Public Speaking Chapter Nine Organizing Your Speech

Organizing Your Main Ideas O When organizing the main ideas for your speech, there are five organizational patterns that you can choose from: O topical O chronological O spatial O causal O problem-solution

Organizing Ideas Topically O topical organization is the organization of the natural divisions in a central idea according to recency, primacy, complexity, or the speaker’s discretion O natural divisions are often essentially equal in importance O it may not matter which point you discuss first, second, third, etc.

Organizing Ideas Topically O at other times, you may organize your main points based on one of three principles: O primacy O primacy is the arrangement of ideas from the most important to the least important O this principle will work best if your audience is unfamiliar or hostile toward your central idea O recency O recency is the arrangement of ideas from the least important to the most important O this principle will work best if your audience is somewhat knowledgeable and generally favorable toward your topic O complexity O complexity is the arrangement of ideas from the simple to the more complex

Organizing Ideas Chronologically O chronological organization is organization by time or sequence O your steps are ordered according to when each step occurred or should occur O it can be either forward or backward, depending on which end of a set of events the speaker intends to emphasize O historical speeches and how-to speeches are two kinds of speeches organized chronologically

Arranging Ideas Spatially O spatial organization is based on location or position O it does not matter whether you progress up or down, east or west, forward or back – as long as you follow a logical progression O speeches on museums or the travels of explorers – or even the structure of an atom can be organized spatially

Organizing Ideas to Show Cause and Effect O cause-and-effect organization is organization that focuses on a situation and its causes or a situation and its effects O speech may first identify a situation and then discuss the effects that result from it (cause  effect) OR O speech can present a situation and then seek its causes (effect  cause)

Organizing Ideas by Problem and Solution O problem-and-solution organization is organization focused on a problem and then various solutions or a solution and the problems it would solve O if an audience is aware of a problem, but does not know how to solve it, discuss the problem first and then the solution O if an audience knows about an action or program, but now why it was implemented, discuss the solution first and then the problems that caused it to be created

Acknowledging Cultural Differences in Organization O each culture teaches its members patterns of thought and organization that are considered appropriate for various occasions and audiences O as an audience member, recognizing the existence of cultural differences when you are listening to a speech can help you appreciate and understand the organization of a speaker from a culture other than your own

Organizing Your Supporting Material O sometimes, you can use the five standard organizational patterns to arrange your supporting material, as well as your main ideas and subpoints O at other times, none of the five standard patterns will work and you may need to turn to a strategy more specifically adapted to your supporting materials, like: O primacy or recency O specificity O complexity

Organizing Your Supporting Material O supporting material can be arranged from soft to hard evidence O soft evidence is supporting material based mainly on opinion or inference; it includes hypothetical illustrations, descriptions, explanations, definitions, and analogies O hard evidence is factual evidence and statistics

Developing Signposts O signposts are verbal or nonverbal signals that a speaker is moving from one idea to the next O verbal transitions O in addition O not only O in other words O in summary O therefore O avoid words like “finally” and “in conclusion” because they will encourage a listener to stop paying attention

Developing Signposts O nonverbal transitions O facial expressions O pauses O altered voice pitches or speaking rates O movement O most good speakers use a combination of verbal and nonverbal transitions

Previews O audience-centered speakers need to remember that the members of their audiences cannot go back to review a missed point O previews, then, help to provide coherence O initial previews are statements of what the main ideas of the speech will be and are usually presented with the central ideas O internal previews are statements in the body of a speech that introduce and outline ideas that will be developed as the speech progresses

Summaries O like previews, summaries provide additional exposure to a speaker’s ideas and can help ensure that audience members will grasp and remember them O a final summary occurs just before the end of a speech, often acting as a transition between the body and the conclusion O an internal summary is a restatement in the body of a speech of ideas that have been developed so far

Supplementing Signposts with Presentation Aids O one way to increase the probability that your listeners will pay attention to your signposts is to supplement them with presentation aids O for example, powerpoints or posters with bulleted or numbered main ideas