Contest Speech Bad Ideas

For a contest today I listen to a series of and since I was not judging, I had the opportunity to figure out what the theme or message is, which was a big part of why so many of the speeches were so bad.

Good technique can not rescue bad writing

1. "Did you ever have this experience?"

The opening question is a popular technique in stand-up comedy, but stand-up comedy is very different from giving inspirational speeches. 

The answer is "no" for half your audience, in  most cases. Some of us will be in denial, others just have not had the experience - just because YOU have had the experience does not make it universal.  Either way, you are excluding people.

If you're going to talk about your experience, then just talk about it. The universalization should follow out of the story. Establish connection with your emotional reaction, not the non-universal facts. 

2. "My Boss Was Such A Jerk That I Quit!"

Well, fine, we're hope that you have found happiness, but what general principle can we learn from this?

Many of us have had difficulties on either end of the boss/employee relationship, and I won't say I've never left a job, but it might be helpful to explain more about the before-and-after. Also, why the other guy was the jerk, and not you.

3. "I Do Not Like People Who Fear Change. "

Are you the boss from #2?  Because, according to your speech, you're acting like a jerk.
Try figuring out why people who fear change do so. Are their values and priorities different from yours? And your feelings? why should we care? We don't know you, you're a speaker on a podium (or on Zoom) who we don't know yet..