How to Write a Speech Proposal

A speech proposal is a brief description of what you are going to say in a speech. The most common situation in which you would be asked to write one would be for a high school or college course in writing or public speaking. However, while you may never be asked to write a speech proposal outside of school, you may be asked to give a brief summary on the topic you will be speaking on which is when these skills will come in handy.

Decide on a topic. What is your speech about? Most speeches are either descriptive or argumentative.

Argumentative speakers are trying to convince the audience to agree with them. They should start with a thesis and end with a conclusion. They use descriptive elements to explain evidence in support of their argument. A speech explaining why we should lower taxes is an example of an argumentative speech.

Descriptive speeches are trying to tell the audience a story or explain a topic. An inspirational story or an amusing anecdote about your life is a descriptive storytelling speech. A physics lecture is a descriptive informative speech because you are trying to make the audience understand something.

Descriptive speeches can be used to support an argument. For example, it might explain certain facts about your nation's tax laws that might make the listener want to lower taxes. Or it might be a story with a moral at the end. For example, the story of an immigrant family's struggles will probably alert listeners to the issues facing immigrants and possibly make them want to help.

State your purpose. For an argumentative speech, summarize what your argument or thesis is. "Raising Taxes stifles economic growth." For a descriptive speech, state what you are trying to tell the audience. "This is the story of a Somalian refugee who was separated from her family" or "An overview of Classical Mechanics."

Tell the reader the basics of what you are going to say.

For an argumentative speech, state the evidence that you will use to support your argument. "First, I will give historical examples of situations in which excessive taxation led to a decline in quality of life..."

For a descriptive informative speech, outline the aspects of the topic you would like the audience to learn. "Topics include linear and angular acceleration and velocity, gravity, and collisions".

For a descriptive story telling topic, summarize the story you are trying to tell. "Aman was separated from her mother at the age of seven and came to the United States as a refugee. This is the story of how..."

State what you wish the audience to take away from the speech. In an argumentative speech, this is simply a restatement of the thesis and evidence. In a descriptive speech, this is a moral of the story or a conclusion derived from the evidence. Sometimes, as in the "An overview of Classical Mechanics" example, this step is unnecessary because it is self evident what the audience should take away.