World Speech Day is observed every year on March 15, providing an opportunity for students, leaders, and anyone else who has something to say to speak up and share their ideas and their passion with an appreciative audience. Whether your goal is to explain, persuade, or inspire, these government publications provide many useful tips on writing and presenting an effective and memorable speech. Although each of these works was developed with a specific group of government employees in mind, the principles they teach are universal and can benefit anyone who aspires to become a great speaker.

Speaking Effectively: A Guide for Air Force Speakers

This manual by communications expert John A. Kline takes speakers in the Air Force and other federal agencies step-by-step through the stages of effectively developing and presenting briefings, lectures, and speeches. It includes tips on overcoming nervousness and incorporating logical thinking, visual aids, humor, body language, and other techniques to keep the audience captivated from the introduction to the conclusion of any presentation. Kline has also authored a companion volume for Air University Press entitled Listening Effectively.

Talks: A Public Speaking Guide for National Park Service Employees

This charming vintage pamphlet developed for members of the National Park Service explains how to organize and present information before an audience, but many of the techniques can be applied in other situations, such as interacting with just one person, writing a pamphlet or article, or conducting a tour. The whimsical illustrations feature photographs of paper models of an egg-headed park ranger in uniform, speaking at a paper podium.

Communicator’s Sourcebook: Tips and Tools for Speeches, Interviews, and Press Conferences

This handbook and anthology provides a plethora of practical pointers to help federal government officials develop skills not just in giving formal speeches, but also in the trickier, more unpredictable tasks of interacting with journalists through interviews and press conferences on television and the radio as well as in print media, where the structure and topics of a presentation may not be entirely within the speaker’s control. It covers such communications basics as preparation, delivery, and follow-up, and includes reprints of articles by and about experts in public relations and image building.

Speechwriting in Perspective: A Brief Guide to Effective and Persuasive Communication

The cover design is businesslike, and the title sounds like a school textbook, but this brief manual created by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to guide the professional speechwriters who compose speeches for members of Congress is packed with helpful advice on everything you need to know to write a memorable and engaging speech, from researching a topic, to constructing an outline that maintains a clear theme, to writing a script that matches the style and personality of the speaker. An especially useful feature of this document is the simple explanation of rhetorical devices such as repetition with variation, rhythmic triads, parallelism, inverted word order, and vivid imagery.

More resources on speechwriting can be found in the CRS report entitled Public Speaking and Speechwriting: Selected References. This annotated bibliography lists books and articles that explain how to give a speech as well as works that explain how to develop and write a speech. There are also works listed here that analyze famous speakers and their speeches, as well as anthologies of quotations and jokes that can enliven an otherwise dull speech.

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service

Incorporating a classic quote into your speech can add a note of authority to your presentation as well as sum up a key idea in a memorable way. This endlessly browsable anthology of wit and wisdom curates the most popular quotations that members of Congress and their speechwriters have requested from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to season their speeches over the years. It is organized by topic and includes an author index as well as a keyword and subject index. Each entry includes a citation to the source of the quote when available, plus a brief description of the history and significance of the quote.

Would You Like to Know More?

The UNT Libraries Subject Guide Government Research and Writing Tips: Government Writing and Public Speaking lists more government resources related to public speaking.

Visit Sycamore Library on the University of North Texas Campus to explore the many resources in our Government Documents Collection. Sycamore Library is also host to the UNT Libraries Juvenile and Curriculum Materials Collections, which contain many children’s and young adult books related to rhetoric, communication, and public speaking.

If you need assistance with finding or using government information resources, please visit the Service Desk in the Sycamore Library during regular hours, contact us by phone (940) 565-4745), or send a request online to govinfo@unt.edu.

If you need extensive, in-depth assistance, we recommend that you e-mail us or call the Sycamore Service Desk at (940) 565-2870 to make an appointment with a member of our staff.

Article by Bobby Griffith.

Image at top of blog: Roger Brown gives a speech during the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial breakfast at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia, in the United States, on January 12, 2007. Brown is a retired NFL football player and Portsmouth restauranteur. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Justan K. Williams.)