--- title: "How to write a speech: structure and template" description: "Pick one point, fit it to your time slot and build it as an opening, three points and a close. A full 2-minute sample, a template to copy and how to rehearse." canonical: "https://speecho.app/blog/how-to-write-a-speech/" language: "en" author: "The Speecho team" date_published: 2026-09-22 date_modified: 2026-09-22 publisher: "Speecho" --- # How to write a speech: structure and template > Pick one point, fit it to your time slot and build it as an opening, three points and a close. A full 2-minute sample, a template to copy and how to rehearse. _The Speecho team · 2026-09-22 · Canonical: https://speecho.app/blog/how-to-write-a-speech/_ To write a speech, decide the one thing the audience should remember, check how many words your time slot holds (about 130 a minute at a calm pace), and build the text in four parts: an opening that earns attention, three supporting points and a close that repeats the one thing. Write it for the ear, read it aloud against a timer, and cut until it fits. Below are the structure, a full two-minute sample you can adapt, a template to copy and a way to rehearse that does not need an audience. ## Start with one sentence Before any opening line, write the speech as a single sentence: what should people think, feel or do when you sit down? "Maria made this team better and we will miss her." "Our club needs twenty volunteers for the spring cleanup." "The new schedule saves everyone an hour a week." If you cannot write that sentence, the speech is not ready, and no structure will rescue it. Every paragraph you write afterwards either supports that sentence or goes. ## How long should your speech be? Most people speak at 120 to 160 words a minute. Nerves push you towards the fast end, and a speech read from paper is usually faster than one spoken from notes. Plan at 130 and you will land close to your slot. | Time slot | Words at a calm 130/min | Words at a brisk 160/min | |---|---|---| | 1 minute | 130 | 160 | | 2 minutes | 260 | 320 | | 3 minutes | 390 | 480 | | 5 minutes | 650 | 800 | | 10 minutes | 1,300 | 1,600 | | 20 minutes | 2,600 | 3,200 | Leave about a tenth of the slot for pauses, laughter and the moment someone's phone rings. A five-minute toast that runs seven minutes is the most common speech failure there is, and it is avoidable. Paste your draft into the [speaking time calculator](/tools/speaking-time-calculator/) and it tells you how long it runs at your pace. ## The structure: an opening, three points, a close ### The opening: earn the first thirty seconds The room decides in the first half minute whether to listen. Do not spend it on "Thank you for having me, my name is..." or an apology for being nervous. Open with one of these instead: - **A specific moment.** "The first time I met Maria, she was fixing the office printer with a paper clip." - **The question the room is already asking.** "Why are we cleaning a park in March?" - **A number that surprises.** "Last year forty people did the work of a city crew in one morning." Thank people after the opening, in one sentence, if the occasion calls for it. ### Three points: one claim, one example each Three is not magic, but it is what an audience can hold without notes. Each point is one claim and one concrete example or story that proves it. A claim without an example is forgettable. An example without a claim is an anecdote that goes nowhere. Join the points with plain signposts: "First...", "The second thing...", "And finally...". On paper they look clumsy. Out loud they tell the listener where they are. ### The close: say the one thing again Return to your one sentence, in nearly the same words. If you want people to do something, say exactly what and when: "Sign up at the door tonight." Make the last line short, and stop. "Thank you" after a strong last line is optional, and a weak last line followed by "so, yeah, thanks" undoes the whole close. ## Write for the ear, not the page A speech is heard once, at your speed, with no way to reread a sentence. That changes how you write it: - **Short sentences.** One idea each. If a sentence needs a comma to breathe, split it. - **Repeat the key phrase.** Repetition reads as padding and sounds like emphasis. - **Round the numbers.** "Almost a third" lands, "31.4 percent" does not. - **Concrete over abstract.** "We painted forty benches" beats "we improved the public amenities". - **Read it aloud while you write.** Wherever you stumble, the audience will too. Rewrite that line, do not practise it harder. ## A two-minute sample speech A farewell speech for a colleague, about 260 words, so two minutes at a calm pace. Swap the details for your own; keep the shape. ```text The first time I met Maria, she was fixing the office printer with a paper clip. It was her second day. Nobody had asked her to. That, in one picture, is what the last six years with her were like. Thank you all for coming, and thank you, Maria, for letting us embarrass you for two minutes. I want to tell you three things about Maria that you might not know. First, she is the reason our team still exists. Four years ago, when the budget was cut, she spent a weekend rewriting our proposal. On Monday the director said it was the clearest page he had read all year. We kept our jobs. Maria never mentioned it. The second thing: she taught half of this room how to do their job. Ask anyone who joined in the last five years who answered their questions in the first month. It was Maria, usually with a diagram on the back of an envelope. Some of us still have the envelopes. And finally, she made Fridays better. The Friday breakfast, the quiz with the impossible questions about rivers, the playlist that somehow always ended with the same song. None of that was in her job description. All of it is why people stayed. Maria, the new company is lucky. They will find out about the paper clips soon enough. We will miss your work, but we will miss you more. You made this team better, and every one of us is better for it. To Maria. ``` Notice what it does: a specific moment to open, a one-line thank you after it, three points with one story each, signposts between them, and a close that repeats the one sentence and ends on two words. ## A template to copy ```text ONE SENTENCE: what should they think, feel or do afterwards? OPENING (20-30 seconds) A specific moment, a question the room is asking, or a surprising number. One line of thanks, if the occasion needs it. POINT 1: claim Example or story that proves it. POINT 2: claim Example or story that proves it. POINT 3: claim Example or story that proves it. CLOSE (20-30 seconds) The one sentence again, in nearly the same words. What you want them to do, and when. A short last line. Stop. ``` ## Rehearse it without an audience 1. **Read it aloud, against a timer, three times.** The first run finds the sentences you cannot say. The second finds the length. By the third you stop reading and start talking. Run each draft through the [speaking time calculator](/tools/speaking-time-calculator/) so you are not guessing. 2. **Record yourself and listen back.** A [voice recorder in the browser](/tools/voice-recorder/) is enough, and you will hear the "um"s and the rushed bits in one listen. If the speech will be on video, the [video recorder](/tools/video-recorder/) can scroll your script over the camera preview, so you see your eye line as the audience will. 3. **Cut the crutch words from the script.** "Basically", "actually", "just", "really": paste the text into the [filler word counter](/tools/filler-word-counter/) and it lists them. Spoken "um"s are a habit you fix by pausing instead; they are easier to hear on the recording than to count. 4. **Decide how you will hold it.** For a recorded talk or an online event, a [teleprompter](/tools/teleprompter/) lets you read without looking down. On a stage, a card with the opening line, three point headings and the last line is enough. Nobody minds a glance at a card. ## Frequently asked questions ### How many words is a 5-minute speech? About 650 words at a calm pace and up to 800 if you speak quickly. Plan for 600 to 650 so there is room for pauses and reactions. ### How do I start a speech? With a specific moment, a question the audience is already asking, or a surprising number. Save the thank-yous for the second or third sentence, and never open with an apology. ### How do I end a speech? Repeat your one main point in nearly the same words, say what you want people to do, and finish with a short line. Then stop talking; the pause after the last line is part of it. ### Is it all right to read a speech? For video and online talks, yes, especially from a teleprompter, since nobody sees the script. On a stage, reading word for word usually sounds flat; speak from a card with the opening, the three headings and the closing line. ### How many times should I rehearse? At least three full runs out loud, one of them recorded. Rehearsing in your head does not count: the problems only show up when you hear yourself.