1. Chapter 11 Notes
Preparing Your Speech

2. Preparing Your Speech
After covering this chapter, you will be able to…
Explain the three patterns most commonly used for organizing the main points of a speech.
Explain the goals of a speech introduction and list six types of introductions.
Explain the goals of a speech conclusion and identify three types of conclusions.
Outline a speech and prepare speech notes.
List the steps in rehearsing a speech.

3. How to organize a speech
Let’s say I give you a speech assignment for next Friday. You already have your topic & purpose. You already know your audience. You’ve already gathered information from various sources.
What else do you have to do?

4. How to organize your speech
The final step in preparing your material is to ORGANIZE it.
A well-organized speech has three parts:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
In this chapter, you will learn how to prepare all 3 parts.

5. Organizing the Body of Your Speech
What’s so important about the body of the speech?
What sort of things do we find in the body of a speech/essay?

6. Organizing the Body of Your Speech
First, you need to determine the main points you want to stress.
What are the main points of a speech?
Ex: Dogs have earned their place as our “best friends” by working with people, by protecting people and their property, and by showing love and devotion to people.

7. Organizing the Body of Your Speech
Next, you need to choose an organizational pattern.
Chronological order
Spatial order
Topical order

8. Organizing the Body of Your Speech
Finally, in the body of your speech you need to develop your main ideas.
What does it mean to develop your main idea?
What does unity mean?

9. Planning the Introduction
The introduction is the beginning section of your speech. An introduction can be as short as a few sentences and should usually be no longer than 10% of your speech.
Purposes:
Get the attention of the audience
Gain the goodwill of the audience
Develop the audience’s interest in the topic

10. Planning the Introduction
Attention
Sustained interest
Goodwill
Audience’s respect
Interest
Involvement or concern

11. Techniques for Introductions
Each of the following can get your audience’s attention and get them interested in your topic:
Startling statement
Question
Story (Anecdote)
Quotation
Personal reference
Audiovisual materials

12. Techniques for Introductions
Startling Statement
Begin your speech with a brief statement that surprises your audience and thus catches their attention
Ex: “There are an estimated fifty million dogs in the United States.”

13. Techniques for Introductions
Question
Ask a question. Your audience will listen carefully so that they can hear the answer.
Ex: If vegetable oil is made out of vegetables, where does baby oil come from?

14. Techniques for Introductions
Story
Tell a brief story, or anecdote. An audience, young or old, is “hooked” by a story.
Be careful! You must find a story that is relevant and short enough to fit your speech.

15. Techniques for Introductions
Quotation
Open with a quotation that fits your topic.
You might quote a recognized expert on your topic or use a quotation because it expresses an idea in a creative way.
Ex: “The opposite of courage is not cowardice; rather it is conformity” –Earl Nightingale

16. Techniques for Introductions
Personal Reference
Give a personal reference that relates the speech topic directly to the audience’s experience.
Ex: “I’m sure many of you have pets…”

17. Techniques for Introduction
Audiovisual Materials
Use audiovisual materials to support your words of introduction and to add variety and interest to your speech.
Ex: “Look at this picture of Border collies herding sheep in Montana…”

18. Planning the Conclusion
The conclusion of your speech is just as important as the introduction.
When people encounter you, they most remember the first impression and the last impression you leave.

19. Planning the Conclusion
A conclusion should do two things:
Bring a psychological closing
Don’t make the audience guess whether you’re finished or not
Plant in the audience’s mind the most important idea(s)
Remind your audience of what they need to remember after you’re done speaking

20. Techniques for Conclusions
Summarize
Ask a Question
“Use the Envelope”
Quotation
Predict the Future
Make a Recommendation

21. Techniques for Conclusions
Summarize
Restate your main ideas and thesis statement.
This is an unimaginative conclusion strategy that teachers tell beginning writers to use.
Use this as a last resort!

22. Techniques for Conclusions
Question
Ask one last thought-provoking question to the audience that will make them think about your topic after you’re finished with your speech.

23. Techniques for Conclusions
“Use the Envelope”
When you “use the envelope”, you tell the audience a story at the beginning of your speech, but you save the ending for the conclusion.

24. Techniques for Conclusions
Quotation
Wrap up your speech by telling the audience a quote from a famous person.
Subconsciously, audiences get the feeling a speech is over when a quote is given.

25. Techniques for Conclusions
Predict the Future
You might just imagine what the future will be like in the light of the information that you just presented.
Have the audience imagine with you!

26. Techniques for Conclusions
Make a Recommendation
Tell the audience what they should do since they’ve heard the information in your speech.
This can also be called a “call to action.”

27. Using Transitional Devices
Transitional Devices are bridges between ideas. They connect parts of a speech and help to emphasize points you are making.
Look at page
Notice the transitions in parentheses

28. Outlining A formal outline is a short skeleton of a speech.
Reasons for outlining:
Tests structure
Helps organize
Helps rehearsal
Good notes

29. Rehearsing for your Speech
How to rehearse for a speech:
Create a situation as close to the one that you’ll actually be in.
Present your speech just as you hope to deliver it.
Evaluate your performance.
Plan for improvement by having additional rehearsals.