proper way to write a speech

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How to write a speech that your audience remembers

Whether in a work meeting or at an investor panel, you might give a speech at some point. And no matter how excited you are about the opportunity, the experience can be nerve-wracking . 

But feeling butterflies doesn’t mean you can’t give a great speech. With the proper preparation and a clear outline, apprehensive public speakers and natural wordsmiths alike can write and present a compelling message. Here’s how to write a good speech you’ll be proud to deliver.

What is good speech writing?

Good speech writing is the art of crafting words and ideas into a compelling, coherent, and memorable message that resonates with the audience. Here are some key elements of great speech writing:

• It begins with clearly understanding the speech's purpose and the audience it seeks to engage. 
• A well-written speech clearly conveys its central message, ensuring that the audience understands and retains the key points. 
• It is structured thoughtfully, with a captivating opening, a well-organized body, and a conclusion that reinforces the main message. 
• Good speech writing embraces the power of engaging content, weaving in stories, examples, and relatable anecdotes to connect with the audience on both intellectual and emotional levels. 

Ultimately, it is the combination of these elements, along with the authenticity and delivery of the speaker , that transforms words on a page into a powerful and impactful spoken narrative.

What makes a good speech?

A great speech includes several key qualities, but three fundamental elements make a speech truly effective:

Clarity and purpose

Remembering the audience, cohesive structure.

While other important factors make a speech a home run, these three elements are essential for writing an effective speech.

The main elements of a good speech

The main elements of a speech typically include:

• Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your speech and grabs the audience's attention. It should include a hook or attention-grabbing opening, introduce the topic, and provide an overview of what will be covered.
• Opening/captivating statement: This is a strong statement that immediately engages the audience and creates curiosity about the speech topics.
• Thesis statement/central idea: The thesis statement or central idea is a concise statement that summarizes the main point or argument of your speech. It serves as a roadmap for the audience to understand what your speech is about.
• Body: The body of the speech is where you elaborate on your main points or arguments. Each point is typically supported by evidence, examples, statistics, or anecdotes. The body should be organized logically and coherently, with smooth transitions between the main points.
• Supporting evidence: This includes facts, data, research findings, expert opinions, or personal stories that support and strengthen your main points. Well-chosen and credible evidence enhances the persuasive power of your speech.
• Transitions: Transitions are phrases or statements that connect different parts of your speech, guiding the audience from one idea to the next. Effective transitions signal the shifts in topics or ideas and help maintain a smooth flow throughout the speech.
• Counterarguments and rebuttals (if applicable): If your speech involves addressing opposing viewpoints or counterarguments, you should acknowledge and address them. Presenting counterarguments makes your speech more persuasive and demonstrates critical thinking.
• Conclusion: The conclusion is the final part of your speech and should bring your message to a satisfying close. Summarize your main points, restate your thesis statement, and leave the audience with a memorable closing thought or call to action.
• Closing statement: This is the final statement that leaves a lasting impression and reinforces the main message of your speech. It can be a call to action, a thought-provoking question, a powerful quote, or a memorable anecdote.
• Delivery and presentation: How you deliver your speech is also an essential element to consider. Pay attention to your tone, body language, eye contact , voice modulation, and timing. Practice and rehearse your speech, and try using the 7-38-55 rule to ensure confident and effective delivery.

While the order and emphasis of these elements may vary depending on the type of speech and audience, these elements provide a framework for organizing and delivering a successful speech.

How to structure a good speech

You know what message you want to transmit, who you’re delivering it to, and even how you want to say it. But you need to know how to start, develop, and close a speech before writing it. 

Think of a speech like an essay. It should have an introduction, conclusion, and body sections in between. This places ideas in a logical order that the audience can better understand and follow them. Learning how to make a speech with an outline gives your storytelling the scaffolding it needs to get its point across.

Here’s a general speech structure to guide your writing process:

• Explanation 1
• Explanation 2
• Explanation 3

How to write a compelling speech opener

Some research shows that engaged audiences pay attention for only 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Other estimates are even lower, citing that people stop listening intently in fewer than 10 minutes . If you make a good first impression at the beginning of your speech, you have a better chance of interesting your audience through the middle when attention spans fade. 

Implementing the INTRO model can help grab and keep your audience’s attention as soon as you start speaking. This acronym stands for interest, need, timing, roadmap, and objectives, and it represents the key points you should hit in an opening. 

Here’s what to include for each of these points: 

• Interest : Introduce yourself or your topic concisely and speak with confidence . Write a compelling opening statement using relevant data or an anecdote that the audience can relate to.
• Needs : The audience is listening to you because they have something to learn. If you’re pitching a new app idea to a panel of investors, those potential partners want to discover more about your product and what they can earn from it. Read the room and gently remind them of the purpose of your speech. 
• Timing : When appropriate, let your audience know how long you’ll speak. This lets listeners set expectations and keep tabs on their own attention span. If a weary audience member knows you’ll talk for 40 minutes, they can better manage their energy as that time goes on. 
• Routemap : Give a brief overview of the three main points you’ll cover in your speech. If an audience member’s attention starts to drop off and they miss a few sentences, they can more easily get their bearings if they know the general outline of the presentation.
• Objectives : Tell the audience what you hope to achieve, encouraging them to listen to the end for the payout. 

Writing the middle of a speech

The body of your speech is the most information-dense section. Facts, visual aids, PowerPoints — all this information meets an audience with a waning attention span. Sticking to the speech structure gives your message focus and keeps you from going off track, making everything you say as useful as possible.

Limit the middle of your speech to three points, and support them with no more than three explanations. Following this model organizes your thoughts and prevents you from offering more information than the audience can retain. 

Using this section of the speech to make your presentation interactive can add interest and engage your audience. Try including a video or demonstration to break the monotony. A quick poll or survey also keeps the audience on their toes. 

Wrapping the speech up

To you, restating your points at the end can feel repetitive and dull. You’ve practiced countless times and heard it all before. But repetition aids memory and learning , helping your audience retain what you’ve told them. Use your speech’s conclusion to summarize the main points with a few short sentences.

Try to end on a memorable note, like posing a motivational quote or a thoughtful question the audience can contemplate once they leave. In proposal or pitch-style speeches, consider landing on a call to action (CTA) that invites your audience to take the next step.

How to write a good speech

If public speaking gives you the jitters, you’re not alone. Roughly 80% of the population feels nervous before giving a speech, and another 10% percent experiences intense anxiety and sometimes even panic. 

The fear of failure can cause procrastination and can cause you to put off your speechwriting process until the last minute. Finding the right words takes time and preparation, and if you’re already feeling nervous, starting from a blank page might seem even harder.

But putting in the effort despite your stress is worth it. Presenting a speech you worked hard on fosters authenticity and connects you to the subject matter, which can help your audience understand your points better. Human connection is all about honesty and vulnerability, and if you want to connect to the people you’re speaking to, they should see that in you.

1. Identify your objectives and target audience

Before diving into the writing process, find healthy coping strategies to help you stop worrying . Then you can define your speech’s purpose, think about your target audience, and start identifying your objectives. Here are some questions to ask yourself and ground your thinking : 

• What purpose do I want my speech to achieve? 
• What would it mean to me if I achieved the speech’s purpose?
• What audience am I writing for? 
• What do I know about my audience? 
• What values do I want to transmit? 
• If the audience remembers one take-home message, what should it be? 
• What do I want my audience to feel, think, or do after I finish speaking? 
• What parts of my message could be confusing and require further explanation?

2. Know your audience

Understanding your audience is crucial for tailoring your speech effectively. Consider the demographics of your audience, their interests, and their expectations. For instance, if you're addressing a group of healthcare professionals, you'll want to use medical terminology and data that resonate with them. Conversely, if your audience is a group of young students, you'd adjust your content to be more relatable to their experiences and interests. 

3. Choose a clear message

Your message should be the central idea that you want your audience to take away from your speech. Let's say you're giving a speech on climate change. Your clear message might be something like, "Individual actions can make a significant impact on mitigating climate change." Throughout your speech, all your points and examples should support this central message, reinforcing it for your audience.

4. Structure your speech

Organizing your speech properly keeps your audience engaged and helps them follow your ideas. The introduction should grab your audience's attention and introduce the topic. For example, if you're discussing space exploration, you could start with a fascinating fact about a recent space mission. In the body, you'd present your main points logically, such as the history of space exploration, its scientific significance, and future prospects. Finally, in the conclusion, you'd summarize your key points and reiterate the importance of space exploration in advancing human knowledge.

5. Use engaging content for clarity

Engaging content includes stories, anecdotes, statistics, and examples that illustrate your main points. For instance, if you're giving a speech about the importance of reading, you might share a personal story about how a particular book changed your perspective. You could also include statistics on the benefits of reading, such as improved cognitive abilities and empathy.

6. Maintain clarity and simplicity

It's essential to communicate your ideas clearly. Avoid using overly technical jargon or complex language that might confuse your audience. For example, if you're discussing a medical breakthrough with a non-medical audience, explain complex terms in simple, understandable language.

7. Practice and rehearse

Practice is key to delivering a great speech. Rehearse multiple times to refine your delivery, timing, and tone. Consider using a mirror or recording yourself to observe your body language and gestures. For instance, if you're giving a motivational speech, practice your gestures and expressions to convey enthusiasm and confidence.

8. Consider nonverbal communication

Your body language, tone of voice, and gestures should align with your message . If you're delivering a speech on leadership, maintain strong eye contact to convey authority and connection with your audience. A steady pace and varied tone can also enhance your speech's impact.

9. Engage your audience

Engaging your audience keeps them interested and attentive. Encourage interaction by asking thought-provoking questions or sharing relatable anecdotes. If you're giving a speech on teamwork, ask the audience to recall a time when teamwork led to a successful outcome, fostering engagement and connection.

10. Prepare for Q&A

Anticipate potential questions or objections your audience might have and prepare concise, well-informed responses. If you're delivering a speech on a controversial topic, such as healthcare reform, be ready to address common concerns, like the impact on healthcare costs or access to services, during the Q&A session.

By following these steps and incorporating examples that align with your specific speech topic and purpose, you can craft and deliver a compelling and impactful speech that resonates with your audience.

Tools for writing a great speech

There are several helpful tools available for speechwriting, both technological and communication-related. Here are a few examples:

• Word processing software: Tools like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or other word processors provide a user-friendly environment for writing and editing speeches. They offer features like spell-checking, grammar correction, formatting options, and easy revision tracking.
• Presentation software: Software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides is useful when creating visual aids to accompany your speech. These tools allow you to create engaging slideshows with text, images, charts, and videos to enhance your presentation.
• Speechwriting Templates: Online platforms or software offer pre-designed templates specifically for speechwriting. These templates provide guidance on structuring your speech and may include prompts for different sections like introductions, main points, and conclusions.
• Rhetorical devices and figures of speech: Rhetorical tools such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, and parallelism can add impact and persuasion to your speech. Resources like books, websites, or academic papers detailing various rhetorical devices can help you incorporate them effectively.
• Speechwriting apps: Mobile apps designed specifically for speechwriting can be helpful in organizing your thoughts, creating outlines, and composing a speech. These apps often provide features like voice recording, note-taking, and virtual prompts to keep you on track.
• Grammar and style checkers: Online tools or plugins like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor help improve the clarity and readability of your speech by checking for grammar, spelling, and style errors. They provide suggestions for sentence structure, word choice, and overall tone.
• Thesaurus and dictionary: Online or offline resources such as thesauruses and dictionaries help expand your vocabulary and find alternative words or phrases to express your ideas more effectively. They can also clarify meanings or provide context for unfamiliar terms.
• Online speechwriting communities: Joining online forums or communities focused on speechwriting can be beneficial for getting feedback, sharing ideas, and learning from experienced speechwriters. It's an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and improve your public speaking skills through collaboration.

Remember, while these tools can assist in the speechwriting process, it's essential to use them thoughtfully and adapt them to your specific needs and style. The most important aspect of speechwriting remains the creativity, authenticity, and connection with your audience that you bring to your speech.

5 tips for writing a speech

Behind every great speech is an excellent idea and a speaker who refined it. But a successful speech is about more than the initial words on the page, and there are a few more things you can do to help it land.

Here are five more tips for writing and practicing your speech:

1. Structure first, write second

If you start the writing process before organizing your thoughts, you may have to re-order, cut, and scrap the sentences you worked hard on. Save yourself some time by using a speech structure, like the one above, to order your talking points first. This can also help you identify unclear points or moments that disrupt your flow.

2. Do your homework

Data strengthens your argument with a scientific edge. Research your topic with an eye for attention-grabbing statistics, or look for findings you can use to support each point. If you’re pitching a product or service, pull information from company metrics that demonstrate past or potential successes. 

Audience members will likely have questions, so learn all talking points inside and out. If you tell investors that your product will provide 12% returns, for example, come prepared with projections that support that statement.

3. Sound like yourself

Memorable speakers have distinct voices. Think of Martin Luther King Jr’s urgent, inspiring timbre or Oprah’s empathetic, personal tone . Establish your voice — one that aligns with your personality and values — and stick with it. If you’re a motivational speaker, keep your tone upbeat to inspire your audience . If you’re the CEO of a startup, try sounding assured but approachable. 

4. Practice

As you practice a speech, you become more confident , gain a better handle on the material, and learn the outline so well that unexpected questions are less likely to trip you up. Practice in front of a colleague or friend for honest feedback about what you could change, and speak in front of the mirror to tweak your nonverbal communication and body language .

5. Remember to breathe

When you’re stressed, you breathe more rapidly . It can be challenging to talk normally when you can’t regulate your breath. Before your presentation, try some mindful breathing exercises so that when the day comes, you already have strategies that will calm you down and remain present . This can also help you control your voice and avoid speaking too quickly.

How to ghostwrite a great speech for someone else

Ghostwriting a speech requires a unique set of skills, as you're essentially writing a piece that will be delivered by someone else. Here are some tips on how to effectively ghostwrite a speech:

• Understand the speaker's voice and style : Begin by thoroughly understanding the speaker's personality, speaking style, and preferences. This includes their tone, humor, and any personal anecdotes they may want to include.
• Interview the speaker : Have a detailed conversation with the speaker to gather information about their speech's purpose, target audience, key messages, and any specific points they want to emphasize. Ask for personal stories or examples they may want to include.
• Research thoroughly : Research the topic to ensure you have a strong foundation of knowledge. This helps you craft a well-informed and credible speech.
• Create an outline : Develop a clear outline that includes the introduction, main points, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Share this outline with the speaker for their input and approval.
• Write in the speaker's voice : While crafting the speech, maintain the speaker's voice and style. Use language and phrasing that feel natural to them. If they have a particular way of expressing ideas, incorporate that into the speech.
• Craft a captivating opening : Begin the speech with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a relevant quote, an interesting fact, a personal anecdote, or a thought-provoking question.
• Organize content logically : Ensure the speech flows logically, with each point building on the previous one. Use transitions to guide the audience from one idea to the next smoothly.
• Incorporate engaging stories and examples : Include anecdotes, stories, and real-life examples that illustrate key points and make the speech relatable and memorable.
• Edit and revise : Edit the speech carefully for clarity, grammar, and coherence. Ensure the speech is the right length and aligns with the speaker's time constraints.
• Seek feedback : Share drafts of the speech with the speaker for their feedback and revisions. They may have specific changes or additions they'd like to make.
• Practice delivery : If possible, work with the speaker on their delivery. Practice the speech together, allowing the speaker to become familiar with the content and your writing style.
• Maintain confidentiality : As a ghostwriter, it's essential to respect the confidentiality and anonymity of the work. Do not disclose that you wrote the speech unless you have the speaker's permission to do so.
• Be flexible : Be open to making changes and revisions as per the speaker's preferences. Your goal is to make them look good and effectively convey their message.
• Meet deadlines : Stick to agreed-upon deadlines for drafts and revisions. Punctuality and reliability are essential in ghostwriting.
• Provide support : Support the speaker during their preparation and rehearsal process. This can include helping with cue cards, speech notes, or any other materials they need.

Remember that successful ghostwriting is about capturing the essence of the speaker while delivering a well-structured and engaging speech. Collaboration, communication, and adaptability are key to achieving this.

Give your best speech yet

Learn how to make a speech that’ll hold an audience’s attention by structuring your thoughts and practicing frequently. Put the effort into writing and preparing your content, and aim to improve your breathing, eye contact , and body language as you practice. The more you work on your speech, the more confident you’ll become.

The energy you invest in writing an effective speech will help your audience remember and connect to every concept. Remember: some life-changing philosophies have come from good speeches, so give your words a chance to resonate with others. You might even change their thinking.

Boost your speech skills

Enhance your public speaking with personalized coaching tailored to your needs

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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What this handout is about

This handout will help you create an effective speech by establishing the purpose of your speech and making it easily understandable. It will also help you to analyze your audience and keep the audience interested.

What’s different about a speech?

Writing for public speaking isn’t so different from other types of writing. You want to engage your audience’s attention, convey your ideas in a logical manner and use reliable evidence to support your point. But the conditions for public speaking favor some writing qualities over others. When you write a speech, your audience is made up of listeners. They have only one chance to comprehend the information as you read it, so your speech must be well-organized and easily understood. In addition, the content of the speech and your delivery must fit the audience.

What’s your purpose?

People have gathered to hear you speak on a specific issue, and they expect to get something out of it immediately. And you, the speaker, hope to have an immediate effect on your audience. The purpose of your speech is to get the response you want. Most speeches invite audiences to react in one of three ways: feeling, thinking, or acting. For example, eulogies encourage emotional response from the audience; college lectures stimulate listeners to think about a topic from a different perspective; protest speeches in the Pit recommend actions the audience can take.

As you establish your purpose, ask yourself these questions:

• What do you want the audience to learn or do?
• If you are making an argument, why do you want them to agree with you?
• If they already agree with you, why are you giving the speech?
• How can your audience benefit from what you have to say?

Audience analysis

If your purpose is to get a certain response from your audience, you must consider who they are (or who you’re pretending they are). If you can identify ways to connect with your listeners, you can make your speech interesting and useful.

As you think of ways to appeal to your audience, ask yourself:

• What do they have in common? Age? Interests? Ethnicity? Gender?
• Do they know as much about your topic as you, or will you be introducing them to new ideas?
• Why are these people listening to you? What are they looking for?
• What level of detail will be effective for them?
• What tone will be most effective in conveying your message?
• What might offend or alienate them?

For more help, see our handout on audience .

Creating an effective introduction

Get their attention, otherwise known as “the hook”.

Think about how you can relate to these listeners and get them to relate to you or your topic. Appealing to your audience on a personal level captures their attention and concern, increasing the chances of a successful speech. Speakers often begin with anecdotes to hook their audience’s attention. Other methods include presenting shocking statistics, asking direct questions of the audience, or enlisting audience participation.

Establish context and/or motive

Explain why your topic is important. Consider your purpose and how you came to speak to this audience. You may also want to connect the material to related or larger issues as well, especially those that may be important to your audience.

Get to the point

Tell your listeners your thesis right away and explain how you will support it. Don’t spend as much time developing your introductory paragraph and leading up to the thesis statement as you would in a research paper for a course. Moving from the intro into the body of the speech quickly will help keep your audience interested. You may be tempted to create suspense by keeping the audience guessing about your thesis until the end, then springing the implications of your discussion on them. But if you do so, they will most likely become bored or confused.

For more help, see our handout on introductions .

Making your speech easy to understand

Repeat crucial points and buzzwords.

Especially in longer speeches, it’s a good idea to keep reminding your audience of the main points you’ve made. For example, you could link an earlier main point or key term as you transition into or wrap up a new point. You could also address the relationship between earlier points and new points through discussion within a body paragraph. Using buzzwords or key terms throughout your paper is also a good idea. If your thesis says you’re going to expose unethical behavior of medical insurance companies, make sure the use of “ethics” recurs instead of switching to “immoral” or simply “wrong.” Repetition of key terms makes it easier for your audience to take in and connect information.

Incorporate previews and summaries into the speech

For example:

“I’m here today to talk to you about three issues that threaten our educational system: First, … Second, … Third,”

“I’ve talked to you today about such and such.”

These kinds of verbal cues permit the people in the audience to put together the pieces of your speech without thinking too hard, so they can spend more time paying attention to its content.

Use especially strong transitions

This will help your listeners see how new information relates to what they’ve heard so far. If you set up a counterargument in one paragraph so you can demolish it in the next, begin the demolition by saying something like,

“But this argument makes no sense when you consider that . . . .”

If you’re providing additional information to support your main point, you could say,

“Another fact that supports my main point is . . . .”

Helping your audience listen

Rely on shorter, simpler sentence structures.

Don’t get too complicated when you’re asking an audience to remember everything you say. Avoid using too many subordinate clauses, and place subjects and verbs close together.

Too complicated:

The product, which was invented in 1908 by Orville Z. McGillicuddy in Des Moines, Iowa, and which was on store shelves approximately one year later, still sells well.

Easier to understand:

Orville Z. McGillicuddy invented the product in 1908 and introduced it into stores shortly afterward. Almost a century later, the product still sells well.

Limit pronoun use

Listeners may have a hard time remembering or figuring out what “it,” “they,” or “this” refers to. Be specific by using a key noun instead of unclear pronouns.

Pronoun problem:

The U.S. government has failed to protect us from the scourge of so-called reality television, which exploits sex, violence, and petty conflict, and calls it human nature. This cannot continue.

Why the last sentence is unclear: “This” what? The government’s failure? Reality TV? Human nature?

More specific:

The U.S. government has failed to protect us from the scourge of so-called reality television, which exploits sex, violence, and petty conflict, and calls it human nature. This failure cannot continue.

Keeping audience interest

Incorporate the rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos.

When arguing a point, using ethos, pathos, and logos can help convince your audience to believe you and make your argument stronger. Ethos refers to an appeal to your audience by establishing your authenticity and trustworthiness as a speaker. If you employ pathos, you appeal to your audience’s emotions. Using logos includes the support of hard facts, statistics, and logical argumentation. The most effective speeches usually present a combination these rhetorical strategies.

Use statistics and quotations sparingly

Include only the most striking factual material to support your perspective, things that would likely stick in the listeners’ minds long after you’ve finished speaking. Otherwise, you run the risk of overwhelming your listeners with too much information.

Watch your tone

Be careful not to talk over the heads of your audience. On the other hand, don’t be condescending either. And as for grabbing their attention, yelling, cursing, using inappropriate humor, or brandishing a potentially offensive prop (say, autopsy photos) will only make the audience tune you out.

Creating an effective conclusion

Restate your main points, but don’t repeat them.

“I asked earlier why we should care about the rain forest. Now I hope it’s clear that . . .” “Remember how Mrs. Smith couldn’t afford her prescriptions? Under our plan, . . .”

Call to action

Speeches often close with an appeal to the audience to take action based on their new knowledge or understanding. If you do this, be sure the action you recommend is specific and realistic. For example, although your audience may not be able to affect foreign policy directly, they can vote or work for candidates whose foreign policy views they support. Relating the purpose of your speech to their lives not only creates a connection with your audience, but also reiterates the importance of your topic to them in particular or “the bigger picture.”

Practicing for effective presentation

Once you’ve completed a draft, read your speech to a friend or in front of a mirror. When you’ve finished reading, ask the following questions:

• Which pieces of information are clearest?
• Where did I connect with the audience?
• Where might listeners lose the thread of my argument or description?
• Where might listeners become bored?
• Where did I have trouble speaking clearly and/or emphatically?
• Did I stay within my time limit?

Other resources

• Toastmasters International is a nonprofit group that provides communication and leadership training.
• Allyn & Bacon Publishing’s Essence of Public Speaking Series is an extensive treatment of speech writing and delivery, including books on using humor, motivating your audience, word choice and presentation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Boone, Louis E., David L. Kurtz, and Judy R. Block. 1997. Contemporary Business Communication . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ehrlich, Henry. 1994. Writing Effective Speeches . New York: Marlowe.

Lamb, Sandra E. 1998. How to Write It: A Complete Guide to Everything You’ll Ever Write . Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Speech to Engage your Audience

February 19, 2021 - Dom Barnard

In order to write a speech, you need to think about your audience, the required length, and the purpose or topic. This is true whether you are writing a wedding speech, conference presentation, investor pitch, or any other type of speech.

Being a great speech writer can help you get a promotion, motivate people, sell a business idea, persuade others and much more – it’s an essential skill in the modern world. In this article, we cover key tips for writing a speech.

Initial planning – Why? Who? What?

You should invest time strategically considering the speech. This will help you decide on the key message and content about your topic. Here are some points to consider.

• What do I want to achieve?
• When I achieve this, what will that do for me?
• Why am I speaking?
• What is the purpose of this speech?
• Who are the audience and who do they represent?
• Who do I represent?
• What do I know about them? (culture, language, level of expertise)
• How much influence do they have?
• What is the main message and key points?
• What specific action is implied?
• What level of information should I include?
• What is important to them?

Popular speech structure

You need to catch the audience attention early, very early (see section below). Deliver a memorable beginning, a clear middle and structured ending.

Popular speech structure:

• Explanation 1
• Explanation 2
• Explanation 3

Secondary Point (Optional: supports main)

Tertiary Point (Optional: supports secondary and main)

Attention span of your audience

Research shows that attention span is greatest at the beginning of a speech, reduces considerably during the middle of your speech and picks up again towards the end when your audience know you about to finish.

Don’t try to put too many ideas into your speech. Research shows that people remember very little from speeches, so just give them one or two ideas to hang onto.

These two articles explain audience attention span in more detail, and how to write a speech to extend it:

• How many minutes is the audience’s attention span?
• What to do when you’re losing your audience

Speech introduction

Make sure your opening few seconds are memorable as this is when your audience will make up their minds about you. Use a bold sentence to grab their attention, works best with numbers reinforcing your point.

An example sentence might be – “After this speech, I’m confident 50% of you will go out and buy a VR headset.” Follow these tips on how to write a speech intro:

Remember the INTRO model

This is more focused on presentations but sections can be applied broadly to other general speeches.

1. Interest

You: Introduce yourself confidently and clearly Audience: Why should I listen to you?

You: Remind the audience the reasons for this speech Audience: What’s in it for me?

You: State length of speech at beginning, “Over the next 15 minutes” Audience: How long until I can get a coffee?

4. Routemap

You: State the main points, “Today I’m going to cover 4 main points” Audience: Which sections of the speech are important to me?

5. Objectives

You: Clearly state the objective, “By the end of this speech, I would like to…” Audience: So that’s what you want from me today…

Example: Great speech opening

This speech opening is by Jamie Oliver, giving a TED talk on teaching every child about food.

Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead through the food that they eat. My name’s Jamie Oliver. I’m 34 years old. I’m from Essex in England and for the last seven years I’ve worked fairly tirelessly to save lives in my own way. I’m not a doctor; I’m a chef, I don’t have expensive equipment or medicine. I use information, education. I profoundly believe that the power of food has a primal place in our homes that binds us to the best bits of life. We have an awful, awful reality right now. America, you’re at the top of your game. This is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world.

How not to open your speech

Avoid the following opening comments:

• “ Apologies, I’m a little nervous about speaking ” – no need to make the audience aware of this, it will make them focus on how nervous you are instead of what you are saying
• “ I’ve got the graveyard shift ” – you are telling people not to expect much
• “ I’m what stands between you and lunch ” – even if people weren’t thinking it, after this comment, all they are thinking of is when will you finish so they can eat
• “ We are running late, so I’ll do my best to explain… ” – instead of this, state how long your speech will take so that people know when they will be leaving

Middle of the speech

The body of your speech is where the majority of the information is. The audience has been introduced to the subject and reasons for the speech. Now you need to present your arguments and examples, data, illustrations backing up your key message.

How to write a speech body can be difficult, the best way to build this section is to write down three points you are trying to convey in your speech, your main, secondary and tertiary points. Then write down three descriptions clarifying each of these points. The descriptions should be simple, memorable and meaningful.

The middle of your speech is where the audience start losing attention. Keep this in mind and ensure your message is clear. Use images, jokes and rhetoric questions to keep the audience engaged.

Don’t overwhelm your audience with many points. It is much more valuable to make a small number of points well, than to have too many points which aren’t made satisfactorily.

Obama and his speeches

Obama’s speeches are well prepared with a focus on powerful words “A change is brought about because ordinary people do extraordinary things“. His speeches use simple language and quotes from famous speeches his listeners can relate to.

For additional trademark Obama techniques, check out  How Barack Obama prepares his speeches.

How to end a speech

Similar to the opening, your closing statements should be impactful, re-stating the key message of your speech. We advise learning your ending few lines word for word. The ending is an opportunity to:

• Leave the audience with a lasting impression of your speech
• Summarise the main points
• Provide further ideas and discussion points for the audience to take away with them
• Thank the audience for taking the time to listen

Methods to end your speech

Quotation Close  – use a famous quote to get the audience’s attention and create a link to your speech.

Bookend Close  – refer back to an opening statement and repeat it or add a few extra words to elaborate on it.

Open Question  – ask the audience a provocative question or a call to action to perform some task on the back of your speech.

For additional tips on how to write a speech, in particular how to close your speech, read:

• 5 great ways to end a speech
• 10 ways to end your speech with a bang
• Presentations: language expert – signposting

Ideas for ending a speech

• Key message
• Refer to opening impact statement
• Objectives met
• Call to action
• End on an Up

Step-by-step process for writing a speech

Here’s how to write your speech from concept to completion.

• Outline your speech’s structure. What are the main ideas for each section?
• Write out the main ideas in your outline. Don’t worry about making it perfect – just write as much of it down as you can
• Edit and polish what you’ve written until you have a good first draft of your speech
• Now you need to practice and  memorize your speech . The more you practice, the more you’ll figure out which sections need changing. You’ll also get an idea of length and if you need to extend / shorten it.
• Update your speech, practice some more, and revise your speech until it has a great flow and you feel comfortable with it.

Classic speech transcripts

One of the best ways for learning how to write a speech is reading other well written ones. Here are a list of famous speeches to read and learn from:

• Bill Gates TED Talk Transcript from 2015: Warns of Pandemics, Epidemics
• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Commencement Speech at Harvard 2014
• Ronald Reagan Memorial Day Speech Transcript 1984
• I Have Been to the Mountaintop Speech Transcript – Martin Luther King Jr.

Speech And Debate

Speech Writing

Last updated on: Feb 9, 2023

How to Write a Speech - Outline With Example

By: Cordon J.

Reviewed By: Rylee W.

Published on: Sep 8, 2020

Giving a speech for a class, event or work can be nerve-wracking. However, writing an effective speech can boost your confidence level.

A speech is an effective medium to communicate your message and speech writing is a skill that has its advantages even if you are a student or a professional.

With careful planning and paying attention to small details, you can write a speech that will inform, persuade, entertain or motivate the people you are writing for.

If this is your first speech. Take all the time you need.

Like other skills, you can learn speech writing too.

Give yourself enough time to write and practice it several times for the best possible results.

On this Page

You have a message that you want people to hear or you are preparing a speech for a particular situation such as a commemorative speech.

No matter what the case, it is important to ensure that the speech is well structured or else you will fail to deliver your effective message. And you don’t want that, do you?

You can also explore our complete guide to  write a commemorative speech . Make sure to give the article a thorough read.

How to Create a Speech Outline?

Want to write a speech your audience will remember? A speech outline is a thing you should start with.

‘How to write a speech outline?’

A speech outline is very important in helping you sound more authoritative and in control. As you write your speech outline you will have to focus on how you will introduce yourself, your topic, and the points that you will be going to cover.

A speech outline will save a lot of your time and will help you organize your thoughts. It will make sure the speech is following a proper structure and format.

Before you start writing your own speech you need to know:

• WHO you are writing the speech for
• WHAT the speech will be going to cover
• HOW long it needs to be e.g if it is a 5-minute speech (then how many words in a 5-minute speech)

These speech tips will help you get on the right track from the start. Here is an example of how you can craft a speech outline.

Preparation

• Choose your topic and the main points that your speech will cover. Know your audience and get to know what they are looking for. Pay attention to their needs
• Define the purpose of the speech and properly organize it

Introduction

• A strong statement to grab the reader’s attention
• Refine the thesis statement
• State something that establishes credibility
• Provide your main idea and include some supporting statements.
• Examples and further details (if needed)
• Summarize the main points of the speech
• Closing statement
• Call to action

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

How to Write an Effective Speech?

‘How to write a graduation speech?’

‘How to write a speech for school?’

‘How to write a speech about yourself?’

Get your answers in the below sections.

Just like essays, the speech also follows three sections: Introduction, the main body, and conclusion.

However, unlike essays, a speech must be written to be heard as opposed to just being read. It is important to write a speech in a way that can grab the reader’s attention and helps in painting a mental image.

It is the opening statement of a speech. It is important to know how to start a speech that can grab the attention of the audience.

‘How to write a speech introduction?’

It should include a hook-grabber statement about your topic. It should end with a strong transition from a big idea of the introduction to the main body of the essay. Some great ways to begin your speech are, to begin with, a rhetorical question, a quote, or another strong statement.

Make sure the introduction is not more than one paragraph. This will ensure you do not spend much time on the background before getting to the main idea of the topic.

The introduction is a great chance to make sure your opening is memorable as this is the point when your audience will make up their mind about you.

The Main body

The majority of the speech should be spent presenting your thesis statement and supporting ideas in an organized way.

Avoid rambling as it will immediately lose your audience’s attention. No need to share everything, instead pick some points and stick to them throughout your speech.

Organize your points in a logical manner so they support and build on each other. Add as many points as needed to support the overall message of your speech.

State each point clearly and provide all the required information, facts, statistics, and evidence, to clarify each of your points.

It is a good idea to include your personal experiences to make your speech more interesting and memorable.

Another important thing to be kept in mind is the use of transition. The purpose of adding transition words is to improve the overall flow of the information and help the reader to understand the speech structure. Words like next, then, after, before, at that moment, etc. are the most commonly used transition words to make the whole writing less choppy and more interesting.

The conclusion should restate and summarize all the main points of the speech. Because the audience will most likely remember what they have heard last. Beautifully wrap up the whole speech and give something for the audience to think about.

For an extra element, close your speech by restating the introduction statement so it feels like a complete package.

A good approach to conclude your speech is to introduce a call to action. Encourage your audience to participate in the solution to the problem that you are discussing. Give your audience some direction on how they can participate.

Practice and more practice is key to a great speech so it is important that you read your speech and listen to yourself. When writing, take care of the required length also.

Speech Topics - Engaging Topics to Choose From

You feel relief when your teacher says you are free to choose your speech topic. Feel free to write about anything you want. The problem is students still feel stuck in choosing an effective speech topic. If you are one of them, here is a list of the best speech ideas to help you get through the process.

• What role do cats play in human’s lives
• How to improve communication disorders
• World’s fastest-growing country
• Today’s world pollution rate
• How to improve interpersonal skills
• Are paper books better than e-books
• Should the death penalty be abolished
• Should prisoners be allowed to vote
• Should voting be made compulsory
• Is it better to live together before marriage

These are some of the interesting topics that you can consider. However, if you are still not sure about the topic of your speech, you can explore our article on  informative speech topics  and pick any of your choices.

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Speech Example

Stressing over on how to write a good speech? Speech examples are sure to be your best friend for effective speech writing and its effortless delivery.

Here is a sample speech example to help you get through your own speech writing process. Explore this example and get the answer on how to give a good speech.

Get Professional Help for Your Speech

If you are good at public speaking but lack writing skills or you do not have enough time to follow the mentioned points and write a speech, don't worry.

You can always contact us at 5StarEssays.com.

We have a highly qualified and amazing team of expert writers who can help you if you want to buy speeches online with high-quality content.

Contact our " write my essay " service with your requirements. Our essay writer will provide you with quality material that your audience will remember for a long time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best introduction for a speech.

The best way to open a speech’s introduction is, to begin with, a story. Tell an inspiring story to your audience and connect it with your personal narrative.

What is the first step of speech writing?

The first step of writing a speech is to choose a topic. Choosing a good topic is important to have an engaging and great speech.

What are the five steps in speech writing?

Here are the five steps involved in writing a speech.

• Choose a topic.
• Investigate your audience.
• Built an outline.
• Rehearse the speech.
• Revise and finalize.

What are the types of speech delivery?

Here are the types of speech delivery.

• Extemporaneous

What are the two P’s required for good speech delivery?

The two P’s required for proper speech delivery are Preparation and Practice.

Cordon. is a published author and writing specialist. He has worked in the publishing industry for many years, providing writing services and digital content. His own writing career began with a focus on literature and linguistics, which he continues to pursue. Cordon is an engaging and professional individual, always looking to help others achieve their goals.

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• Commemorative Speech: Guide to Craft an Engaging Speech

• Persuasive Speech Topics - 150+ Topics for Students

• 50+ Demonstration Speech Ideas for Your Next Great Speech

• Impromptu Speech Topics - 150+ Interesting Ideas

• Debate Topics (2024) - Top 200+ Compelling Topics

• 100+ Motivational Speech Topics for an Inspirational Speech

• Extemporaneous Speech - How to Write One Successfully?

• Graduation Speech - Write Your Best Graduation Speech

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How to Write a Speech: A Guide to Enhance Your Writing Skills

Speech is a medium to convey a message to the world. It is a way of expressing your views on a topic or a way to showcase your strong opposition to a particular idea. To deliver an effective speech, you need a strong and commanding voice, but more important than that is what you say. Spending time in preparing a speech is as vital as presenting it well to your audience.

Read the article to learn what all you need to include in a speech and how to structure it.

Table of Contents

• Self-Introduction

The Opening Statement

Structuring the speech, choice of words, authenticity, writing in 1st person, tips to write a speech, frequently asked questions on speech, how to write a speech.

Writing a speech on any particular topic requires a lot of research. It also has to be structured well in order to properly get the message across to the target audience. If you have ever listened to famous orators, you would have noticed the kind of details they include when speaking about a particular topic, how they present it and how their speeches motivate and instill courage in people to work towards an individual or shared goal. Learning how to write such effective speeches can be done with a little guidance. So, here are a few points you can keep in mind when writing a speech on your own. Go through each of them carefully and follow them meticulously.

Self Introduction

When you are writing or delivering a speech, the very first thing you need to do is introduce yourself. When you are delivering a speech for a particular occasion, there might be a master of ceremony who might introduce you and invite you to share your thoughts. Whatever be the case, always remember to say one or two sentences about who you are and what you intend to do.

Introductions can change according to the nature of your target audience. It can be either formal or informal based on the audience you are addressing. Here are a few examples.

Addressing Friends/Classmates/Peers

• Hello everyone! I am ________. I am here to share my views on _________.
• Good morning friends. I, _________, am here to talk to you about _________.

Addressing Teachers/Higher Authorities

• Good morning/afternoon/evening. Before I start, I would like to thank _______ for giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts about ________ here today.
• A good day to all. I, __________, on behalf of _________, am standing here today to voice out my thoughts on _________.

It is said that the first seven seconds is all that a human brain requires to decide whether or not to focus on something. So, it is evident that a catchy opening statement is the factor that will impact your audience. Writing a speech does require a lot of research, and structuring it in an interesting, informative and coherent manner is something that should be done with utmost care.

When given a topic to speak on, the first thing you can do is brainstorm ideas and pen down all that comes to your mind. This will help you understand what aspect of the topic you want to focus on. With that in mind, you can start drafting your speech.

An opening statement can be anything that is relevant to the topic. Use words smartly to create an impression and grab the attention of your audience. A few ideas on framing opening statements are given below. Take a look.

• Asking an Engaging Question

Starting your speech by asking the audience a question can get their attention. It creates an interest and curiosity in the audience and makes them think about the question. This way, you would have already got their minds ready to listen and think.

• Fact or a Surprising Statement

Surprising the audience with an interesting fact or a statement can draw the attention of the audience. It can even be a joke; just make sure it is relevant. A good laugh would wake up their minds and they would want to listen to what you are going to say next.

• Adding a Quote

After you have found your topic to work on, look for a quote that best suits your topic. The quote can be one said by some famous personality or even from stories, movies or series. As long as it suits your topic and is appropriate to the target audience, use them confidently.  Again, finding a quote that is well-known or has scope for deep thought will be your success factor.

To structure your speech easily, it is advisable to break it into three parts or three sections – an introduction, body and conclusion.

• Introduction: Introduce the topic and your views on the topic briefly.
• Body: Give a detailed explanation of your topic. Your focus should be to inform and educate your audience on the said topic.
• Conclusion:  Voice out your thoughts/suggestions. Your intention here should be to make them think/act.

While delivering or writing a speech, it is essential to keep an eye on the language you are using. Choose the right kind of words. The person has the liberty to express their views in support or against the topic; just be sure to provide enough evidence to prove the discussed points. See to it that you use short and precise sentences. Your choice of words and what you emphasise on will decide the effect of the speech on the audience.

When writing a speech, make sure to,

• Avoid long, confusing sentences.
• Check the spelling, sentence structure and grammar.
• Not use contradictory words or statements that might cause any sort of issues.

Anything authentic will appeal to the audience, so including anecdotes, personal experiences and thoughts will help you build a good rapport with your audience. The only thing you need to take care is to not let yourself be carried away in the moment. Speak only what is necessary.

Using the 1st person point of view in a speech is believed to be more effective than a third person point of view. Just be careful not to make it too subjective and sway away from the topic.

• Understand the purpose of your speech: Before writing the speech, you must understand the topic and the purpose behind it. Reason out and evaluate if the speech has to be inspiring, entertaining or purely informative.
• Identify your audience: When writing or delivering a speech, your audience play the major role. Unless you know who your target audience is, you will not be able to draft a good and appropriate speech.
• Decide the length of the speech: Whatever be the topic, make sure you keep it short and to the point. Making a speech longer than it needs to be will only make it monotonous and boring.
• Revising and practicing the speech: After writing, it is essential to revise and recheck as there might be minor errors which you might have missed. Edit and revise until you are sure you have it right. Practise as much as required so you do not stammer in front of your audience.
• Mention your takeaways at the end of the speech: Takeaways are the points which have been majorly emphasised on and can bring a change. Be sure to always have a thought or idea that your audience can reflect upon at the end of your speech.

How to write a speech?

Writing a speech is basically about collecting, summarising and structuring your points on a given topic. Do a proper research, prepare multiple drafts, edit and revise until you are sure of the content.

Why is it important to introduce ourselves?

It is essential to introduce yourself while writing a speech, so that your audience or the readers know who the speaker is and understand where you come from. This will, in turn, help them connect with you and your thoughts.

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How to write a speech introduction

12 of the best attention getters to start a speech

By:  Susan Dugdale  | Last modified: 01-12-2023

The audience settles in their seats. The lights dim. You walk out to the center of the stage. You pause, take a deep breath, open your mouth and begin.

What you say over the next 30 seconds to introduce your speech or presentation is crucial.

That's how much time you have to make a positive impression on your audience. In it they will decide whether or not you have anything relevant or useful to say. Those first impressions count!

So how do you write an effective speech introduction to grab and hold their attention?

Begin by finding out how to choose the right opener.

What's on this page:

• how to choose the right opener for your speech

12 of the very best ways to start a speech

3. What if?

5. Key fact

7. Rhetorical

9. Headlines

10. History

11. Challenge

How to choose the right opener for your speech

The better way to make your choice of opener is after you have carefully considered who you are talking to and why you're talking to them.

One size does not fit all. Different audiences will respond differently. If you are giving the same speech multiple times think about what you may need to change to fit. 

To work well your opening needs to be aligned with:

• the type of speech you're giving
• your main purpose for giving it
• your target audience and,  
• their interests or needs

Both the hook * to catch their attention and your topic must be relevant to them. Unless they're a captive audience, they've come freely to listen to you and they're expecting something of value from you.

How are you going to let them know they're in the right place? Why should they listen? What are they going to get or gain through listening?

Out of all the different ways to open, what attention getter is absolutely the best way?

The only way I know to work out what is best is to go through each of them, and as you do, consider your audience. Make a short list of those you think might work then try them out before making your final choice.

* hook – an opening statement that immediately captures the audience's attention just like a well baited hook on a fishing line catches a fish.

Return to Top

1. Use imagination to create mind pictures

Ask the audience to use their imagination. Get them to build evocative compelling images in their minds. Make them large. Add vibrant color, sound and movement.

For example:

“Let's take a break. Make yourself comfortable. Now close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath, and you're there, in the place where you feel the most at ease, the place where all the tensions, all the demands of your normal everyday life disappear. Look around you. See it. Feel it. It's so good, it's perfect."

“Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and a moment to picture in your mind the people dearest to you, the people you feel you could not live without. Now when did you talk to them, or spend real time with them last?"

2. Use an item to build a connection 

Choose an image or an object related to your speech, for instance a pair of shoes, to trigger interest and build a connection.

For example, if I were giving a speech on the lives of upper-middle class 19th century women I could open by holding up a pair of ornately decorated kid leather pumps.

“What's the name of the young woman who wore these? Listen. Can you hear the rustle of her silk skirts? And hear her heart beat bom-biddy-bom as the beau of the ball stepped her way? Would he, or wouldn't he ask her to dance?”

3. Ask a 'What if...?' rhetorical question

'What if...?' invites an audience to consider the possibilities of something becoming real. They can be positive somethings or negative, trivial or something that would have a significant impact if it came to pass.

The power of a 'what if...?' rhetorical question as an opener lies in the potency of the images and feelings it triggers. A well-chosen 'what if...?' will immediately have an audience wanting to hear the rest of your speech.

• "What if we don't find a way to successfully manage climate change?"
• "What if we really did solve the affordable housing crisis?"
• "What if questions of race and color ceased to matter?"
• "What if medicines were freely available to everybody who needed them?"
• "What if the person sitting next to you turned, looked into your eyes and said they loved you? Truly. Madly. Deeply."

4. Try a quotation from someone who's impacted your life in some way

To be effective a quotation doesn't have to be the clever quip or snippet of enduring wisdom: a famous quote from a well known person. It's origin could be personal, something someone important in your life said that's remained with you.

For example, my Mother answered all initial wails of outrage, pain or hurt from any of her five children with a command. "Breathe!" That was repeated, interwoven with encouraging asides, until whoever it was, was able to talk clearly and be understood.  "It's OK.", she'd say. "Breathe. Come on. You can do it. Breathe. That's it. Keep going. Good."

Or I could use this line from one of my high school reports which read, "...with further maturity she should do well." (Thank you Mr Phillips. Your prediction was right on target.) 

Or this from our son aged four as he watched me getting ready for another day of teaching: "When I grow up I'm going to wear pretty dresses and go to school just like you."

5. Use an interesting key fact

Choose an interesting key fact as an attention getting device: one of the most rarely known, or a shocking statistic from the body of your speech to open with.

For example: "Take a guess at what the most powerful and frequently used word is in the English language? 

It's not one of those usually thought of candidates.  Love? No. Money? Nope. Neither is it  any member of your family... Mum, Dad, brother, sister, son, or daughter.

It's a three letter word, so common it's overlooked and taken for granted. 'The'. It's the humble 'the'."

(For more see this BBC article:  Is this the most powerful word in the English language?

Or: "Between 2020/21 and 2021/2022, Americans consumed about 11 million metric tons of sugar, up from about 10 million metric tons in 2009/2010. Can you even begin to imagine the size of that sweet white mountain?"

(For more see: US sugar consumption statistics )

6. Share personal stories

Share a personal story related to your specific topic as the beginning of a speech. Done well, it lets the audience know you understand their situation and helps establish your credibility: your right to talk on the subject.

As an example here's the opening of a speech I gave about the impact of suicide on families and friends:

“One fine Spring day I biked home from school and found a policemen guarding our backdoor. Through it came sounds I'll never forget: my quiet Mother screaming. He said, "You can't go in."

I kicked him in the shins and did. It was the 15th of September, three days before my thirteenth birthday and my father was dead. Killed by his own hand. Suicide.”

(If you want to find out more about the speech and read it, it's here: After they're gone . It's an example persuasive speech using the five steps of Monroe's Motivated Sequence.)

7. Rhetorical questions

These are questions that although they are asked, they're never really intended to be answered by anyone other than the person asking them. * Their principal function is to act as a segue, or lead in, to what the person intends to say next. For instance, the first main point of your introduction.

Examples: "What if I were to say to you that there was no such thing as public speaking fear?"

"What do you think the main benefits of being able to speak up in public are?"

* Although there's bound to be someone in your audience who will. Be ready for them, and move on.

8. An empathetic question, aligning yourself with the audience and eliciting a response

These questions bring speaker and audience together, establishing a common ground, a mutual understanding, which is an effective way to ease into a speech. If your question 'works' you'll see heads nodding in agreement.

• "Have you ever experienced the butterflies in your stomach turning into a herd of rampaging elephants, just before you step up to give your presentation?"
• "Have you ever wanted a good day to never end?"
• "How often have you 'lost' your car in the supermarket car park?"
• "How often have you ever wanted to shout, NO? You want me to prepare a new presentation by tomorrow? NO. You want me to stay late, again? NO."

9. It's in the news

Take headlines from what's trending in media you know the audience will be familiar with and see.

Using those that relate to your speech topic as the opening of your speech is a good way to grab the attention of the audience. It shows how relevant and up-to-the-minute the topic is.

For example: "'Death toll soars to 76 in Florida after Hurricane Ian demolished entire communities.' 'Noru became a super typhoon in 6 hours. Scientists say powerful storms are becoming harder to forecast.' 'Hurricane Orlene strengthens into Category 4 storm as it heads toward western Mexico.'

Three front page headlines from CNN just today. Climate change. Let's do what we can."

10. This day in history

If you're giving a speech to celebrate a special birthday or an anniversary, consider using several carefully selected events that occurred on the same day as a speech opening. They could be either funny or serious, depending on the specific purpose of your speech. They're a great way to place the person in a much wider context and often with exalted company.

For example: "What do the 1863 National Thanksgiving Day proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln, National Boyfriend Day, and Gwen Stefani have in common with Joe? Yes, the 3rd of October! It's a great date made better by being Joe's birthday. And we say Gwen is truly privileged to have the same one as him."

11. Issue a challenge

Let the audience know first thing, at the beginning of the speech, what action you expect they'll be able to take by the time your presentation is complete. Then when you come to the final points, repeat the call to action, or challenge, as part of your closing statement.

For example: "I've a challenge for you. That's to sign up for our public speaking course. Right now you may not see yourself doing that. Public speaking? Me? I'd rather have a root canal done, without painkillers. However, by the end of the presentation...well, let's see. There's a first time for everything!"

Use a startling statement, a fact, or a series of facts, to jolt the audience into paying attention.

"Covid. We've had 1.06 million of us die in the US, so far. Today there are nearly 60,00 new cases. More mothers, fathers, friends, colleagues, children – people. People ill. People who might die. So why have we stopped wearing masks?"

For more: Google: Covid stats US

Other speech writing resources

• how to end a speech effectively : explanations with examples showing how to close a speech with impact
• how to write a speech : a detailed guide with examples covering audience analysis, planning, writing oral language, transitions, how to use an outline... 

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How to Write and Structure a Persuasive Speech

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The purpose of a persuasive speech is to convince your audience to agree with an idea or opinion that you present. First, you'll need to choose a side on a controversial topic, then you will write a speech to explain your position, and convince the audience to agree with you.

You can produce an effective persuasive speech if you structure your argument as a solution to a problem. Your first job as a speaker is to convince your audience that a particular problem is important to them, and then you must convince them that you have the solution to make things better.

Note: You don't have to address a real problem. Any need can work as the problem. For example, you could consider the lack of a pet, the need to wash one's hands, or the need to pick a particular sport to play as the "problem."

As an example, let's imagine that you have chosen "Getting Up Early" as your persuasion topic. Your goal will be to persuade classmates to get themselves out of bed an hour earlier every morning. In this instance, the problem could be summed up as "morning chaos."

A standard speech format has an introduction with a great hook statement, three main points, and a summary. Your persuasive speech will be a tailored version of this format.

Before you write the text of your speech, you should sketch an outline that includes your hook statement and three main points.

Writing the Text

The introduction of your speech must be compelling because your audience will make up their minds within a few minutes whether or not they are interested in your topic.

Before you write the full body you should come up with a greeting. Your greeting can be as simple as "Good morning everyone. My name is Frank."

After your greeting, you will offer a hook to capture attention. A hook sentence for the "morning chaos" speech could be a question:

• How many times have you been late for school?
• Does your day begin with shouts and arguments?
• Have you ever missed the bus?

Or your hook could be a statistic or surprising statement:

• More than 50 percent of high school students skip breakfast because they just don't have time to eat.
• Tardy kids drop out of school more often than punctual kids.

Once you have the attention of your audience, follow through to define the topic/problem and introduce your solution. Here's an example of what you might have so far:

Good afternoon, class. Some of you know me, but some of you may not. My name is Frank Godfrey, and I have a question for you. Does your day begin with shouts and arguments? Do you go to school in a bad mood because you've been yelled at, or because you argued with your parent? The chaos you experience in the morning can bring you down and affect your performance at school.

Add the solution:

You can improve your mood and your school performance by adding more time to your morning schedule. You can accomplish this by setting your alarm clock to go off one hour earlier.

Your next task will be to write the body, which will contain the three main points you've come up with to argue your position. Each point will be followed by supporting evidence or anecdotes, and each body paragraph will need to end with a transition statement that leads to the next segment. Here is a sample of three main statements:

• Bad moods caused by morning chaos will affect your workday performance.
• If you skip breakfast to buy time, you're making a harmful health decision.
• (Ending on a cheerful note) You'll enjoy a boost to your self-esteem when you reduce the morning chaos.

After you write three body paragraphs with strong transition statements that make your speech flow, you are ready to work on your summary.

Your summary will re-emphasize your argument and restate your points in slightly different language. This can be a little tricky. You don't want to sound repetitive but will need to repeat what you have said. Find a way to reword the same main points.

Finally, you must make sure to write a clear final sentence or passage to keep yourself from stammering at the end or fading off in an awkward moment. A few examples of graceful exits:

• We all like to sleep. It's hard to get up some mornings, but rest assured that the reward is well worth the effort.
• If you follow these guidelines and make the effort to get up a little bit earlier every day, you'll reap rewards in your home life and on your report card.

Tips for Writing Your Speech

• Don't be confrontational in your argument. You don't need to put down the other side; just convince your audience that your position is correct by using positive assertions.
• Use simple statistics. Don't overwhelm your audience with confusing numbers.
• Don't complicate your speech by going outside the standard "three points" format. While it might seem simplistic, it is a tried and true method for presenting to an audience who is listening as opposed to reading.
• 100 Persuasive Speech Topics for Students
• 100 Persuasive Essay Topics
• Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
• 50 Argumentative Essay Topics
• How to Write a Persuasive Essay
• 5 Tips on How to Write a Speech Essay
• How To Write an Essay
• Tips on How to Write an Argumentative Essay
• Writing an Opinion Essay
• How to Structure an Essay
• 5 Steps to Writing a Position Paper
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• Ethos, Logos, Pathos for Persuasion
• Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
• How to Write a Graduation Speech as Valedictorian

15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own)

Hrideep barot.

• Public Speaking , Speech Writing

Powerful speech opening lines set the tone and mood of your speech. It’s what grips the audience to want to know more about the rest of your talk.

The first few seconds are critical. It’s when you have maximum attention of the audience. And you must capitalize on that!

Instead of starting off with something plain and obvious such as a ‘Thank you’ or ‘Good Morning’, there’s so much more you can do for a powerful speech opening (here’s a great article we wrote a while ago on how you should NOT start your speech ).

To help you with this, I’ve compiled some of my favourite openings from various speakers. These speakers have gone on to deliver TED talks , win international Toastmaster competitions or are just noteworthy people who have mastered the art of communication.

After each speaker’s opening line, I have added how you can include their style of opening into your own speech. Understanding how these great speakers do it will certainly give you an idea to create your own speech opening line which will grip the audience from the outset!

Alright! Let’s dive into the 15 powerful speech openings…

Note: Want to take your communications skills to the next level? Book a complimentary consultation with one of our expert communication coaches. We’ll look under the hood of your hurdles and pick two to three growth opportunities so you can speak with impact!

1. Ric Elias

Opening: “Imagine a big explosion as you climb through 3,000 ft. Imagine a plane full of smoke. Imagine an engine going clack, clack, clack. It sounds scary. Well I had a unique seat that day. I was sitting in 1D.”

How to use the power of imagination to open your speech?

Putting your audience in a state of imagination can work extremely well to captivate them for the remainder of your talk.

It really helps to bring your audience in a certain mood that preps them for what’s about to come next. Speakers have used this with high effectiveness by transporting their audience into an imaginary land to help prove their point.

When Ric Elias opened his speech, the detail he used (3000 ft, sound of the engine going clack-clack-clack) made me feel that I too was in the plane. He was trying to make the audience experience what he was feeling – and, at least in my opinion, he did.

When using the imagination opening for speeches, the key is – detail. While we want the audience to wander into imagination, we want them to wander off to the image that we want to create for them. So, detail out your scenario if you’re going to use this technique.

Make your audience feel like they too are in the same circumstance as you were when you were in that particular situation.

2. Barack Obama

Opening: “You can’t say it, but you know it’s true.”

3. Seth MacFarlane

Opening: “There’s nowhere I would rather be on a day like this than around all this electoral equipment.” (It was raining)

How to use humour to open your speech?

When you use humour in a manner that suits your personality, it can set you up for a great speech. Why? Because getting a laugh in the first 30 seconds or so is a great way to quickly get the audience to like you.

And when they like you, they are much more likely to listen to and believe in your ideas.

Obama effortlessly uses his opening line to entice laughter among the audience. He brilliantly used the setting (the context of Trump becoming President) and said a line that completely matched his style of speaking.

Saying a joke without really saying a joke and getting people to laugh requires you to be completely comfortable in your own skin. And that’s not easy for many people (me being one of them).

If the joke doesn’t land as expected, it could lead to a rocky start.

Keep in mind the following when attempting to deliver a funny introduction:

• Know your audience: Make sure your audience gets the context of the joke (if it’s an inside joke among the members you’re speaking to, that’s even better!). You can read this article we wrote where we give you tips on how you can actually get to know your audience better to ensure maximum impact with your speech openings
• The joke should suit your natural personality. Don’t make it look forced or it won’t elicit the desired response
• Test the opening out on a few people who match your real audience. Analyze their response and tweak the joke accordingly if necessary
• Starting your speech with humour means your setting the tone of your speech. It would make sense to have a few more jokes sprinkled around the rest of the speech as well as the audience might be expecting the same from you

4. Mohammed Qahtani

Opening: Puts a cigarette on his lips, lights a lighter, stops just before lighting the cigarette. Looks at audience, “What?”

5. Darren Tay

Opening: Puts a white pair of briefs over his pants.

How to use props to begin your speech?

The reason props work so well in a talk is because in most cases the audience is not expecting anything more than just talking. So when a speaker pulls out an object that is unusual, everyone’s attention goes right to it.

It makes you wonder why that prop is being used in this particular speech.

The key word here is unusual . To grip the audience’s attention at the beginning of the speech, the prop being used should be something that the audience would never expect. Otherwise, it just becomes something that is common. And common = boring!

What Mohammed Qahtani and Darren Tay did superbly well in their talks was that they used props that nobody expected them to.

By pulling out a cigarette and lighter or a white pair of underwear, the audience can’t help but be gripped by what the speaker is about to do next. And that makes for a powerful speech opening.

6. Simon Sinek

Opening: “How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions?”

7. Julian Treasure

Opening: “The human voice. It’s the instrument we all play. It’s the most powerful sound in the world. Probably the only one that can start a war or say “I love you.” And yet many people have the experience that when they speak people don’t listen to them. Why is that? How can we speak powerfully to make change in the world?”

How to use questions to open a speech?

I use this method often. Starting off with a question is the simplest way to start your speech in a manner that immediately engages the audience.

But we should keep our questions compelling as opposed to something that is fairly obvious.

I’ve heard many speakers start their speeches with questions like “How many of us want to be successful?”

No one is going to say ‘no’ to that and frankly, I just feel silly raising my hand at such questions.

Simon Sinek and Jullian Treasure used questions in a manner that really made the audience think and make them curious to find out what the answer to that question is.

What Jullian Treasure did even better was the use of a few statements which built up to his question. This made the question even more compelling and set the theme for what the rest of his talk would be about.

So think of what question you can ask in your speech that will:

• Set the theme for the remainder of your speech
• Not be something that is fairly obvious
• Be compelling enough so that the audience will actually want to know what the answer to that question will be

8. Aaron Beverley

Opening: Long pause (after an absurdly long introduction of a 57-word speech title). “Be honest. You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

How to use silence for speech openings?

The reason this speech opening stands out is because of the fact that the title itself is 57 words long. The audience was already hilariously intrigued by what was going to come next.

But what’s so gripping here is the way Aaron holds the crowd’s suspense by…doing nothing. For about 10 to 12 seconds he did nothing but stand and look at the audience. Everyone quietened down. He then broke this silence by a humorous remark that brought the audience laughing down again.

When going on to open your speech, besides focusing on building a killer opening sentence, how about just being silent?

It’s important to keep in mind that the point of having a strong opening is so that the audience’s attention is all on you and are intrigued enough to want to listen to the rest of your speech.

Silence is a great way to do that. When you get on the stage, just pause for a few seconds (about 3 to 5 seconds) and just look at the crowd. Let the audience and yourself settle in to the fact that the spotlight is now on you.

I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something about starting the speech off with a pure pause that just makes the beginning so much more powerful. It adds credibility to you as a speaker as well, making you look more comfortable and confident on stage. 

If you want to know more about the power of pausing in public speaking , check out this post we wrote. It will give you a deeper insight into the importance of pausing and how you can harness it for your own speeches. You can also check out this video to know more about Pausing for Public Speaking:

9. Dan Pink

Opening: “I need to make a confession at the outset here. Little over 20 years ago, I did something that I regret. Something that I’m not particularly proud of. Something that in many ways I wish no one would ever know but that here I feel kind of obliged to reveal.”

10. Kelly McGonigal

Opening: “I have a confession to make. But first I want you to make a little confession to me.”

How to use a build-up to open your speech?

When there are so many amazing ways to start a speech and grip an audience from the outset, why would you ever choose to begin your speech with a ‘Good morning?’.

That’s what I love about build-ups. They set the mood for something awesome that’s about to come in that the audience will feel like they just have to know about.

Instead of starting a speech as it is, see if you can add some build-up to your beginning itself. For instance, in Kelly McGonigal’s speech, she could have started off with the question of stress itself (which she eventually moves on to in her speech). It’s not a bad way to start the speech.

But by adding the statement of “I have a confession to make” and then not revealing the confession for a little bit, the audience is gripped to know what she’s about to do next and find out what indeed is her confession.

11. Tim Urban

Opening: “So in college, I was a government major. Which means that I had to write a lot of papers. Now when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this.”

12. Scott Dinsmore

Opening: “8 years ago, I got the worst career advice of my life.”

How to use storytelling as a speech opening?

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.” Steve Jobs

Storytelling is the foundation of good speeches. Starting your speech with a story is a great way to grip the audience’s attention. It makes them yearn to want to know how the rest of the story is going to pan out.

Tim Urban starts off his speech with a story dating back to his college days. His use of slides is masterful and something we all can learn from. But while his story sounds simple, it does the job of intriguing the audience to want to know more.

As soon as I heard the opening lines, I thought to myself “If normal students write their paper in a certain manner, how does Tim write his papers?”

Combine such a simple yet intriguing opening with comedic slides, and you’ve got yourself a pretty gripping speech.

Scott Dismore’s statement has a similar impact. However, just a side note, Scott Dismore actually started his speech with “Wow, what an honour.”

I would advise to not start your talk with something such as that. It’s way too common and does not do the job an opening must, which is to grip your audience and set the tone for what’s coming.

13. Larry Smith

Opening: “I want to discuss with you this afternoon why you’re going to fail to have a great career.”

14. Jane McGonigal

Opening: “You will live 7.5 minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just because you watched this talk.”

How to use provocative statements to start your speech?

Making a provocative statement creates a keen desire among the audience to want to know more about what you have to say. It immediately brings everyone into attention.

Larry Smith did just that by making his opening statement surprising, lightly humorous, and above all – fearful. These elements lead to an opening statement which creates so much curiosity among the audience that they need to know how your speech pans out.

This one time, I remember seeing a speaker start a speech with, “Last week, my best friend committed suicide.” The entire crowd was gripped. Everyone could feel the tension in the room.

They were just waiting for the speaker to continue to know where this speech will go.

That’s what a hard-hitting statement does, it intrigues your audience so much that they can’t wait to hear more! Just a tip, if you do start off with a provocative, hard-hitting statement, make sure you pause for a moment after saying it.

Silence after an impactful statement will allow your message to really sink in with the audience.

Related article: 5 Ways to Grab Your Audience’s Attention When You’re Losing it!

15. Ramona J Smith

Opening: In a boxing stance, “Life would sometimes feel like a fight. The punches, jabs and hooks will come in the form of challenges, obstacles and failures. Yet if you stay in the ring and learn from those past fights, at the end of each round, you’ll be still standing.”

How to use your full body to grip the audience at the beginning of your speech?

In a talk, the audience is expecting you to do just that – talk. But when you enter the stage and start putting your full body into use in a way that the audience does not expect, it grabs their attention.

Body language is critical when it comes to public speaking. Hand gestures, stage movement, facial expressions are all things that need to be paid attention to while you’re speaking on stage. But that’s not I’m talking about here.

Here, I’m referring to a unique use of the body that grips the audience, like how Ramona did. By using her body to get into a boxing stance, imitating punches, jabs and hooks with her arms while talking – that’s what got the audience’s attention.

The reason I say this is so powerful is because if you take Ramona’s speech and remove the body usage from her opening, the entire magic of the opening falls flat.

While the content is definitely strong, without those movements, she would not have captured the audience’s attention as beautifully as she did with the use of her body.

So if you have a speech opening that seems slightly dull, see if you can add some body movement to it.

If your speech starts with a story of someone running, actually act out the running. If your speech starts with a story of someone reading, actually act out the reading.

It will make your speech opening that much more impactful.

Related article: 5 Body Language Tips to Command the Stage

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Final Words

So there it is! 15 speech openings from some of my favourite speeches. Hopefully, these will act as a guide for you to create your own opening which is super impactful and sets you off on the path to becoming a powerful public speaker!

But remember, while a speech opening is super important, it’s just part of an overall structure.

If you’re serious about not just creating a great speech opening but to improve your public speaking at an overall level, I would highly recommend you to check out this course: Acumen Presents: Chris Anderson on Public Speaking on Udemy. Not only does it have specific lectures on starting and ending a speech, but it also offers an in-depth guide into all the nuances of public speaking. 

Being the founder of TED Talks, Chris Anderson provides numerous examples of the best TED speakers to give us a very practical way of overcoming stage fear and delivering a speech that people will remember. His course has helped me personally and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to learn public speaking. 

No one is ever “done” learning public speaking. It’s a continuous process and you can always get better. Keep learning, keep conquering and keep being awesome!

Lastly, if you want to know how you should NOT open your speech, we’ve got a video for you:

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September 7, 2018

How to: Format a speech text

Some speakers avoid using written scripts, because they say "reading" makes them feel stiff or uncomfortable.

Others rely on having the speech in front of them word for word.

And some situations require that a speaker use a script—because precise language is important or because the speech will live on, part of a permanent record.

Wherever you fall in this picture, you can be more successful with a written script by doing something incredibly simple and obvious: formatting the words on the page for easy reading.

Here’s how: 

1. Make the font size larger

This seems obvious, but you might be surprised to learn that even veteran speakers don’t do this.

Go up to 14 point, to start—then don’t be shy about making it even larger if that makes it easier for you to read. 

2. Break lines where you’d naturally pause, rather than have large blocks of continuous text.

The goal when delivering from a text is that you can look down, grab the line, then look up and deliver it, holding eye contact with the audience through the last word.

Speakers are tempted to look down on that last word, though, because they’re afraid they won’t be able to find the next word.

By breaking the lines deliberately, where you’d naturally pause, you make it easy to get through the final word, then look back to grab the next line or phrase where a pause would naturally occur.

So don’t default to running paragraphs. Use the return key to break lines where it makes the most sense to you.

3. Bold key words, not for emphasis, but to prompt your memory.

As you practice and become more familiar with your script, you’ll find this especially helpful. Those key words will prompt you to remember the entire line.

We do not use bold type to indicate emphasis and suggest you might mark up your text with a pen or highlighters to indicate HOW you want to deliver. But that’s just our suggestion. Whatever makes the most sense to you is what you should do.

4. Add extra space and insert page breaks to cue pace and timing.

Extra space can remind you that you’ve completed one thought and should pause for a beat before moving on to the next one.

Managing page breaks lets you move from page to page naturally and not have a page change in the middle of an idea or sentence. 

And be sure to number your pages!  

Other tips and tricks that work for some speakers:

• Only use the top two-thirds of the page. Some speakers feel this keeps them from having to look so far down to see the script, thus improving eye contact.
• Print your script on card stock instead of paper, so it’s easier to handle.
• Put your script in a notebook and arrange pages so that you can see two pages at one time (book style) before you have to flip the page.
• Keep pages loose and slide them across the top of the lectern, rather than turning them, so the pages are less noticeable.

The only thing that matters in all of this is what works for you. Your preferences will evolve, and trivial as it might seem, these experiments are worth conducting. We’ve seen speakers dramatically improve their delivery, instantly, when we change the way we format their scripts.

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• May 29, 2024

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When giving a speech, it’s common to have an intended goal in mind. For instance, you may be informing your audience about a topic, entertaining them, or persuading them to see an issue from your point of view. At times, speakers give a speech with the intent to call their audience to action. A well-crafted call to action turns passive listeners into passionate doers. But how exactly do you galvanize your audience? In other words, how do you craft an effective call to action in your speech?

The key is to make it clear, specific, and emotionally compelling. You need to tap into what your audience cares about and show them how taking action will benefit them. It’s not about what you want—it’s about what they need. In this post, we’ll explore the art and science behind creating a CTA that resonates, motivates, and inspires. So buckle up, because we’re about to take your speaking game to new heights!

What is a Call to Action in a Speech?

If you’ve ever found yourself fired up after listening to a powerful speech , ready to take on the world, you’ve likely experienced the impact of a well-crafted call to action. A call to action (CTA) is an explicit appeal to your audience to take a specific action following your speech. It’s that critical moment when you convert listeners to doers, bridging the gap between inspiration and action.

Types of Calls to Action in Speeches

Calls to action vary depending on your speech’s purpose and who you’re talking to. For instance, you might ask your audience to sign up for a newsletter, donate to a cause, or spread the word about an upcoming event.

• Signing a petition
• Volunteering time to an organization
• Contacting elected representatives about an issue
• Registering to vote
• Changing a specific behavior

The key is to choose an action that is both relevant to your message and realistic for your audience to accomplish.

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Benefits of Using a Call to Action in Your Speech

So now you understand what a call to action is, but why use one in your speech? The truth is, a well-crafted CTA can make the difference between a speech that falls flat and one that inspires real change. That makes it a crucial element in your speech, especially if you’re giving a persuasive speech . Not only does a call to action highlight your main message, but it also provides a tangible way for your audience to demonstrate that they agree with what you’ve said. Let’s take a look at some additional benefits of a call to action.

Motivating the Audience to Take Action

The most obvious benefit of a call to action is that it motivates your audience to get involved. By giving them specific, concrete steps to take, you capitalize on the energy and emotion generated by your speech and channel it into something tangible. If you have been persuasive and your audience is emotionally invested, the best time for action is now.

Creating a Lasting Impact

A speech with a strong call to action can have an impact that lasts long after the applause dies down. By turning passive listeners into active participants, you ensure that your message endures and leads to real change.

Achieving the Desired Outcome

At the end of the day, your speech’s impact boils down to one thing: does it inspire action? A powerful, persuasive call to action is what gets people to change their minds, donate resources, or rally behind your cause.

Key Elements of an Effective Call to Action

Crafting an effective call to action is both an art and a science. While there’s no one-size-fits-all formula, there are certain key elements that can help ensure your CTA hits the mark.

Clarity and Specificity

Firstly, your call to action should be crystal clear and specific. Use concrete action words and provide step-by-step instructions for your listeners. After all, the more detailed your CTA, the more likely your audience is to follow through.

Urgency and Immediacy

Secondly, create a sense of urgency with your call to action to prompt the audience to act right away. Capitalize on the momentum generated by your speech and strike while the iron is hot.

Emotional Appeal

Finally, your call to action should tap into your audience’s emotions and personal motivations. Connect the action steps to things they care about, and highlight how taking action will benefit them and the causes they believe in. When your message is relevant to your audience, they are much more likely to take action.

How to Create a Compelling Call to Action for Your Speech

Now that we know the key ingredients of an effective call to action, let’s explore some practical tips for creating your own compelling CTA.

Identifying the Desired Action

Start by clearly stating the action you want your audience to take. What is the one most important thing they can do to further your cause? In addition, make sure your CTA is specific, measurable, and realistic . For instance, if you want your audience to donate money, name a certain amount you’re hoping to raise.

Choosing the Right Words

Use clear, compelling action phrases when delivering your call to action. Start with a strong command verb and highlight the benefits of taking action. Keep it concise while creating a sense of urgency.

Delivering the Call to Action with Conviction

How you deliver your call to action is just as important as the words you choose. Convey confidence and conviction when asking your audience to take action. Use nonverbal cues like strong eye contact and a confident tone in order to drive your message home.

Measuring the Success of Your Call to Action

To really nail your speech, come up with a way to gauge the impact of your call to action. That way, if it’s not as effective as you hoped, you can make changes to future talks and achieve better outcomes.

Tracking Audience Response

To truly gauge the impact of your call to action, monitor how your audience reacts. Are they signing up, donating, or taking other measurable steps? These tangible actions are the best indicators of whether your CTA hit the mark and resonated with your target audience.

Evaluating the Impact of Your Call to Action

Go beyond the raw numbers and consider the broader impact of your call to action. How did the actions taken by your audience members advance your cause? What changed as a result of your speech?

Adjusting Your Approach for Future Speeches

To make your future speeches even more impactful, use the data you’ve gathered from tracking and evaluating your call to action. Analyze what aspects of your CTA worked well and pinpoint elements that could be tweaked. Ask yourself: Was my call to action specific enough? Did I effectively appeal to the right emotions and motivations to inspire my audience?

By continually honing your call-to-action skills, you’ll become an increasingly effective and persuasive speaker, able to inspire real change in your audience and the world. So don’t underestimate the power of a well-crafted CTA, because it just might be the most important part of your speech.

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FAQs on Calls to Action in Speeches

What is an example of call to action in a speech.

“Let’s stand together and fight for change now” pushes listeners towards immediate collective action, aiming to inspire unity and determination.

What is a call to action example?

In marketing, “Click here to learn more about our eco-friendly products” guides customers directly towards engaging with sustainable choices.

What is the speaker’s call to action?

The speaker urges the audience towards specific behavior or thinking shift, like “Vote for cleaner parks in our community.”

How do I call an audience to action?

To motivate your audience, clearly state what you want them to do next. Use powerful words that evoke emotion and urgency.

A powerful call to action is the key to turning your speech into real-world impact. By making it clear, urgent, and emotionally resonant, you can inspire your audience to take that crucial next step.

Remember, it’s not about you—it’s about them. Connect your call to action to their needs, hopes, and desires. Paint a vivid picture of the change they can create by taking action.

Developing a strong call to action requires practice, but it’s a talent that will serve you well in every speech you give. As you keep polishing your method, you’ll notice your words starting to make a difference in people’s lives and the world around them. That’s the genuine power of a well-executed call to action.

• Last Updated: May 24, 2024

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How to Prepare and Give a Speech

Last Updated: May 6, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Deb DiSandro . Deb DiSandro is the Owner of Speak Up On Purpose, an organization dedicated to improving and teaching public speaking. Deb has over 30 years of experience as a national speaker and has presented at the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Conference and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. She was awarded the National Speakers Association Member of the Year 2007 and has been published in Writer's Digest, Daily Herald, Women's Day, and Better Homes & Gardens. There are 17 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,153,498 times.

Being asked to prepare and give a speech can seem really intimidating when you've never done it before. Don't worry! You'll be a public speaking pro in no time if you follow these simple tips.

Planning Your Speech

• You may even be able to redirect or add points to your speech with a smaller audience if you notice a number of them are interested in a particular subject or niche.

Writing the Speech

• Try starting the speech writing process by free-writing. Write as much as you can about your subject as fast as you can. Don't worry about judgment or crafting perfect sentences. Once you have your points on paper, you can start refining them and putting them in order.
• Use an anecdote or a quote. Sometimes, someone else has already said it better than you ever will. A quote, provided it hasn't been overused, can help you get things started. Just be sure to look for a quote that is surprising or unique, and always credit your source. [5] X Research source
• Be cautious about opening with a joke unless you know your audience well. You may think that a joke is funny, but your audience may find it humorless or even offensive.

• You can start by looking at generic sources like an encyclopedia or Wikipedia, but you need to fact check your ideas with more authoritative sources after you generally understand your subject.
• Draw on your own experience. If you have a long history with your topic, your experiences and personal stories can be great resources. Just keep these stories succinct so that you don't ramble and lose the audience's attention.

• Use 1 card for the introduction. This card should include your opening statement.
• Use 1 or 2 cards for each supporting point. Then, create 1 card for the conclusion which ties back to the main idea of your speech.
• Write brief sentence fragments or even single words on your cards. These words or fragments should contain key phrases that remind you of what you want to say.
• If you feel insecure or don't know the subject well, write out the words of your speech exactly as you want to say them.

• Keep the visuals to a minimum. You want them to aid your speech, not to overshadow it. Always make sure your speech can stand on its own should technical problems occur.
• Make sure that the audience can read the content of your visuals. Too big is better than not big enough.
• Check the facilities of the room in which you will be speaking. If you need Internet or you need a projection screen, be sure that the facility has the equipment. Arrive to the room early to make sure everything is functional for your speech.

Practicing Your Speech

• If you drive a regular commute, you can also practice a memorized speech while driving. Don't look off of notecards while on the road, though.

• Make sure that your gestures are natural and not too frenetic. Alternatively, don't fix your arms at your sides or keep your hands latched to the podium.
• If you make the speech to a friend or colleague and they offer constructive criticism, try to be open to what they have to say. Make sure they are familiar with your topic or industry, though, or their criticism may do more harm than good.

Getting Ready the Day of Your Speech

• Try to arrive at your presentation well before your audience. Take the time to make sure the sound is good and run through your visual aids. If you're at a conference, you may have 15-20 minutes to prep. If you're the sole speaker, you could get there an hour in advance.

During Your Speech

• Make eye contact with members of your audience. If eye contact is too intense for you, look just above their heads at a point such as a clock or a painting. Remember to look to both sides of the room. Don't favor just the right or left.
• Move your eyes around your audience so that everyone feels included in the presentation.

• Never leave the stage if something goes wrong, even if you feel embarrassed. Make a joke if you can, shake it off, and move forward.

• Be sure to build time for any Q and A into your allotted presentation time. That way, you can control the flow of the Q and A. Then, after the last question, let your audience know, "I'd like to share one final thought with you," and deliver a powerful closer.

How Do You Practice a Speech Effectively?

Samples of Persuasive Speeches

Samples of Informational Speeches

Community Q&A

Reader Videos

• Right before you start speaking, squeeze your butt cheeks together. [15] X Research source Public speaking author Robin Kermode suggests that this can help reduce anxiety. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• It is better to select a topic you are comfortable with. By doing so, you will be less anxious and stressed. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Be loud and clear. Avoid the feeling of inferiority. This will boost up your confidence. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

Things You'll Need

• Written speech or index cards
• Friend, teacher or family member for practicing
• Video recording device
• Computer or tablet for presentations
• Charts and easel for presentations
• Microphone for a large room
• Glass of water
• Appropriate outfit

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_business-communication-for-success/s14-02-choosing-a-topic.html
• ↑ https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/02/tips-speaking
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/oral-comm-lab/audience-analysis
• ↑ https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/trial-practice/practice/2015/5-tips-for-engaging-opening-statements/
• ↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/publicspeaking/chapter/9-2-the-attention-getter-the-first-step-of-an-introduction/
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/structuring-speech
• ↑ https://www.comm.pitt.edu/visual-aids
• ↑ https://wmich.edu/career/personalcommercial
• ↑ https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/public-speaking-tips/preparing-a-speech
• ↑ https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/record-yourself-improve-your-practice
• ↑ https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/student-life/10-public-speaking-tips/
• ↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ccc-spch-1080-1/chapter/chapter-12-nonverbal-aspects-of-delivery/
• ↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/oralcommunication/guides/tips-for-effective-delivery
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2014/01/28/five-easy-tricks-to-make-your-presentation-interactive/#3b01c83d2586
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/10-quirky-tips-beating-interview-nerves-job
• How to Write a Great Speech: 5 Secrets for Success
• How to Give a Great Speech

About This Article

To prepare and give a speech, start by thinking about the topic, audience, and location of the speech. Write a detailed outline that includes your main topics, supporting points, and facts. Then, transfer the speech to note cards or handouts if necessary. Remember to practice your speech a few times in front of a mirror or a friend, and set a timer to ensure that you aren’t taking too long. On the day of the speech, review your note cards and make sure your presentation, handouts, or other supplementary information is in order. For tips on keeping calm during the speech and examples of different speeches, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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'You are gangsters': Robert De Niro clashes with pro-Trump protesters

President Joe Biden's campaign held a news conference outside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump is on trial in his hush money case, with actor Robert De Niro and two officers who defended the Capitol from the Jan. 6 mob in 2021 warning about the dangers of re-electing the former president.

"The Twin Towers fell just over here, just over there. This part of the city was like a ghost town, but we vowed we would not allow terrorists to change our way of life. ... I love this city. I don't want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city but the country, and eventually he can destroy the world," De Niro said.

Follow live trial updates here

"I don't mean to scare you. No, no, wait — maybe I do mean to scare you," De Niro continued. "If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted. And elections — forget about it. That's over; that's done. If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave."

After the news conference, on the way back to his car, De Niro mixed it up with some pro-Trump protesters, who yelled that he's a "wannabe," "paid sell-out" to the Democratic National Committee, "nobody" and a "little punk" whose "movies suck."

"You're not going to intimidate," De Niro replied. "That's what Trump does. ... We are going to fight back. We're trying to be gentlemen in this world, the Democrats. You are gangsters. You are gangsters!"

"You're washed up," a protester yelled.

"F--- you," De Niro shot back.

The Trump campaign also had a news conference mocking the Biden campaign's enlistment of De Niro. Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt went after "elitist out-of-touch Hollywood actors like Robert De Niro who have no idea the real problems that people in this city and across this country are facing."

"The best that Biden can do is roll out a washed-up actor," Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said.

On Friday, the Biden campaign released a new ad featuring De Niro — who was nominated this year for an Oscar for the movie "Killers of the Flower Moon" — that will air on television and digital platforms across battleground states.

In the scuffle Tuesday, there was at least one De Niro fan in the crowd who yelled out, “I loved you in 'Taxi Driver'!”

Katherine Koretski reported from New York and Amanda Terkel from Washington, D.C.

Katherine Koretski is a 2024 NBC News campaign embed.

Amanda Terkel is politics managing editor for NBC News Digital.

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India election results: Modi claims victory for alliance

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters listen to prime minister Narendra Modi’s victory speech at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

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Today’s live coverage has ended, but there’s still plenty to catch up on. Read what you missed below and find more coverage on the AP’s global elections hub.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed victory for his alliance as early results from the staggered, six-week election showed fewer seats for his Bharatiya Janata Party than expected and it appeared unlikely to secure a majority on its own. Final figures are not expected until Wednesday local time, with counting going late into the night.

Here’s what to know:

• Where results stand: After winning a record 303 seats in 2019, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party appeared unlikely to win more than 240, far short of the 272 needed to form a majority government on its own.
• National Democratic Alliance: The political coalition led by Modi’s party appears on track to win a combined 286 seat majority.
• Modi claims early victory: In a speech to supporters , Modi claimed victory for his alliance , calling the election a big win despite the stronger-than-expected challenge from the opposition.

Across India, supporters of various political parties, leaders and candidates celebrated wins as counting nears its end

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is greeted by supporters as he arrives at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A supporter of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) dances as he celebrates with others their party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Samajwadi Party supporters celebrate their party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Lucknow, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi, in white shirt, sees his mother and party leader Sonia Gandhi off as she leaves the party headquarters after feeling physical discomfort during a press conference in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Congress Party supporters wait to get a glimpse of the party leader Rahul Gandhi at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party supporters celebrate as they follow proceedings of the vote counting at their party headquarters in Chennai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Trinamool Congress Party leader and Chief Minister of West Bengal state, Mamata Banerjee, and her nephew and party leader Abhishek Banerjee make a victory sign with their hands as they arrive to address a press conference in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters dance inside the party office after hearing of a candidate’s victory during the counting in India’s national election, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party showed a comfortable lead Tuesday, according to early figures reported by India’s Election Commission, but was facing a stronger challenge from the opposition than had been expected. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Supporters of Congress Party cheer the party leader Rahul Gandhi, center, as he leaves the party headquarters after addressing a press conference in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A Congress Party supporter carries a flag printed with a portrait of party leader Rahul Gandhi at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A Samajwadi Party supporter carries portraits of party leader Akhilesh Yadav, right, and Congress Party leader, Rahul Gandhi, as he celebrates his party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Lucknow, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Workers carry a large cutout portrait of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A man walks past posters with portraits of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state President K. Annamalai on a street in Chennai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

After winning a record 303 seats in 2019, the BJP appeared unlikely to win more than 240, far short of the 272 needed to form a majority government on its own, with 194 seats won and the lead in 46 constituencies and counting ongoing.

Modi’s NDA coalition, meantime, was on track to win a combined 286 seat majority, with 225 seats won and leads in 61 races.

The opposition INDIA coalition appeared as if it would win 210 seats.

Final figures were not expected until Wednesday, with counting going late into the night.

The White House on Tuesday commended India for demonstrating its “vibrant democratic process” after close to 970 million Indians went to the polls during its six-week long election.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the turnout demonstrated the Indian electorate’s commitment to democracy.

“So we celebrate that with them,” Kirby told reporters. ”And we applaud the government writ large for successfully completing a truly, massively-sized electoral undertaking.”

Kirby declined to comment about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party’s apparent victory, noting that “not all the votes have been tallied and counted.”

Indian President Droupadi Murmu greets the crowd gathered at her temporary residence in New Delhi in 2022 (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s president is its head of state, but the position is largely ceremonial.

Droupadi Murmu, the current president, was elected in 2022 by lawmakers — an electoral college that consists of lawmakers in both houses of Parliament and elected members of the legislative assemblies of all states. She hails from the same political party as Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The position can be important during times of political uncertainty such as a hung parliament, when the office assumes greater power. The president is bound by the advice of the Cabinet led by the prime minister, who is the chief executive.

Tallies reported by India’s Election Commission showed Modi’s BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, 209 of them going to BJP.

The opposition Congress party is part of the INDIA alliance , which so far had won 177 seats, 81 of them for Congress.

Tallying is ongoing. A total of 272 seats are needed for a majority.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor, a promenade that connects the sacred Ganges River with the centuries-old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in Varanasi, India, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021 (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claimed victory for his alliance in an election seen as a referendum on his decade in power, is a popular but polarizing leader who has presided over a fast-growing economy while advancing Hindu nationalism.

Modi, 73, is only the second Indian prime minister to win a third straight term.

To supporters, Modi is a larger-than-life figure who has improved India’s standing in the world, helped make its economy the world’s fifth-largest , and streamlined the country’s vast welfare program, which serves around 60% of the population. To some, he may even be more than human.

But to critics, he’s a cult leader who has eroded India’s democracy and advanced divisive politics targeting the Muslims who make up 14% of the country’s population. They say he has also increasingly wielded strong-arm tactics to subdue political opponents, squeeze independent media and quash dissent.

▶ Read more in our profile of the prime minister.

As Narendra Modi claimed victory for his alliance, congratulations from neighbors began rolling in on X despite the National Democratic Alliance having several seats to win before securing a majority.

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal: “Congratulations to PM @narendramodi on the electoral success of BJP and NDA in the Loksabha elections for the third consecutive term. We are happy to note the successful completion of the world’s largest democratic exercise with enthusiastic participation of the people of India.”

Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay: “Congratulations to my friend PM @narendramodi ji and NDA for the historic 3rd consecutive win in the world’s biggest elections. As he continues to lead Bharat to great heights, I look forward to working closely with him to further strengthen the relations between our 2 countries.”

Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth: “Congratulations Prime Minister Modi Ji @narendramodi on your laudable victory for a historic third term. Under your helm, the largest democracy will continue to achieve remarkable progress. Long live the Mauritius-India special relationship.”

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe: I extend my warmest felicitations to the @BJP4India led NDA on its victory, demonstrating the confidence of the Indian people in the progress and prosperity under the leadership of PM @narendramodi. As the closest neighbour Sri Lanka looks forward to further strengthening the partnership with India.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is garlanded by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Rajnath Singh, left, party President JP Nadda, right, and Amit Shah, at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Around 33 minutes.

32. The National Democratic Alliance, led by Narendra Modi’s BJP, has claimed 240 seats. It needs 272 to secure a majority and thus a third term for the prime minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India will will see a “new chapter of big decisions” in his third term in office.

After claiming victory for his coalition alliance despite a lackluster performance from his own party, Modi told a crowd at party headquarters he would not shirk from pushing forward with his agenda.

He said he would advance India’s defense production, jobs for youth, raise exports and help farmers, among other things.

“This country will see a new chapter of big decisions. This is Modi’s guarantee,” he said, speaking in the third person.

His speech is still ongoing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters as he arrives at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi promises “new chapter of big decisions” after declaring victory for his coalition.

But if his BJP is indeed forced to form a coalition, the party would likely “be heavily dependent on the goodwill of its allies, which makes them critical players who we can expect will extract their pound of flesh, both in terms of policymaking as well as government formation,” said Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed victory for his alliance, despite a lackluster performance from his own party as it faced a stronger than expected challenge from the opposition, which pushed back against the leader’s mixed economic record and polarizing politics.

Modi said that his National Democratic Alliance will form the government for the third consecutive time.

“Today’s victory is the victory of the world’s largest democracy,” he said, speaking at his party headquarters.

For the first time since Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it appeared unlikely that it would secure a majority on its own – but the prime minister’s coalition was still expected to be elected to a third five-year term in the world’s largest democratic exercise .

If Modi does have to rely on coalition support to govern, it would be a stunning blow for the 73-year-old, who had hoped for a landslide victory.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims victory for his alliance, 329 of 543 seats have been decided, according to India’s Election Commission. Counting is expected to continue through the night.

Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Democratic Alliance has yet to secure the 272 seats needed for a parliamentary majority, but the prime minister has declared “a very big win.”

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power a decade ago on promises to transform India’s economy, and as he seeks a third term as prime minister, it would be hard to argue he hasn’t made strides.

▶ Read more about the growth of India’s economy — and why some feel left behind.

Supporters of National Democratic Alliance watch as their candidates arrive to file nomination papers ahead of national elections in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

The National Democratic Alliance, an Indian political coalition, is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. It was founded in 1998 and comprises center-right and right-wing political parties.

The coalition’s first chair was former BJP Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The coalition ruled from 1998 to 2004, but then was out of power until 2014, when Modi was first elected as the prime minister.

BJP’s key allies in the NDA include more than a dozen regional parties, including the Telugu Desam Party, Janta Dal (United), Pattali Makkal Katchi, the Republican Parry of India (Athwale Group) and Shiv Sena.

The NDA could be key to Modi retaining his position. In the past two elections, the BJP has secured an outright majority, but early figures indicate it might need the coalition to reach that threshold.

More than 12 hours after vote counting started, India’s Election Commission reports that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has won 140 seats while the Congress party has won 55.

272 seats are needed to secure a majority. Preliminary results indicate Modi’s BJP will need to rely on its coalition partners to achieve that.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived at Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi, where supporters are spilling out into the road.

Samajwadi Party supporters dance as they celebrate their party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Lucknow, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is facing a major upset in India’s most populous state at the hands of a powerful regional group, Samajwadi Party or Socialist Group.

The Samajwadi Party, founded in 1992 and now led by Akhilesh Yadav, has already won 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh state and was leading in another 28 constituencies. It is part of the Congress-led INDIA alliance, which is facing off against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Modi’s BJP has won in 12 districts (including Modi’s own Varanasi seat) and is leading in 20 constituencies. Exit polls had predicted a landslide victory for the BJP in the state.

“In this election, it seems Lord Ram has deserted the BJP,” Samajwadi spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhry said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shows the indelible ink mark on his index finger after casting his vote during the third phase of general elections, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

The 73-year-old is one of India’s most beloved — and polarizing — leaders. He’s already won twice, first in 2014 and then in 2019, and is now seeking a hattrick victory.

His supporters see him as a self-made, strong leader who has improved India’s standing on the global stage, and credit his pro-business policies with making the economy the world’s fifth-largest. At the same time, his rule has seen brazen attacks against minorities, particularly Muslims.

India’s democracy, critics say, is faltering and Modi has increasingly blurred the line between religion and state. But both agree on one thing: Modi has achieved staying power by making Hindu nationalism acceptable — desirable, even — to a nation of 1.4 billion that for decades prided itself on secularism and diversity.

Millions of Indians are voting in a six-week long national election in a referendum on Narendra Modi, the populist prime minister who has championed an assertive brand of Hindu nationalist politics. The voters will cast ballots in the first round of voting across 21 states. Over 970 million voters will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for five years during the staggered elections that will run until June 1. The votes will be counted on June 4. (AP Video by Piyush Nagpal)

Each phase was held on a single day, with voting in several constituencies across multiple states. The staggered polling allowed the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence and transport election officials and voting machines.

People walk past a large poster of the movie “Swatantra Veer Savarkar” displayed outside a cinema hall in Mumbai (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

For more than a century, Bollywood has unified India, a country riven with religious, caste and political divide. It’s been a rare industry where religion has been least influential in deciding the success of filmmakers and actors. Bollywood films have also championed political diversity and religious harmony.

That culture, however, appears to be under threat.

Under Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, many filmmakers have made movies on bygone Hindu kings extolling their bravery. Boisterous and action-packed movies valorizing the Indian Army have become box office successes. Political dramas and biopics that eulogize Hindu nationalists are the norm.

In most of these films, the stock villains are medieval Muslim rulers, leftist or opposition leaders, free thinkers or rights activists — and neighboring Pakistan.

▶ Read more about how some in the Hindi film industry have embraced Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his coalition is on the path to a third straight term in government after India’s marathon election.

“People have placed their faith in NDA, for a third consecutive time! This is a historical feat in India’s history,” Modi on Tuesday said in a post on X, referring to the National Democratic Alliance which his party heads. He said he will continue to work and fulfil the aspirations of the people.

As Modi posted his comment, his coalition had won 128 seats and led in 157 races according to the Election Commission. A total of 272 seats were needed to form a majority government.

For Payal, a resident of the northern city of Lucknow who uses only one name, the election was about the economy and India’s vast number of people living in poverty. “People are suffering, there are no jobs, people are in such a state that their kids are compelled to make and sell tea on the roadside,” Payal said. “This is a big deal for us. If we don’t wake up now, when will we?”

Supporters of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) dance as they celebrate their party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Supporters of Congress Party dance as they celebrate their party’s lead during the counting of votes in India’s national election in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Faces of Trinamool Congress Party supporters smeared with green colour display victory sign as they celebrate the election results in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party showed a comfortable lead Tuesday, according to early figures reported by India’s Election Commission, but was facing a stronger challenge from the opposition than had been expected. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party supporters cheer as they follow proceedings of the vote counting at their party headquarters in Chennai, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. India began counting more than 640 million votes Tuesday in the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to return Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a third term after a decade in power. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters shout slogans as they celebrate their party’s lead during the counting of votes outside the party office in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Congress party supporters cheer as they follow proceedings of vote counting at their party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. India began counting more than 640 million votes Tuesday in the world’s largest democratic exercise, which was widely expected to return Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a third term after a decade in power. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A band plays music as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters dance inside the party office after hearing of a candidate’s victory during the counting in India’s national election, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. xPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party showed a comfortable lead Tuesday, according to early figures reported by India’s Election Commission, but was facing a stronger challenge from the opposition than had been expected. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters light firecrackers after hearing of a candidate’s victory during the counting of votes in India’s national election, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Across India, supporters of various political parties have been celebrating results as they trickle in with colored powder, fireworks, drums and more.

Hindu nationalism, once a fringe ideology in India, is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders.

Hindu nationalism , once a fringe ideology in India , is now mainstream. Nobody has done more to advance this cause than Prime Minister Narendra Modi , one of India’s most beloved and polarizing political leaders.

And no entity has had more influence on his political philosophy and ambitions than a paramilitary, right-wing group founded nearly a century ago and known as the RSS.

▶ Read more about how Hindu nationalism has become mainstream over the past decade.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal greets his supporters from a vehicle during a roadshow in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

As votes are being counted, Arvind Kejriwal, 55, is likely keeping track — from jail.

One of India’s most consequential opposition leaders, Kejriwal was arrested in March over alleged corruption charges, and let out on bail in May for a few weeks. He campaigned heavily during this time in his stronghold of New Delhi, India’s capital, as well as a few other cities before heading back to jail.

Kejriwal stormed into Indian politics in 2012 as he launched the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party, or Common People’s Party.

Since then, he has emerged as a fierce Modi rival, especially in New Delhi and Punjab state, where his party is in power.

His arrest and the ensuing saga dominated headlines, as he and his party accused Modi’s government of engineering his arrest to keep him out of the race. The government has denied this.

Kejriwal’s AAP is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA, the main challenger to Modi’s BJP in this election.

Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi holds a copy of the Indian Constitution as he addresses a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Rahul Gandhi, the face of the Congress party’s campaign and would-be prime minister, said the preliminary results showed India does not want Narendra Modi.

“People’s clear message to PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah is that we don’t want you to run the nation,” Gandhi said at a Congress party press conference around 10 hours into the vote count. “The poorest of this country have defended the constitution of India.”

Flanked by Congress leaders, including mother Sonia Gandhi, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty scion brandished a copy of the constitution.

Despite a stronger-than-expected showing from Congress’ INDIA alliance thus far, Modi is still expected to secure a third term as prime minister.

The counting is ticking along more than 10 hours after it began, and results have now been called for 103 parliamentary seats out of a total of 543.

Modi’s National Democratic Alliance had won 67 seats, with 62 of them going to his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, according to India’s Election Commission. The opposing INDIA coalition had bagged 31 seats, with the main Congress party winning 27 of them. The remaining five seats went to other regional parties.

Congress party leader Shashi Taroor, and contender for the party president position, left, raises hands with newly elected president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s opposition Congress party has called its alliance’s strong showing in the polls a “win for democracy” and a “moral and political loss” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge just addressed a press conference in New Delhi, saying that because no party had a clear majority, the mandate was against Modi.

“Our fight has not ended yet. We will continue to fight for the country’s development, for the constitution, for the benefit of the people,” Kharge said.

Modi’s coalition led in a majority of seats Tuesday in India’s general election , according to early figures, but faced a stronger challenge from the opposition than expected after it pushed back against the leader’s mixed economic record and polarizing politics. Modi was still widely expected to be elected to a third five-year term in the world’s largest democratic exercise .

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters celebrate in Srinagar as vote counting is underway in India’s 2024 Lok Sabha election. AP video: Dar Yasin

Some 10 hours into counting , partial tallies reported by India’s Election Commission showed Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party was ahead in 196 constituencies and had won 45, including one uncontested, of 543 parliamentary seats. The main opposition Congress party led in 83 constituencies and had won 15.

A total of 272 seats are needed for a majority. In 2019, the BJP won 303 seats, while they secured 282 in 2014 when Modi first came to power.

Modi’s party is part of the National Democratic Alliance, whose members led in 236 constituencies and won 50, according to the partial count. The Congress party is part of the INDIA alliance , which led in 211 constituencies and had won 19.

The Election Commission does not release data on the percentage of votes tallied.

India’s general elections are held every five years. There are no specified term limits for lawmakers and thus no limit on how many years a prime minister can serve. Narendra Modi has already been in power for a decade. Should he win a third term and finish it out, he’ll near the record of the longest-serving prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

India employs a first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system. That means for individual contests, whoever receives the most votes wins. To win a parliamentary majority — and thus the premiership — a party or a coalition of parties must secure at least 272 seats (543 seats are up for a vote). India’s electoral system is similar to the U.K.’s.

Congress party supporters celebrate in Mumbai as vote counting is underway in India’s 2024 Lok Sabha election. (AP video: Rafiq Maqbool)

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination on Tuesday to run for a third term in India’s general election. Modi hopes to retain his seat in the holy Hindu city, his constituency, from where he ran and won, first in 2014 and then again in 2019. (AP video shot by Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Although Narendra Modi is the former chief minister of Gujarat, the incumbent prime minister has retained his seat in Varanasi.

It’s the constituency from which he first ran and won in 2014. Located in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, Varanasi is a holy Hindu city. It’s about 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) east of Modi’s hometown of Vadnagar in Gujarat state.

A woman shows her index fingers marked with an indelible ink as she poses for a photograph next to a cutout portrait of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after casting her vote in Varanasi, India (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has won his seat from the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, the constituency from where he ran and won, first in 2014 and then again in 2019, India’s election commission reported.

Modi, who won by more than 152,000 votes, secured 54% of total votes. He was pitted against opposition Congress party’s Ajai Rai, who secured 40% of the votes.

The holy city is located on the banks of the revered Ganges River and is part of Uttar Pradesh state, India’s most populous, with around 200 million people.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a white waistcoat, and Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh greet supporters from a vehicle during a roadshow in Varanasi, India, Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar)

In campaign rallies, Narendra Modi has called Muslims “infiltrators” and said they “have too many children,” referring to a Hindu nationalist trope that Muslims produce more children with the aim of outnumbering Hindus in India. He has also accused the rival Indian National Congress party of scheming to “loot” wealth from the country’s Hindus and redistribute it among Muslims, who comprise 14% of India’s more than 1.4 billion people.

Modi had kicked off his campaign with a focus on economic progress, promising he would make India a developed nation by 2047. But he and the ruling BJP doubled down heavily on their Hindu nationalism platform , with Modi employing some of his most divisive rhetoric in his decade in power.

The Congress party filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India, alleging Modi broke rules that bar candidates from engaging in any activity that aggravates religious tensions.

Analysts say the change in tone came as the BJP targeted a supermajority by consolidating votes among the majority Hindu population — a number that now seems out of reach. They say Modi’s party also ratcheted up polarizing speeches to distract voters from larger issues, like unemployment and economic distress, that the opposition has focused on.

A polling officer applies indelible ink mark on the finger of a voter during the fifth round of multi-phase national elections in Ayodhya, India, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Narendra Modi’s BJP have lost their seat in Ayodhya, a deeply symbolic loss for the party after the prime minister opened a grand but controversial Hindu temple there in January.

The BJP candidate, Lallu Singh, lost to a candidate put up by the regional Samajwadi Party, Singh’s poll agent Kamlesh Srivastava told The Associated Press. Singh had held the seat since 2014.

Modi and his party have heavily campaigned on this temple dedicated to Lord Ram, built on the historic ruins of a mosque that was destroyed by Hindu mobs in 1992.

In this photograph released by Indian Government Press Information Bureau, Indian Prime Minister, arrives to lead the opening of a temple dedicated to Hinduism’s Lord Ram in Ayodhya, India, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (Press Information Bureau via AP)

Experts said the January opening, where Modi performed rituals inside the temple, marked the unofficial start of his campaign as they hoped it would resonate with his Hindu majority voters. Modi’s government had turned the event into a national occasion by organizing live screenings across the country and closing offices for half a day.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters celebrate in Delhi as vote counting is underway in India’s 2024 Lok Sabha election. (AP video: Manish Swarup)

Vinod Kumar Vidyarthi waits with sweets outside the BJP party office for the final election results (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Outside the BJP party office in New Delhi, supporter Vinod Kumar Vidyarthi sported a stole emblazoned with Modi’s likeness and toted a Modi-branded water bottle and sweets.

Despite the sweets, he had strong words regarding the election and the Hindu nationalist party he supports: “Our party will form the government. We had traitors within us. After we form the government, it will be a victory for Hindus and we will chase away all those who betrayed us.”

Polling officers Dekule Kapfo, Neke W Konyak, Neichutuonuo Yhome and Nukutholu Nienu prepare election-related paperwork on the eve of polling (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)

The Northern Angami constituency of Chedema village is Nagaland’s first to be solely managed by women polling officers. It was the idea of Kumar Ramnikant, the administrative head of Kohima district, in hopes of breaking job stereotypes.

“Women are more systematic. They take every sentence seriously, whereas men have an easy attitude,” said Zhoto Khamo, an officer who has supervised many elections.

▶ Read more about these polling officers and see more photos of the station.

The vote counting is still carrying on, but results have been called for 28 parliamentary seats out of 542 so far.

Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has won 19 seats, according to India’s Election Commission, while its main opposition Congress party bagged 4 seats. The rest went to different regional parties.

Vote tallying is expected to take all day, but the count so far shows Modi’s party leading in 225 constituencies with the Congress ahead in 93.

G20 leaders pay their tributes at the Rajghat, a Mahatma Gandhi memorial, in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Kenny Holston, Pool)

The polls are seen as a test for India’s democratic and secular traditions, which critics say have seen a slow erosion under Narendra Modi’s 10-year rule. It also tests the limits of a populist leader who has risen to power by mixing religion with politics on a Hindu-first platform.

India’s clout on the global stage has risen under Modi. It’s seen by Western nations as a counterweight to Chinese aggression in the region even as New Delhi maintains its historic ties with Russia. And its large economy, one of the fastest growing in the world, has only boosted its rise as an emerging global power.

Earthmovers remove burnt debris the day after a fire broke out in an amusement park in Rajkot, India, Sunday, May 26, 2024 (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Early leads from India’s election commission projected Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was leading in 25 of 26 seats in the prime minister’s home state of Gujarat. But party leaders said they were not celebrating victory because of a recent fire at an amusement park in the state that killed 27 people.

A massive fire broke out last month at an amusement park in the state’s Rajkot city. Those killed included children.

“We had decided that there will be no celebratory victory or beating of drums. So we are not celebrating,” said C. R. Patil, a senior leader from Modi’s party.

India’s top opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, center, arrives at the Parliament in New Delhi, India, Monday, Aug.7, 2023 (AP Photo)

The 53-year-old is the scion of modern India’s most powerful political dynasty. He is the great-grandson of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. His grandmother and father also held the top job and were each assassinated.

He is the star face for the opposition Congress party, which governed India for nearly 55 years after the country gained independence from the British in 1947. This time, he and his Congress party are leading the main opposition alliance, called INDIA, against Narendra Modi’s BJP.

While his family connections have helped retain some loyal voters, they have also worked against him — especially in the past two elections, where he suffered huge losses against Modi, who refers to Gandhi as an out-of-touch elite, coasting on his surname.

On the campaign trail, Gandhi has called Modi a dictator ruining India’s democracy. He has attacked Modi and the BJP over recent anti-Muslim rhetoric. And his party is hoping to benefit from economic distress, including high unemployment.

A Bharatiya Janta Party supporter prepares to offer prayers to the cut-out of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside their party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party appears to be falling short of a majority in the early vote count. If these trends hold, it would be a stunning setback to the populist who has never relied on coalition partners to govern.

Modi’s party is still expected to form the government and return as the prime minister for a rare third consecutive term as his National Democratic Alliance was leading in about 290 constituencies — ahead of the 272 seats needed for a majority. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party alone was leading in 242 seats.

A coalition would, however, diminish Modi’s power as a strongman leader who won his party landslide victories in 2014 and 2019 elections.

In such a scenario, his BJP would likely “be heavily dependent on the goodwill of its allies, which makes them critical players who we can expect will extract their pound of flesh, both in terms of policymaking as well as government formation,” said Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“This would be truly, you know, uncharted territory, both for Indians as well as for the prime minister,” Vaishnav said.

Since coming to power in 2014, Modi’s BJP has governed in a coalition government but has always held a majority on its own.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters celebrate in Guwahati as party seeks majority for third term in Assam. (AP video: Anupam Nath)

People cross the Brahmaputra river in a boat to reach a polling booth in Morigaon district, Assam, India, on April 26 (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

As hundreds of millions headed to the polls, they did so amid sweltering heat and unpredictable weather extremes worsened by human-caused climate change. That climate change has led to losses of livelihood, forced migration and increasingly difficult living conditions.

India’s top political parties made promises to address climate change and reduce emissions in their election manifestos — but little of that was evident on the campaign trail.

Here’s a look at what climate change has wrought in the country:

• Western and central India: extreme heat and longer droughts
• Coastal regions: stronger and more frequent cyclones
• Northeastern India: unpredictable and increased flooding
• Himalayas: melting glaciers and intense rain

▶ Read more about how climate change has affected the election.

What is ChatGPT?

• How to Use Google Gemini

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ChatGPT: the latest news, controversies, and tips you need to know

ChatGPT has continued to dazzle the internet with AI-generated content, morphing from a novel chatbot into a piece of technology that is driving the next era of innovation. No tech product in recent memory has sparked as much interest, controversy, fear, and excitement.

How to use ChatGPT

How to use the chatgpt iphone and android apps, is chatgpt free to use, who created chatgpt, what do the chatgpt errors mean, latest chatgpt controversies, can chatgpt be detected, common uses for chatgpt, what are chatgpt plugins, is there a chatgpt api.

• What’s the future of ChatGPT and GPT-5?

ChatGPT alternatives worth trying

Other things to know about chatgpt.

If you’re just now catching on, it’d be fair to wonder what the fuss is all about. You can try it out for yourself for free (or use the official free iOS app ), but here’s the detailed guide you’ve been looking for — whether you’re worried about an AI apocalypse or are just looking for an intro guide to the app.

ChatGPT is a natural language AI chatbot . At its most basic level, that means you can ask it any question, and it will generate an answer.

Using the ChatGPT chatbot itself is fairly simple, as all you have to do is type in your text and receive information. The key here is to be creative and see how your ChatGPT responds to different prompts. If you don’t get the intended result, try tweaking your prompt or giving ChatGPT further instructions. ChatGPT knows the context of previous questions you ask, so you can refine from there rather than starting over fresh every time.

For example, starting with “Explain how the solar system was made” will give a more detailed result with more paragraphs than “How was the solar system made,” even though both inquiries will give fairly detailed results. Take it a step further by giving ChatGPT more guidance about style or tone, saying “Explain how the solar system was made as a middle school teacher.”

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You also have the option for more specific inputting requests for an essay with a specific number of paragraphs or a Wikipedia page. We got an extremely detailed result with the request “write a four-paragraph essay explaining Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” And remember, ChatGPT is great at making tweaks to previous answers, so you can always ask for more detail, ask it to rewrite something, or ask it further questions.

To see what it can do, try using ChatGPT in daily life or work activities to see how it can help. Ask it to write emails, craft business proposals, fun date night ideas, or even a best man’s speech. So long as it doesn’t break some of the explicit or illegal content rules, the generator will do its best to fulfill the commands. It’s certainly is potential for ChatGPT to begin filling in gaps with incorrect data. As OpenAI notes, these instances are rare, but AI “hallucinations” certainly do happen . The company also notes that ChatGPT, which uses the GPT-3.5 LLM (large language model), currently has “limited knowledge of world events after 2021.” For more recent knowledge of the world, consider using another tool like Bing Chat .

However, OpenAI recently announced that ChatGPT Plus subscriber, who have access to the GPT-4 model, will be able to search the web for up-to-date information .

Even so, you have the option to input queries continuously until you close your browser or reset the thread to clear your previous requests. These chats are then saved in conversations in the sidebar, even automatically naming the chat. From there, you can manage these chats, renaming or deleting them as needed. You can even “hide” specific chats if needed .

You also have the option to use ChatGPT in dark mode or light mode.

Unlike Bing Chat , which can now generate images with Bing Image Creator and receive images as prompts for questions, ChatGPT only provides text outputs. In September 2023, however, OpenAI added the ability for you to use an image or voice as an input for your prompt. It’s currently only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers.

As opposed to a simple voice assistant like Siri or Google Assistant , ChatGPT is built on what is called an LLM (Large Language Model). These neural networks are trained on huge quantities of information from the internet for deep learning — meaning they generate altogether new responses, rather than just regurgitating specific canned responses. They’re not built for a specific purpose like chatbots of the past — and they’re a whole lot smarter.

This is implied in the name of ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. In the case of the current version of ChatGPT, it’s based on the GPT-3.5 LLM. The model behind ChatGPT was trained on all sorts of web content including websites, books, social media, news articles, and more — all fine-tuned in the language model by both supervised learning and RLHF (Reinforcement Learning From Human Feedback). OpenAI says this use of human AI trainers is really what makes ChatGPT stand out.

First, go to chat.openai.com . If it’s your first time, you’ll need to set up a free account with OpenAI before getting started. You have the option of choosing an easy login with a Google or Microsoft account, or just entering your email address. You’ll be asked next to enter a phone number ; however, keep in mind that you cannot use a virtual phone number (VoIP) to register for OpenAI. You will then receive a confirmation number, which you will enter on the registration page to complete the setup.

You’ll see some basic rules about ChatGPT, including potential errors in data, how OpenAI collects data, and how users can submit feedback — all of which have some wondering about whether or not ChatGPT is safe to use . Once you’re through that, you know you have successfully registered. You’re in!

After many months of anticipation, OpenAI has finally launched an official iOS app that you can go and download today . The app quickly topped half a million downloads in less than a week and is becoming available in an increasing number of countries .

Instructions for using it aren’t dissimilar to the ChatGPT web application. You do get an extra option for signing in using your Apple ID account, but it otherwise functions nearly identically to the web app — just type in your question and let the conversation begin.

The clean interface shows your conversation with GPT in a straightforward manner, hiding the chat history and settings behind the menu in the top right.

For those who are paying for ChatGPT Plus, the app lets you toggle between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 too. You can even use the microphone to chat with ChatGPT over voice.

As our mobile editor noted in his experience with the app, it still doesn’t provide a connection to the internet like chatbots like Bing Chat and Perplexity .

Users have been asking for Android support for months, and now, a ChatGPT Android app is finally available . You can find it in the Google Play Store, but it’s limited to certain countries at the moment, including the U.S., India, and Brazil.

Some devices go beyond just the app, too. For instance, the Infinix Folax is an Android phone that integrated ChatGPT throughout the device. Instead of just an app, the phone replaces the typical smart assistant (Google Assistant) with ChatGPT.

Yes, the basic version of ChatGPT is completely free to use. There’s no limit to how much you can use ChatGPT in a day, though there is a word and character limit for responses .

It’s not free for OpenAI to continue running it, of course. Initial estimates are currently that OpenAI spends around $3 million per month to continue running ChatGPT, which is around $100,000 per day. A report from April indicated that the price of operation is closer to $700,000 per day .

Beyond the cost of the servers themselves, some egregious information has recently come out about what else has been done to train the language model against producing offensive content.

OpenAI also has a premium version of its chatbot, called ChatGPT Plus . It costs $20 a month but provides access even during peak times, faster responses, and first access to new features like GPT-4 .

ChatGPT was created by an organization called OpenAI, a San Francisco-based AI research lab. The organization started as a non-profit meant for collaboration with other institutions and researchers, funded by high-profile figures like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.

OpenAI later became a for-profit company in 2019 and is now led by its CEO, Sam Altman. It runs on Microsoft’s Azure system infrastructure and is powered by Nvidia’s GPUs, including the new supercomputers just announced this year . Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI too, starting in 2019.

Many people attempting to use ChatGPT have been getting an “at capacity” notice when trying to access the site . It’s likely behind the move to try and use unofficial paid apps, which have already flooded app stores  and scammed thousands into paying for a free service.

Because of how much ChatGPT costs to run, it seems as if OpenAI has been limiting access when its servers are “at capacity.” It can take as long as a few hours to wait out, but if you’re patient, you’ll get through eventually. Of all the problems facing ChatGPT right now, this had been the biggest hurdle for keeping people from using it more. In some cases, demand has been so high that ChatGPT has gone down for several hours for maintenance multiple times over the past few months.

This seems to be less of a problem recently, though, as demand has normalized and OpenAI has learned to manage the traffic better, but in the middle of the day, it still makes an appearance from time to time.

Although ChatGPT is a very useful tool, it isn’t free of problems. It’s known for making mistakes or “hallucinations,” where it makes up an answer to something it doesn’t know. A simple example of how unreliable it can sometimes be involved misidentifying the prime minister of Japan .

Beyond just making mistakes, many people are concerned about what this human-like generative AI could mean for the future of the internet, so much so that thousands of tech leaders and prominent public figures have signed a petition to slow down the development. It was even banned in Italy due to privacy concerns, alongside complaints from the FTC — although that’s now been reversed. Since then, the FTC has reopened investigations against OpenAI on questions of personal consumer data is being handled.

Speaking of bans, a number of high-profile companies have been disallowing the use of ChatGPT internally, including Samsung, Amazon, Verizon, and even the United States Congress . Apple is also on the list, though Tim Cook stated that he uses it, just weeks after having it banned .

There’s also the concern that generative AI like ChatGPT could result in the loss of many jobs — as many as 300 million worldwide, according to Goldman Sachs. In particular, it’s taken the spotlight in Hollywood’s writer’s strike , which wants to ensure that AI-written scripts don’t take the jobs of working screenwriters.

Beyond that, multiple controversies have also sprung up around people using ChatGPT to handle tasks that should probably be handled by an actual person. One of the worst cases of this is generating malware, which the FBI recently warned ChatGPT is being used for.

For example, Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School was recently under fire for generating an email about a mass shooting and the importance of community. In addition, JPMorgan Chase is restricting the use of the AI chatbot for workers, especially for generating emails, which companies like Apple have also prohibited internally.

There are also privacy concerns. A recent GDPR complaint says that ChatGPT violates user’s privacy by stealing data from users without their knowledge, and using that data to train the AI model.

Lastly, ChatGPT was even made able to generate Windows 11 keys for free , according to one user. Of course, this is not how ChatGPT was meant to be used, but it’s significant that it was even able to be “tricked” into generating the keys in the first place.

Teachers, school administrators, and developers are already finding different ways around this and banning the use of ChatGPT in schools . Others are more optimistic about how ChatGPT might be used for teaching, but plagiarism is undoubtedly going to continue being an issue in terms of education in the future. There are some ideas about how ChatGPT could “watermark” its text and fix this plagiarism problem, but as of now, detecting ChatGPT is still incredibly difficult to do.

ChatGPT recently launched a new version of its own plagiarism detection tool , with hopes that it will squelch some of the criticism around how people are using the text generation. It uses a new feature called “AI text classifier,” which operates in a way familiar to other plagiarism software. According to OpenAI, however, the tool is still a work in progress and is “imperfect.”

Other tools like GPTZero claim to help detect ChatGPT plagiarism, too. Although they work, some extra editing on AI responses can still trip up these tools.

Well, that’s the fun part. Since its launch, people have been experimenting to discover everything the chatbot can and can’t do — and some of the results have been mind-blowing .

Learning the kinds of prompts and follow-up prompts that ChatGPT responds well to requires some experimentation though. Much like we’ve learned to get the information we want from traditional search engines, it can take some time to get the best results from ChatGPT. If you want to get started, we have a roundup of the best ChatGPT tips .

It really all depends on what you want out of it. To start out, try using it to write a template blog post, for example, or even blocks of code if you’re a programmer.

Our writers experimented with ChatGPT too, attempting to see if it could handle holiday shopping or even properly interpret astrological makeup . In both cases, we found limitations to what it could do while still being thoroughly impressed by the results.

But the fun is in trying it out yourself. Whether you think ChatGPT is an amazing piece of tech or will lead to the destruction of the internet as we know it, it’s worth trying out for yourself to see just what it’s capable of.

Following an update on August 10, you can now use custom instructions with ChatGPT . This allows you to customize how the AI chatbot responds to your inputs so you can tailor it for your needs.

You can’t ask anything, though. OpenAI has safeguards in place in order to “build a safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence.” That means any questions that are hateful, sexist, racist, or discriminatory in any way are generally off-limits.

The announcement of ChatGPT plugins caused a great stir in the developer community, with some calling it “the most powerful developer platform ever created.” AI enthusiasts have compared it to the surge of interest in the iOS App Store when it first launched, greatly expanding the capabilities of the iPhone.

Essentially, developers will be able to build plugins directly for ChatGPT, to open it up to have access to the whole of the internet and connect directly to the APIs of specific applications. It’s ChatGPT out in the real world. Some of the examples provided by OpenAI include applications being able to perform actions on behalf of the user, retrieve real-time information, and access knowledge-based information.

It’s currently only available on a waitlist, but early applications to use plugins with ChatGPT include Expedia, Instacart, Slack, and OpenTable — and now there are lots to explore, including the ones we’ve seen as the best ChatGPT plugins to try out.

Outside of the ChatGPT app itself, many apps had been announced as partners with OpenAI using the ChatGPT API. Of the initial batch, the most prominent example is Snapchat’s MyAI .

Essentially, this is a way for developers to access ChatGPT and plug its natural language capabilities directly into apps and websites. We’ve seen it used in all sorts of different cases, ranging from suggesting parts in Newegg’s PC builder to building out a travel itinerary with just a few words. Recently, OpenAI made the ChatGPT API available to everyone, and we’ve seen a surge in tools leveraging the technology, such as Discord’s Clyde chatbot or Wix’s website builder .

What’s the future of ChatGPT and GPT-5?

There’s no doubt that the tech world has become obsessed with ChatGPT right now, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. GPT-4, the next iteration of the model, has officially launched, though it’s currently only available for ChatGPT Plus. We do know, however, that Bing Chat is at least partially built on the GPT-4 language model, even if certain elements such as visual input aren’t available.

But the bigger development will be how ChatGPT continues to be integrated into other applications. Microsoft reportedly made a multibillion-dollar investment in ChatGPT , which is already starting to pay off. The first integration was in Teams Premium , with some of OpenAI’s features showing up to automate tasks and provide transcripts. Most prominently, Microsoft revealed 365 Copilot , which integrates ChatGPT natural language prompts directly into Office apps like Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more.

There were initial reports that GPT-5 is on the way and could finish training later this year, with some people claiming that it would achieve AGI (artificial general intelligence). That’s a big, controversial statement, but clearly, things are progressing at a rapid pace.

Since then, OpenAI has stated that GPT-5 is not on the timeline and is not currently planned. That being said, the next version, GPT-4.5, is currently training and may be available later this year. OpenAI indicated that it may be done planning as early as September or October.

All that to say, if you think AI is a big deal now, just wait until it’s built into the most common applications that are used for work and school.

ChatGPT remains the most popular AI chatbot at the moment, but it’s not completely without competition. Microsoft’s Bing Chat is the biggest rival, which uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 model as a basis for its answers. Although it requires downloading the Edge browser to use, Bing Chat is free and offers some added features such as different writing modes, image creation, and search links. It even got a significant update recently that introduced features like export, third-party plugins, and multimodal support. There’s also YouChat, which uses GPT-3, an older model from OpenAI, and Forefront AI , which gives you access to GPT-4 and beyond.

The biggest non-GPT competitor to ChatGPT is Google Bard . It’s based on Google’s own homegrown language model, LaMDA, and Google seems intent on competing directly with OpenAI with Google Bard. The most recent updates make it a far more compelling alternative to ChatGPT , even if it’s not quite there.

There are a number of other chatbots out there, some of which are based on Meta’s open-source language model, LLaMA, such as Vicuna and HuggingChat .

Reports suggest Apple has been working on a ChatGPT rival for years , as well, though we haven’t seen it yet. Some reporters say it is “significantly behind competitors” at the moment.

Are ChatGPT chats private?

It depends on what you mean by private. All chats with ChatGPT are used by OpenAI to further tune the models, which can actually involve the use of human trainers. No, that doesn’t mean a human is looking through every question you ask ChatGPT, but there’s a reason OpenAI warns against providing any personal information to ChatGPT.

It should be noted that if you don’t delete your chats, the conversations will appear in the left sidebar. Unlike with other chatbots, individual chats within a conversation cannot be deleted, though they can be edited using the pencil icon that appears when you hover over a chat. When you delete the conversations, however, it’s not that ChatGPT forgets they ever happened — it’s just that they disappear from the sidebar chat history.

Fortunately, OpenAI has recently announced a way to make your chats hidden from the sidebar . These “hidden” chats won’t be used to train AI models either.

When was ChatGPT released?

ChatGPT was originally launched to the public in November of 2022 by OpenAI. The chatbot is based on the GPT-3.5 LLM, which is a fine-tuned version of GPT-3, a model first launched on March 15, 2022. GPT-3 itself, though, has been around for a few years now. It was first released in June 2020, but only as an autoregressive language model.

The predecessors to GPT-3 had very limited public exposure. GPT-2 was announced in February 2019, and the first research paper on GPT was published on OpenAI’s website in 2018.

Will ChatGPT replace Google Search?

Rather than replace it, chatbots are likely to be integrated directly into search. Microsoft has already done this with Bing Chat and Bing, which puts a “chat” tab right into the menu of Bing search.

Even Google has begun experimenting with integrating the smarts of Google Bard into search through its Search Generative Experience . We’re in the early days where all these exist as different products, but it’s not hard to imagine a future where it’s a completely unified experience.

Is Bing Chat the same as ChatGPT?

Microsoft has officially brought ChatGPT to Bing in the form of Bing Chat . After a long beta period, it was officially available to try out. But unlike ChatGPT , Bing Chat does require downloading the latest version of Edge. So Safari or Chrome users are out of luck.

In the early days of its release, Bing Chat was capable of some unhinged responses , but Microsoft has been quick to tame things a bit. It was recently announced that Bing Chat is using the latest GPT-4 language model , meaning it’s more powerful and accurate than ChatGPT . The new Edge Copilot mode also provides a more user-friendly way to get started, offering suggested prompts, links to learn more, and ways to tweak the kinds of answers it gives you. And now with the Windows Copilot , Bing Chat will live right on your desktop.

Is Google Bard the same as ChatGPT?

Unlike Bing Chat, Google Bard  uses an entirely different LLM to power its natural language capabilities. Upon its release, Bard has been using LaMDA, the company’s own model, which stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications. As has been demonstrated from early on, Bard didn’t have quite the precision in its answers.

Reports indicate, however, that Bard is getting a massive update soon, going from being trained on 30 billion parameters up to 600 billion parameters. That could make it closer to what is possible with GPT-4.

Can you write essays with ChatGPT?

The use of ChatGPT has been full of controversy, with many onlookers considering how the power of AI will change everything from search engines to novel writing. It’s even demonstrated the ability to earn students surprisingly good grades in essay writing.

Essay writing for students is one of the most obvious examples of where ChatGPT could become a problem. ChatGPT might not write this article all that well, but it feels particularly easy to use for essay writing. Some generative AI tools, such as Caktus AI , are built specifically for this purpose.

Can ChatGPT write and debug code?

Absolutely — it’s one of the most powerful features of ChatGPT. As with everything with AI, you’ll want to double-check everything it produces, because it won’t always get your code right. But it’s certainly powerful at both writing code from scratch and debugging code.

Developers have used it to create websites, applications, and games from scratch — all of which are made more powerful with GPT-4, of course. There’s even a plug-in called ChatGPT Code Interpreter that makes programming with AI even more accessible.

What is the ChatGPT character limit?

OpenAI doesn’t set an exact character limit, but it will cut off around its responses at about 500 words or 4,000 characters. If you happen to give the chatbot a request for a specific number of words above 500, you might find that it cuts off mid-sentence somewhere after 500 words.

One way to get around this is just to ask it to “go on” or “continue,” but it depends on the prompt and type of response. Sometimes ChatGPT will more or less repeat the previous answers in different words.

The best way to get access to responses with longer characters is to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus.

Is there a ChatGPT bug bounty program?

Yes. A bug bounty program for ChatGPT was recently announced . The program was unveiled officially on OpenAI’s website , which details the types of “cash awards” that are being offered. They range from $200 to up to $20,000 for what it calls “exceptional discoveries.”

While addressing security researchers interested in getting involved in the program, OpenAI said it recognized “the critical importance of security and view it as a collaborative effort. By sharing your findings, you will play a crucial role in making our technology safer for everyone.”

Do you need to download ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is available via a webpage , so no downloading is needed. However, OpenAI has finally released a free, official iOS app that needs to be downloaded from the iOS app store. For many months, the various app stores were full of fake versions. These are still out there, though, and should be installed and used with caution, as they are not official ChatGPT apps. There is no still no official Android app.

On desktop, there are a couple of ways to install ChatGPT, though. First, you can navigate to the ChatGPT website and save it as a Windows app through Edge. Go to the site, click the ellipsis menu, and hover over Apps.  Select  Install this site as an app  to load ChatGPT from your desktop.

Other tools like MacGPT also allow shortcuts to access the browser service from your desktop.

Can you use ChatGPT on iPhone or Android?

Now that there’s an official iOS app, you no longer have to rely solely on the web app to use ChatGPT on your phone . So, whether with the official app as downloaded through the app store or just the web version, you can certainly use ChatGPT on iPhones. In addition, there’s even a way to replace Siri with ChatGPT on your iPhone, as well as some useful mobile apps like Perplexity AI .

As for Android, you’ll need to rely on the web app. Just as on desktop, type in chat.openai.com to start using ChatGPT.

Can you get ChatGPT to answer any question?

Not exactly. ChatGPT has limitations in the kinds of questions it can answer. First of all, it can’t write about anything that requires internet knowledge after late 2021, which is when its training stopped.

Beyond that, ChatGPT is careful about answering questions that might imply illegal, explicit, or damaging activity. It’ll avoid swearing or political debates, and will (usually) avoid making malware. There is some amount of jailbreaking that can be done to get around these restrictions, but OpenAI is constantly tightening its content policies to restrict unwanted answers. One example of a common jailbreaking technique is the DAN (Do Anything Now) prompt , though OpenAI has worked hard to plug these holes over time.

What is Auto-GPT?

Built on GPT-4, Auto-GPT is the latest evolution of AI technology to cause a stir in the industry. It’s not directly related to ChatGPT or OpenAI — instead, it’s an open-source Python application that got into the hands of developers all over the internet when it was published on GitHub .

With ChatGPT or ChatGPT Plus, the capabilities of the AI are limited to a single chat window. Auto-GPT, at its simplest, is making AI autonomous. It can be given a set of goals, and then take the necessary steps towards accomplishing that goal across the internet, including connecting up with applications and software.

According to the official description on GitHub, Auto-GPT is an “experimental open-source application showcasing the capabilities of the GPT-4 language model. This program, driven by GPT-4, chains together LLM ‘thoughts’, to autonomously achieve whatever goal you set. As one of the first examples of GPT-4 running fully autonomously, Auto-GPT pushes the boundaries of what is possible with AI.”

The demo used on the GitHub page is simple — just create a recipe appropriate for Easter and save it to a file. What’s neat is how Auto-GPT breaks down the steps the AI is taking to accomplish the goal, including the “thoughts” and “reasoning” behind its actions. Auto-GPT is already being used in a variety of different applications, with some touting it as the beginning of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) due to its autonomous nature.

What is GPT-4 and how does it compare to GPT-3.5?

GPT-4 is a more advanced LLM — the most powerful that OpenAI currently offers. At the current moment, OpenAI only offers access to GPT-4 through ChatGPT Plus. GPT-3.5, on the other hand, is the LLM that powers the free ChatGPT tool. OpenAI no longer says exactly how many parameters these advanced models are trained on, but it’s rumored that GPT-4 boasts up to 1 trillion parameters.

Regardless, the results are a fairly dramatic difference between GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 in terms of quality. It offers much more precise answers, is significantly better at coding and creative collaboration, and can provide (and respond to) much longer selections of text. GPT-4 remains the best possible model available, while GPT-3.5 is more in line with some other models available.

Who owns the copyright to content created by ChatGPT?

This is a question open to debate. Much of the conversation around copyright and AI is ongoing, with some saying generative AI is “stealing” the work of the content it was trained on. This has become increasingly contentious in the world of AI art. Companies like Adobe are finding ways around this by only training models on stock image libraries that already have proper artist credit and legal boundaries.

According to OpenAI, however, you have the right to reprint, sell, and merchandise anything that was created with ChatGPT or ChatGPT Plus. So, you’re not going to get sued by OpenAI.

The larger topic of copyright law regarding generative AI is still to be determined by various lawmakers and interpreters of the law, especially since copyright law as it currently stands technically only protects content created by human beings.

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OpenAI needs to watch out because Apple may finally be jumping on the AI bandwagon, and the news doesn't bode well for ChatGPT. Apple is reportedly working on a large language model (LLM) referred to as ReALM, which stands for Reference Resolution As Language Modeling. Made to give Siri a boost and help it understand context, the model comes in four variants, and Apple claims that even its smallest model performs on a similar level to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

This tantalizing bit of information comes from an Apple research paper, first shared by Windows Central, and it appears to be an early peek into what Apple has been cooking for a while now. ReALM is Apple's own LLM that was reportedly made to enhance Siri's capabilities; these improvements include a greater ability to understand context in a conversation.

The ChatGPT chatbot is an innovative AI tool developed by OpenAI. As it stands, there are two main versions of the software: GPT-4 and GPT-3.5. Toe to toe in more ways than one, there are a couple of key differences between both versions that may be deal-breakers for certain users. But what exactly are these differences? We’re here to help you find out. 

We’ve put together this side-by-side comparison of both ChatGPT versions, so when you’re done reading, you’ll know what version makes the most sense for you and yours. What are GPT 3.5 and GPT-4?

ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot that went viral at the start of last year and kicked off a wave of interest in generative AI tools, no longer requires an account to use.

Its creator, OpenAI, launched a webpage on Monday that lets you begin a conversation with the chatbot without having to sign up or log in first.