Listen to and watch the people you like to hear speak. Listen to history's most influential people on videos, and read books and articles of the style that appeals to both you and the masses. Pay attention to patterns that emerge in how they word ideas, how they structure their thoughts and how they lay them out on paper. Watch for how they hold themselves when they speak in public, how they pause after a statement they want to emphasize or where and to whom they speak. Compile a list of some of the techniques they use that you want to emulate in your work or speeches.
Impacting others with your thoughts on a topic is best done when you have their attention. You get their attention by making an impact. Illustrations, anecdotes and statistics are three ways you can effectively make your points in your writing and in your speeches. Use charts, graphs, figures from studies, quotations and stories to get your audience's attention and keep it. Vary your sentence structure in your writing. Take a conversational tone when you give a speech, finding out who your audience is and what they are expecting from your speech. Look your audience in the eye while you deliver it.
The best way to be effective in your writing and speaking is to be yourself. Letting your personality shine through, as well as your passion for a particular subject and your sense of humor, is the best way to engage others in what you are saying, whether it is in person or on paper. What attracts others to you when they meet you is what needs to come out on paper or on the stage. Your ability to put others at ease or your sharp wit are assets that have to be channeled into your speeches and your writing to have the greatest impact.
Say what you have to say in the shortest way possible. Paragraphs that are pages long confuse people; speeches that ramble on do the same thing. As you move from one idea to another, the reader or listener has a difficult time keeping up. Use paragraphs in your writing often as well as transitions between them to help your writing flow. Connecting words, such as "moreover," "however" and "in contrast to," help bridge ideas for the listener or speaker. Use pauses in your speech to emphasize certain points or before you move to the next topic.
Your thoughts should move logically from one to another. Think of conversations you have had in the past with friends in which one of them jumps into a conversation about what you did last weekend with his opinion on the latest political editorial in the local paper. You all look at the speaker with raised eyebrows and think, "Huh?" The same principle applies to your writing and your speeches. Your audience has to be able to follow your train of thought.
Get feedback on your speeches and your writing from others. Find out if the information your give in your speeches and if the writing is enough or too much. Ask if the person reviewing your work or presentations can follow you throughout and if your transitions are effective. Find out if your sentences are clear and well-structured as well.