Mayors often give an annual mayor speech to share their vision for their city’s future, announce initiatives and accomplishments and highlight challenges that the city is facing. The term “mayor” shares linguistic origins with the military rank of major, both ultimately deriving from Latin maior.
Mayor speeches can cover any topic a mayor wishes to talk about. However, some mayors focus on a few main areas of concern for their communities. These include economic development, housing and crime prevention. In recent years, mayors have also focused on encouraging civic engagement and efforts to improve the quality of local schools. In addition, mayors have been advocating for residents to use ridesharing services as a way to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution and save on gas costs.
Many cities have embraced recreational marijuana, and mayors are taking a variety of approaches to managing this new industry. This ranges from changing zoning codes to filing lawsuits against marijuana regulation. In 2019, 41 percent of mayors’ speeches featured significant coverage of the budgets and management subtopic, and 57 percent discussed intergovernmental relations.
To write a mayor speech, start by creating a preparation outline. A preparation outline is a seven- to nine-minute persuasive speech that uses a problem-solution format. This outline includes all of the main points and supporting information you want to mention in your speech. Then, you can rearrange the order of your points and add or subtract content as necessary. At the end of your speech, make sure to include a bibliography for all of the outside resources you mentioned. This will help your professor identify any additional sources you need to cite.