Before we even tell you the secrets to writing a successful Student Council Treasurer speech, let’s make one thing clear…
Most people do NOT know how to write one.
Why?
Well, because all Student Council speeches make everyone look like this.
They’re bored to tears. Tears!
And, the teachers? They’re also bored! They won’t tell the students to their faces; but, after having worked at a public high school in the past, I can certainly tell you my colleagues looked like this.
Okay, not THAT bored. But, you get the point.
It’s actually this boredom that explains a very interesting phenomenon that occurs with Student Council Treasurer speeches.
Oh, come on. We’re all thinking it.
Why do Popular Students With Silly Speeches Get Elected to Student Council?
Well, it’s actually quite obvious!
Ready?
They Didn’t Waste Anyone’s Time.
Think about it.
What happens during a Student Council Election?
Students, faculty, and teachers who ultimately don’t care are forced to sacrifice their lunch period for YOU! They get cramped into a gymnasium with no air conditioning and must listen to poorly written last-minute speeches.
Plus: they’re filled with “uhh”s and “umm”s.
Meanwhile, a silly speech with funny jokes —even if it’s bad— at least gives students and teachers something to laugh about during the assembly.
At least they GET something out of it.
That’s why we’re going to start off our guide with this dictum. Ready?
The one rule to writing a good Student Council Treasurer speech: provide value.
By the way: providing value is one of the fundamental rules of marketing. So, if you plan on majoring in business in the future ad using your Treasurer position in your resume, keep this in mind when writing your college essays about it!
Everything in this article is aimed at helping you write a Student Council Treasurer speech that provides value to the audience. If you can do that, you will maximize your chances of getting elected.
And, let’s face it. If you follow each of these steps, you’ll be writing stronger speeches than most other candidates in your school.
Table of Contents
- How to Write a Student Council Treasurer Speech
- Example Student Council Treasurer Speech That Worked
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How to Write a Student Council Treasurer Speech
Be Entertaining. Period.
Repeat after me.
You are a marketer. NOT a Treasurer.
Sounds silly? Sure. But, it’s true.
So, repeat after me.
You are a marketer. NOT a treasurer.
Got it? Good.
When you’ve earned your position as treasurer, then you can be one. But, for now, when writing a Student Council Treasurer speech, you are trying to win. So, your job is to be a marketer.
You’re marketing yourself in an engaging way that grasps the audience’s attention.
Burn it into your skull, and everything else about the Student Council Treasurer speech will be easier!
Now, let’s talk about how to make your speech entertaining.
Making an entertaining speech isn’t too hard. You don’t need to make every second of your speech compelling or tear-jerking. You just need to space out the interesting parts with the practical parts.
Remember: students can’t vote for you if they don’t even remember you. Make your speech memorable and noticeable by making some parts interesting.
So, here’s an example.
- An anecdote from personal experience
- Interesting moral of the story
- Funnel to the main idea
- Joke
- Continue the main idea
- Reference anecdote again
- Prove how you’ll be a great candidate
- Joke
- Tie it all up back to the original anecdote of your personal experience
Notice how the whole thing isn’t just jokes and humor?
There are interesting parts peppered with serious parts. Some parts of your speech show your skills as treasurer and your fit in the Student Council. Others are emotional or funny.
So, keep it balanced.
Body Language is Part of the Speech Too!
It’s not enough to write a compelling Student Council Treasurer speech. The delivery is just as important.
Note that the students are not just going to be listening to you. They’ll be watching your bodily movements and noticing the way you carry yourself. Do you seem confident in your speech? Do you seem like you know what you’re talking about? Does your confidence demonstrate that you believe the things you actually say in your speech?
Remember: part of the importance of confidence is not just about impressing people. It’s also a way of showing honesty and integrity.
Confidence demonstrates to listeners that you actually believe the words that you deliver. If you don’t have that confidence, you risk showing listeners the worst possible traits member of the Student Council could show: dishonesty.
So, how do we show confidence through our body language?
Well, you can start by making your body “open.”
That doesn’t mean guts and innards spilling all over the floor.
Having open body language simply means having a more revealing shape to your body that is accepting and exposed to demonstrate comfort in oneself and around others.
Here are some examples of open body language.
- Arms
- This is an easy one. Remember to keep your arms either to your side or away from your inside. Be sure not to bock your body with your arms, as that can make you look more “protective” and therefore insecure.
- One exception to this would be stretching your hands out in front of you as a gesture, or speaking with your hands in front of you, as some people do this to make a point.
- Legs
- Chances are, when you’re delivering your Treasurer speech, you’ll be standing. Keep your legs open. You don’t need to do the splits or anything. Just keep a few inches between your feet and make sure they’re pointed toward the audience. So, keep the tip of your shoes pointing outward rather than inward to exude “openness.”
- Eyes
- It’s easy to get scared when looking at the crowd. You can see everyone looking at you, get nervous, then have a more closed body language. Don’t get nervous. Avoid looking at the “crowd” and instead pretend there is an invisible dot somewhere in the crowd and focus on that. That way, you can still maintain eye contact with the audience without feeling like you’re being judged by their gaze.
- Clothing
- This doesn’t technically count as “body” language; but, you want to keep your clothing professional yet not too overtly formal for the occasion. So, for instance, if there’s a dress code for your Treasurer speech delivery, don’t overdress. Keep it professional yet a bit more casual if possible. Of course, keep things clean cut, and proper.
- You also want to avoid fidgeting with your clothes with your hands. This demonstrates nervousness and makes things more uncomfortable for the audience. Demonstrate confidence by keeping your hands away from objects or clothing.
DON’T Just Rely on Logic. Use Emotion!
Emotion is a crucial element of speechwriting.
It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a speech for Student Council President, Treasurer, etc. You’re going to need to appeal to emotion.
Emotion will be your best friend because humans are intrinsically emotional creatures.
Think about some of the things that students will value when they’re ushered into the assembly for Student Council elections. What are they thinking? Do they want to see a change in the school? Do they have no faith in the education system or the Student Council’s ability to make a change? Is it both?
Think about the values the students have that you can cater to.
Here are a few examples.
- Leadership from a genuine candidate.
- Appearing like an honest and forthright candidate.
- Candidates who come from a background of struggle.
- Relatability.
- Less homework.
- Having a more open community.
- Lowering unrealistic academic standards.
These are just a few things students want. Remember: we’re trying to provide value to students. So, your job is to emotionally appeal to these propositions.
Now, there’s an issue.
You’re applying to be the Student Council Treasurer. So, how can you possibly achieve these?
Well… you can’t.
But, proper financial planning, advising, and management may help make these paths easier. Thus, your success as a Treasurer may help support these student interests.
Organize. Organize. Organize.
You can’t have a strong Student Council Treasurer speech without being organized.
Do some successful Student Council Treasurer speeches have disorganized flashcards? Are some of them just memorized and improvised in front of a crowd?
Sure!
Is it a good idea?
No…
Improvising your speech or putting them in little notes is not the way to go. In order to write a successful Student Council Treasurer speech, you’re going to need to organize your thoughts and priorities in a meaningful outline.
It sounds like such a simple step. But, trust us. Even short speeches as long as a page require strong organization skills. You’ll be surprised by how many ideas you miss and how many topics you look over when you organize your thoughts.
In addition, an organized speech is going to help you create a powerful story that doesn’t lose track. You’ll have a story that isn’t choppy and helps the audience follow along without getting derailed or confused. Capturing the audience’s attention means they’re focusing on your speech.
And, as we covered before, their attention is everything.
Put Some Space Between Ideas. Breathe!
This is an interesting idea and perhaps one of the lesser-spoken ones. Yet, it’s a crucial element when it comes to writing a strong Student Council Treasurer speech and delivering it.
Pause!
That’s right. In between thoughts, strong ideas, or new paragraphs, remember to give some space to pause and breathe.
You can check out more details on this principle in Jim Donovan’s explanation here.
Long story short, pausing in between important ideas helps let the ideas sink in for your audience. It also helps the audience understand the gravity of the topic you’re speaking about.
It also gives a level of weight behind the ideas you’re delivering rather than making them seem like passing thoughts!
In addition, they can come to their own inferences during that resting few seconds of silence before you continue your ideas.
If you do not pause, there are no interruptions in the thought process; your audience will be forced to be strung along through your speech. And, if they can catch up, they’ll be more confused with what you’re talking about.
By failing to pause in between ideas, you’ll make your speech hard to follow; and, ultimately, the audience will stop paying attention.
Be Confident… But Maintain Humility.
This is actually quite a hard skill to pull off. But, if you can do it, it’s going to make your Student Council Treasurer speech very, very strong.
You need to have a strong balance between confidence and humility.
Now, why is humility important during the student council elections?
Humility is important because it’s the primary metric your audience is using to determine who they can trust among the candidates.
Let’s be very transparent here. A majority of people running for Student Council positions are certainly high in extraversion and enthusiasm. It’s also these two personality traits that students often associate with arrogance and narcissism.
Are all candidates for Student Council arrogant narcissists? No! Are a good number of them? Well, often times a good handful are.
So, you’ll need to find a way to be both confident whilst also demonstrating humility to the audience. How you do that is going to be easier said than done. Well, there’s one thing you can do to demonstrate humility. It’s perhaps the best technique that will earn the audience’s respect. However, you need to be brave enough to do so.
You need to admit fault.
That’s right.
You may have often heard from peers and teachers that a strong speech is going to require you to demonstrate your strengths. That’s fair. However, your believability is on the line. And, one of the best ways to get students to truly believe you are to show the vulnerable side of you, the part of you that is imperfect.
Not only is this a strong demonstration of honesty, but it’s also an act of openness that the audience will keep in mind and respect when making their decision. If students could choose someone for a position, they most often elect those who are honest enough to admit faults and learn from them. In addition, it makes you a more personable character who is “deserving” of a position of power.
Okay, now that we’ve got all these ideas on paper, let’s show you these principles in practice. Below you will see an example Student Council Treasurer speech that worked.
Example Student Council Treasurer Speech That Worked
Anthony Jones for Treasurer
“I was a boy, then: riding on my sister’s paddle board on the lake just a ways away from my home. We lived in a secluded area up North of California at the time; and, it was just about what you’d expect. The remote nature-rich “retirement home” of the wealthy.
I’d paddle around the country club doing circles, watching the people from afar. Dancing. Fine dining. Girls with flowers on their heads. Caviar truffle “somethings-or-whatevers” that country club people had at country clubs.
But, I knew I would never be allowed in.
Not like it was an “old people only” thing. Rather, I wasn’t their kind; but, this selectivity was shrouded in euphamisms of “we just have no space”s and “our kind”s. They were a club. And, I wasn’t in…
Just like how you all are not in.
I know, because you know too. No one is ever “in.” We’re all excluded somewhere. And, in all trasparency, our school is full of these exclusions. We’re not quite as diverse and accepting as our gated fences and empty platitudes would like to admit.
And, if you could bear my pessimistic candor any further, I’d like to bring the mood down once more.
I can’t do much about such discrimination.
Okay, okay. I never said I was going to make people happy. I’m an aspiring treasurer, after all. I work with money and numbers, not feelings.
But, perhaps there’s some positivity to that. I can at least do for our school what I am best at doing: the accounts. The numbers.
The money.
My first experience with financial management…
Okay, look. I know I’m still in school and I say financial management like I’m handling clients for Goldman Sachs…
By the way please hire me Goldman Sachs… please take me NYU Stern…
ANYWAY!
My first experience was working with my older sister selling baked goods using her digital small business. Okay… I admit it, we ate a good number of our product. It was good, alright? But, look: we managed to gather $2,000 within two months and used a quarter of that money to invest in better machinery to scale operations.
It was during that time I gained a newfound confidence with my management skills… and 7 pounds.
But, there was another lesson that I learned with this.
The money never lies.
Could we have made $2,500 not eating through some of our cookies? Sure! Were we still succesful? Certainly. Our success was not determined by dancing, fine dining, and girls with flowers on their heads. It was the number staring back at us when we looked at the ATM. Our business card wasn’t a fancy bone-white card with mahogany lettering. It was the debit card we put in the ATM with the number staring back at us. No lies. No euphamisms. No other -isms that pretend to bring financial wealth and success.
Just a number.
And, that’s the philosophy I wish to translate into my work as Student Council Treasurer. I won’t hide behind euphimisms. I don’t need to hide behind falsehoods.
Will I be a good Student Council Treasurer?
Will my 3 years of tutoring students here struggling with Mathematics prove I’m a great candidate? Will my 3 years of FBLA prove it? Will my project to donate food for the homeless through our food drive prove it?
No.
What will prove my position as Treasurer is when you paddle your way past the many “truffle caviar whatever”s you see before exiting this gymnasium. When you paddle past the fine dining. The girls with flowers on their head. All the way until you get to the ballet box. When you insert your vote… your business card… into the box… your ATM… you’ll know whether you voted for the right person because you’ll see the number staring back at you.
My name is Anothony Jones, and thank you for considering me as Student Council Treasurer.”
Example Student Council Treasurer Speech That Worked –Anthony Jones for Treasurer
If you’re still struggling to write a strong Student Council Treasurer speech that will win, or you need help with writing one starting from the beginning, feel free to ask us for help! Schedule a free consultation with us here at PenningPapers, and our expert college consulting and academic advisors can help you write a fantastic speech that wins your audience’s vote. We’ll also respond within 24 hours!