Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant Communities - ILRC

Inspiring Leadership in Immigrant CommunitiesJanuary 2003Giving the SpeechA. The first thing to do during a speech is to walk up to the front, pause for a coupleseconds, smile and then start.B. While giving the speech, try not to read it unless you really have to. You don't have tomemorize it either, but if you are really familiar with the speech and have practiced it asufficiently, you should be able look at the audience for a considerable part of the speech.Eye contact with members of the audience helps to keep them interested.C. Try to have the most important points spelled out on butcher paper or handouts for theaudience to look at and follow.D. Use personal experiences in the speech. Talk about why this topic is important to youand to the audience. Use examples such as Naturalization is important because it helpedmy neighbor immigrate her ill father to the United States quicker and now she can takecare of him.E. Speak loudly and clearly! Pretend you are trying to talk to the wall that is the farthestaway, on the other side of the room. Use a microphone if you think it's necessary.F. Make the speech as simple and short as possible. Always work on cutting the lengthdown. A short speech will keep the audience interested. You can always save time at theend for questions if you want.G. Always be on time. Do not speak over your allotted time. Be prepared to start on time andbe prepared to decide how long you will be willing to wait to start if the audience is late.H. Involve the audience as much as you can. Ask the audience questions such as these:• Can you hear me alright in the back?• How many of you have heard the immigrant bashing which politicians and someothers have been promoting? What do you think about it? What do you think we cando about it?"• How many of you have ever helped anyone apply for naturalization?• Who has ever been interviewed by a newspaper, TV or radio? What was the interviewabout? How did it go?I. Be funny and interesting if you can. Sometimes it is hard to be funny, but it isn’t hardto be interesting. Think of things that would have a special interest to the audience. Ifyour audience is a group of parents of school children, talk about things relating to theschools.J. Try to motivate audience members to do something. If you are talking about the wave ofanti-immigrant hysteria, be emotional in explaining why the hysteria is wrong and youraudience can do about it. Encourage them to take action on the issue you are discussing,whether it be signing a petition, joining an organization or whatever else might be useful.App.4-A-4