Students are a tough crowd to motivate. You need to be very careful with the words you use and the points you craft during your speeches. Children are good listeners and very often carry home the smallest thing you may say or joke about. Hence, you should always think twice before addressing a crowd of children. At the same time, any good or encouraging thing you say not just in your speech but also in your usual dialogue can influence them in a huge way.
Whether you are a child addressing children or a teacher addressing the same, here are few points you must take into consideration while forming the points of your speech.
1. Keep it light and simple
No matter what age group of students you address, if you use jargon, they are likely to get bored and stay uninterested in whatever you have to say. Thus, use simple words and simple language while writing down a speech. You can even use words and phrases they use in classrooms in their casual conversations
2. Get to the point
Children have a short attention span and you need to capture their attention from the very first word that comes out of your mouth. Don’t beat around the bush while trying to motivate students but get to the point. Furthermore, if you only have a time limit of two minutes, it is best you get to the juicy part of your speech as early as possible.
3. Use examples, get down to their level
Children can understand your points better when you can provide real-life examples. When you are trying to motivate students in 2 minutes through a speech, you need to use examples of people or situations that they are familiar with. This will help them resonate with your speech.
4. Be realistic
While motivating students, you must avoid using examples or words that may make the students feel that their goals are unachievable. Use realistic examples, and keep emphasizing how their goals are achievable.
5. Stay within the time limit
If you are given two minutes for a speech finish it within those two minutes. If you do extend your time limit people are not just going to be inconvenienced but are also likely to stop listening.
6.Time yourself, don’t fit in too much
Very often when people have a time limit, they tend to fit in too many words. As a result of which, they have to speak too fast to complete their points. If you speak too fast, people may be unable to follow, which would make your address pointless. Thus, speak slowly but not too slow, and fast but not too fast.
7. Be original
Many times people copy speeches from other people, sites, or videos. This would mean that you would have to rote your speech and have a high chance of fumbling when you cannot remember what you memorized. Several times these speeches turn out to be irrelevant to the crowd. The best way to prepare for a speech is to be original. Come up with points that are not just original but also relevant to the crowd you address. Use points on notecards and make the speech seem natural instead of memorized. This would make people relate to you as you would now seem human-like and not machine-like.
HERE is an already written, 2-minute speech that you can use as an example to learn from.
If you are someone looking for speeches addressing students preparing for examinations, HERE is an article that you can refer to while preparing your speech.