Most people will never give a keynote address. Nearly everyone, at some point, will stand up at a meeting, testify about something they care about, raise a glass at a wedding or speak at a funeral.
Public comment
City councils, school boards and many other public bodies set aside time for residents to speak. Rules vary, but speakers often sign up in advance, give their name, and get a strict limit, commonly two or three minutes. Speak to the members of the body, not to the crowd behind you. Say who you are and why you care, give one or two pieces of evidence, and then make your request. A strong public comment makes one specific request, such as "Please vote no on item 7" or "Please add sidewalk repair to next year's budget." Bring a written copy to hand to the clerk, since it becomes part of the record and can say more than you have time for.
Testimony
Legislative committees hold hearings at which experts, advocates and ordinary citizens testify on bills. Written testimony is usually submitted in advance, and the spoken remarks summarize it, since time is short. A common opening is to thank the chair, state your name and whether you support or oppose the bill, and explain your stake. Lead with what you know that the committee may not: a professional's experience, a family's story, a local consequence. Afterward, members may ask questions; answer briefly and directly.
Town halls and community meetings
At a town hall an official meets constituents, and much of the event is questions. If you are asking, keep it short and make it an actual question. If you are running it, set ground rules and give many people a turn.
Toasts
A toast is a short special occasion speech, often a minute or two. A good toast focuses on the honoree and includes the whole room. One warm story that shows who the person is works better than a list of praise. Avoid inside jokes that most guests will not understand, and anything that would embarrass the honoree in front of family. End by raising your glass with a clear line, so everyone knows when to drink.
Eulogies
A eulogy honors someone who has died and comforts those who remain. It is not a full biography. A eulogy is best built around specific stories that capture who the person was: the way she sang while cooking, the time he drove all night to help a friend. Humor can belong in a eulogy if it fits the person. The oldest famous model, the funeral oration that the historian Thucydides gives to the Athenian leader Pericles in the winter of 431 to 430 BC, honors the war dead by describing what they died for, and contains the line, in an old English translation, "For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb."
Questions and answers
Many speeches end with questions, and this part can matter as much as the speech. Prepare by listing the hardest questions you could be asked. When a question comes, repeat or paraphrase it so everyone in the room hears it; this also gives you a moment to think and confirms you understood. Answer to the whole audience, not just the questioner, and keep answers brief.
If you do not know the answer, say so and offer to follow up. Guessing damages credibility far more than honest uncertainty. When a question is hostile, stay calm, look for the legitimate concern inside it, and answer that. When someone uses the microphone to make a speech of their own, politely ask for their question so others get a turn. Finally, end with a short closing statement after the last question, so the event ends on your central idea rather than on whatever the last question happened to be.
Worked example: a defendant takes her case to the voters
In November 1872 Susan B. Anthony and several other women voted in Rochester, New York. She was arrested and charged with voting illegally. Before her trial she did something unusual: she gave a lecture called "Is It a Crime for a United States Citizen to Vote?" in town after town across Monroe County, where her jurors would be drawn, reportedly speaking in every one of its postal districts. When the prosecutor had the trial moved to a neighboring county, she and her ally Matilda Joslyn Gage spoke there too.
Her argument went straight to the Constitution's opening words: "It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union." She took a legal question out of the courtroom and put it before her neighbors as citizens.
At trial in 1873 the judge directed the jury to find her guilty and fined her one hundred dollars. When he asked whether she had anything to say, she spoke at length about the injustice of the proceedings, and she never paid the fine. She lost the case. Her speeches helped build the movement that won women the vote in the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, fourteen years after her death. Speaking in public life rarely wins everything at once. It puts arguments where citizens can hear and weigh them.