A mayor speech is a public presentation that features the leader of a city sharing accomplishments from the previous year and a vision for future progress. Mayors use these presentations to address community issues, such as blight or crime, as well as share new initiatives like solar energy, ridesharing and tax relief programs. Developing a detailed mayor speech outline helps ensure that the presentation is well organized and persuasively proves the speaker’s thesis.

At the top of any preparation outline for a mayor speech, the title, topic, specific purpose and thesis should be clearly written to serve as a reminder of what the speaker intends to accomplish with their speech and how this will be measured by anyone reading and assessing the outline. The outline should also include any visual aids that the speaker will use and, if applicable, the citation information for these resources.

Developing a mayor speech outline is a good opportunity to tailor the message to the needs of different groups within a city. For example, a speech aimed at the working class may spend more time discussing how a new park will improve neighborhood safety. It might also highlight efforts to support youth and low-income families, such as expanding youth initiatives, creating schoolyard gardens and connecting Section 8 households with homes.

The term mayor derives from the Old French maire, which means “head of a municipal government.” In some countries with representative local governance, mayors are elected by council members and serve as ceremonial figureheads and local agents of the central government. In other countries, particularly in older systems of council-manager government, the role of mayor is more limited.