you had planned to discuss. If you personalize your address, it will be unique regardless of its general thesis.

Give the speech that only you can give. Personalize it. Tell the stories that only you can tell — especially your own.

Szuplat acknowledges the temptation to prompt an AI model to write a speech for you, but advises resisting: You’ll likely end up with a dull, generic speech. Instead, he says, speak from your beating human heart, and discuss the ideas, people, and places you find meaningful. You’ll speak more enthusiastically when you’re genuinely connecting to your subject and discussing ideas you love, Szuplat says — so if you hope to change hearts and minds, be prepared to reveal aspects of your genuine self.

Get Ready

Don’t ad-lib, Szuplat advises; in an interview, he claimed the most common mistake he sees speakers make is not taking the time to “think deliberately and deeply about what they want their message to be. Whether you’re toasting a bride and groom or pitching an idea to a boardroom of executives, you must write your words out beforehand, or you won’t have thought about them sufficiently, Szuplat avers.​​​​ Prepare by first researching your subject, then writing and editing your speech, and finally practicing your performance.

The more prepared you are, the less nervous you’ll be when it’s time to deliver — because you know you’re ready.

Szuplat provides a detailed, practical guide to the nitty-gritty of speech writing: gathering information about the event, researching your audience, clarifying the message you want to convey, and plotting out the story you want to tell. He advises that your speech should have a clear three-part narrative structure: a beginning, in which you introduce the main subjects of your speech; a middle, where you explain the problem you’re trying to solve; and an end, where you discuss your solution and the resolution you seek.

Szuplat gives specific recommendations for shaping each part: options for formulating a strong opening, tips for maintaining your listeners’ interest during the middle part of your speech — even down to specific words that will garner attention and make an emotional impact — and suggestions for ways to close that will leave your audience feeling hopeful and inspired to act.

Stand and Deliver

When the time comes to deliver your speech, Szuplat says, your mindset becomes critical. Reframe any jitters as excitement, he advises, and stay calm, even if something goes awry — like the time a presidential seal fell off Obama’s podium during a speech. The president injected humor into the fraught moment by quipping, “That’s all right, all of you know who I am.”

The world knows who Barack Obama is largely thanks to his skills as an orator. But as Szuplat tells it, Obama, and the world, might have missed out on his remarkable career entirely if Obama had kept a promise he made after his first, brief, chance to speak in front of a crowd: “That’s the last time you will ever hear another speech out of me,” he vowed to a friend.

Szuplat’s book aims to ensure that you don’t miss your opportunity to find and use your voice.