It is not easy to report a public speech, especially if you are a beginner. Very often the mood, the atmosphere overawes you. You do not know know where to start, what points to stress. Here’s a checklist to help you:
Tip 1
Please make sure that you have the correct name of the speaker and the designation.
Tip 2
Do a quick research before going to cover a speech. What have been the recent major assignments of the speaker? What are the points the speaker has been making? Has there been any shift in the speaker’s public stance in recent years? This will ensure that you cut out those points that the speaker has made in the recent past, and focus on new or fresh points. It will also give you important leads of the kind of questions you can ask if you get a chance to buttonhole the speaker before or after the speech.
Tip 3
Decide the purpose of the speech. Is it aimed to inform the audience? Is it meant to persuade the audience? Is it meant to move the audience into action? Or is it meant to entertain the audience?
Tip 4
The speech is a Who said What form of reporting. The report should therefore be written in the inverted pyramid format. The only difference with action reports is that the speech will use a relatively larger number of quotes.
Tip 5
Make sure you take notes of the main points of the speech. As a fallback, record the speech. This allows you to reproduce exact quotes.
Tip 6
Next, decide what is the main point of the speech.
Tip 7
Locate a quote that best expresses the main point.
Tip 8
Locate points that the speaker makes to persuade the audience or steps that the speaker plans to achieve the goals. The points that are likely to be controversial should be fleshed out with actual quotes. These should also be pushed high in the report because they arouse greater reader interest.
Tip 9
Study the audience carefully. Make mention of any celebrities that may be present. Also, indicate the number. Is it a decent number? Was the auditorium half full or overflowing?
Tip 10
The audience reaction is equally important. Are there catcalls? Is there enthusiastic applause? Or is there only a polite clapping of hands? Such details add colour to a speech report, and make the reader get a feel of what transpired.
Tip 11
You should also make a note of the dress or the mannerisms of the speaker. Was the speaker agitated? Was the speaker offensive? How did the speaker react to catcalls/applause form the audience?
Tip 12
Try to get a minute or two with the speaker in what is called on “the sidelines of the event”. You can use this opportunity to ask a quick question based on the speech or on an issue that the speaker has been expounding. If you are lucky, you may come up with a story that no other reporter has.
Related posts:
8 tips to report Public Meetings
How to report a Public Speech
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