Scripting a speech takes lots of effort. Mark Twain famously said it took him more than three weeks to prepare for an impromptu speech! So, what was he doing for three weeks? It’s easy to imagine him taking a whole week per draft. As the first week draws to a close, a naturally conversational style script often emerges with passages predominately using the passive voice. Through the second week, the text clarity and brevity improves through rewriting using the active voice. In the third week, Twain would have been practising delivering his speech.
In regard to public speaking, using an active voice draws in your audience as recently researched by Sam Maglio and Eugene Chan in their 2019 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. In Magilo’s words ‘Using the active voice can lead to feelings of psychological closeness, known to activate more concrete patterns of thought’.