Organization of a Speech

1. Organization of a Speech

2. General Goals of a Speech • To inform: You have information that you want to convey to your audience. • To persuade: You want to convince your audience that your way of thinking is superior. • To entertain: You are amusing your audience with stories.

3. Parts of the Speech: The Introduction • Purposes of an introduction • Gain attention and arouse interest of the audience. This is done through the attention getter. • Prepare and open the minds of the listeners. • Indicates the purpose of the speech. Think thesis statement.

4. Methods of Delivery • Manuscript – Least desirable. You read verbatim from a completely written out speech. • Memorized – Still undesirable. This is the same as a manuscript, but instead of having the body of the speech in front of you, you have memorized the entire speech.

5. Delivery Methods Continued • Extemporaneous – This is a speech that is thoroughly researched and prepared, but is delivered with no manuscript and few to no notes. • Impromptu – This is a speech given on the spot as a subject matter expert. There is no preparation.

7. Informative Speaking • Public communication in which the speaker imparts new knowledge or more information on a topic to the audience. • Goal: for the audience to better understand the subject matter.

8. Key Principles in Achieving Audience Understanding • Visual aids • Verbal – The audience expects specific types of support. • Facts • Statistics • Testimony • Narrative • Examples • Comparisons

10. Patterns of Organization • Organization – Arrangement of ideas into meaningful pattern. Gives the subject form and structure. It is the map of the speaker’s idea. • Chronological – Proceeds from beginning to end. Example: Gettysburg Address • Spatial – Parts of the speech tie together by space arrangement. Example: The various “lands” make up Magic Kingdom at Disney World • Topical – Subject is broken down into its parts. • Problem/solution – Details a problem and then offers a solution to said problem

11. Maintaining Interest • Specificity – Specific terms are more interesting than vague generalities or abstract concepts. • Novelty – If a topics is new and exciting, it is more interesting. • Immediacy – Knowledge that is relevant and timely is of more interest. Demonstrate how speaker’s knowledge will impact the listener. • Conflict – Issues can be explained through conflict.