Transcript Why Speak? - Plymouth School District

Why Speak?
Why Speak?

Dale Carnegie said,
“There are four ways,
and only four ways, in
which we have contact
with the world. We are
evaluated and classified
by these four contacts:
 What we do,
 how we look,
 what we say, and
 how we say it.”
Appeal to Human Interests
Appeal to Human Interests

What is the human
element of this
topic?
Appeal to Human Interests

What is the human
element of this
topic?
 Why will people
care?
Appeal to Human Interests

What is the human
element of this
topic?
 Why will people
care?
 Why is it important
for them to listen?
Appeal to Human Interests

What is the human
element of this
topic?
 Why will people
care?
 Why is it important
for them to listen?
 What do I want them
to do?
(Clinton 146-153)
Preplanning Stages
Preplanning Stages

Analyze the
occasion and the
audience
Preplanning Stages

Analyze the
occasion and the
audience
 Select the subject
Preplanning Stages

Analyze the
occasion and the
audience
 Select the subject
 Determine the exact
purpose
Preplanning Stages

Analyze the
occasion and the
audience
 Select the subject
 Determine the exact
purpose
 Research and
gather material
(Zelko and Zelko 31)
The Audience Perspective

As early as the first few
seconds, each listener
in your audience asks
and answers three
questions:



Does the speaker care
about me and my
situation?
Is the speaker credible?
Does the speaker have
something to say worth
listening to?” (Cook 57)
Constructing the Speech

Joan Detz, in her book
How to Write and Give
a Speech, claims
speech writers only
have to do two things to
write a good speech:
 Make
it simple,
and
 Make it short.
(29)
Constructing the Speech

Then she says, to write
a “great speech”
speech writers should
 Make
it simpler,
and
 Make it shorter
(29).
Basic Speech Components

The Introduction
 The Body
 The Conclusion
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
The Speech Introduction
Functions of a Speech Introduction
Functions of a Speech Introduction

1. Get the attention of your audience.
 2. State your topic.
 3. Establish the importance of your topic.
 4. Establish your credibility to speak on your topic.
 5. Preview the key ideas of your speech.
 6. End with a strong thesis statement—a sentence
that summarizes the central idea of the speech.
(Grice and Skinner 220)
Get the attention of your audience.
 Here
are 16 suggestions for starting
your introduction!
Introduction Suggestion #1

Start with a ‘grabber’—
an anecdote, a startling
statistic, a quotation, a
personal observation, a
literary, historical, or
biblical allusion. Use
whatever it takes to get
the audience’s
attention. Give them a
good taste of what’s to
come”
.
(Detz 29)
Introduction Suggestion #2

It can be risky to
begin a speech with
a joke. If it falls flat,
you’re off to a
terrible start, so
don’t use a joke
unless you are
absolutely sure you
can deliver it well
(29).
Introduction Suggestion #3

Never, never, open
by saying something
like, ‘I heard a really
funny story today. It
doesn’t have
anything to do with
my speech, but at
least it’ll give you a
good laugh’
(29).
Introduction Suggestion #4

Praise the audience
letting them know
that the speaker
values his or her
audience and their
abilities
(29).
Introduction Suggestion #5

Make a reference to
the date by finding
out what significant,
important, or
memorable event
happened on the
same day the
speech is being
given
(30).
Introduction Suggestion #6

Ask some questions
to help engage the
audience.
Rhetorical questions
also work well.
(30)
Introduction Suggestion #7

Use local details
because audiences, like
individuals, enjoy
hearing information
about themselves and
this strategy
demonstrates to the
audience that the
speaker has a genuine
interest in his or her
audience.
(31)
Introduction Suggestion #8

Cite your
credentials—or your
personal
credentials—or,
even better, both to
add credibility to the
you, and in turn, to
your words
(30)
Introduction Suggestion #9

Arouse your
audience’s curiosity
by creating an
element of
suspense
(Grice and Skinner 223).
Introduction Suggestion #10

Stimulate your
audience’s imagination
by engaging the minds
of your listeners. To do
this a speaker must
know what referents the
audience shares, and
this requires some good
audience analysis
(224).
Introduction Suggestion #11

Promise your
audience something
beneficial because
an audience will
listen more carefully
to messages that
are in their selfinterest
(224)
Introduction Suggestion #12

Refer directly to the
subject of your talk
especially if the
speaker has already
been introduced and
his purpose for
speaking has been
previously made
clear to the
audience.
(Cook 58)
Introduction Suggestion #13

Begin with a story or
illustration,especially
stories that are true,
personal, and
directly related to
the point of the
speech
(59).
Introduction Suggestion #14

Amuse your
audience
(Grice and Skinner 225).
Introduction Suggestion #15

Energize your
audience
(227).
Introduction Suggestion #16

Combinations of
techniques are
effective
(Cook 63).
State your topic.
 The
best speech introduction is short
and simple.
 After the attention getter, the speaker
should state his or her topic or purpose
in presenting a speech.
 The informative speech can begin with
a simple declarative sentence.
(Grice and Skinner 228)
Establish the importance of
your topic
 The
speaker, by providing examples,
facts or statistics, must find a way to
demonstrate the significance, or
relevance, of his or her topic to the
audience.
 The successful speaker needs to
motivate the audience into listening to
the speech.
Establish your credibility to
speak on your topic
 The
audience will want to know why
they should believe and accept what the
speaker has to say.
 To do so, speakers may list their
credentials or draw upon their own
personal experiences with the topic.
Preview the key ideas of your
speech
 By
providing the listeners with a few
directions in the introduction, audience
members will have a clear idea of the
path they will be traveling along as the
speaker guides them to their
destination, which is the speech’s
conclusion.
 Ideally, the forecast should consist of
three main points the speaker wants to
highlight during his or her speech and
should require no more than two to
three sentences.
End Intro with Strong Thesis
End Intro with Strong Thesis

The thesis statement does three things:
 It tells your audience what kind of speech
to expect—an informational speech, a
persuasive speech, a humorous speech.
 It
sets the tone of your presentation—
matter-of-fact, enthusiastic, light-hearted,
somber.
 It
contains a hint, a seed, a suggestion, or
even a direct statement of how the speaker
intends to proceed. (Cook 67)
Advice for Introduction:
 Professional
speechwriter Joan Detz
suggests, “If you concentrate on one
central idea, your audience will stand a
better chance of understanding you,”
but, “if you try to say everything, your
audience will come away with nothing.”
(34)
The Speech Body
Organizational Strategy #1

Logical or
topical— the
speech topic is
organized by ideas
or topics that flow
together in a logical
order.
(Payne and Carlin 88)
Organizational Strategy #2

Chronological—the
speech topic is
organized in a time
sequence frame.
(88)
Organizational Strategy #3

Spatial—the speech
topic is organized
using an actual
place or space as a
point of reference.
(88)
Organizational Strategy #4
Classification—
the speech topic is
broken up into
specific categories
based on
classification or
sometimes rank, as
in a caste system or
a school class
rank.
(88)
Organizational Strategy #5

Problem-solution—
the speech topic is
includes a problem
and possible
solutions are
suggested.
(88)
Organizational Strategy #6

Need Plan-Division—
the speech topic is
presented in ‘a variation
of the problem-solution’
method. The speaker
presents a problem, a
proposal for a solution,
shows how the solution
will work, and then
suggests a plan of
action for achieving the
solution.”
(Grice and Skinner 208)
Organizational Strategy #7

Cause-effect—the
speech topic
presents a problem
and its effects;
because ‘A’
happens, its effect is
‘B.’
(Payne and Carlin 88)
Organizational Strategy #8

Extended
Metaphor—the
speech topic is
presented and
compared to an
idea, allowing the
speaker to present a
great deal of
information.
(Cook 71)
Organizational Strategy #9

Numerical Order—
the speech topic is
presented from
highest to lowest, or
lowest to highest.
(Detz 35)
Organizational Strategy #10

Geographical
Order—similar to
spatial order, the
speech topic is
presented using
geographical
references as an
organizational
strategy.
(35)
Organizational Strategy #11

Alphabetical
Order—“Why not?”
The alphabetical
order will certainly
help the audience
stay on track.
(36)
Organizational Strategy #12

Psychological Order—The speech
topic is based upon the audience’s
needs. Find out “what will they find
most acceptable? Most important?
Most interesting? Put that first.”
(36)
Organizational Strategy #13

Pro-Con Division—
The speech topic is
presented in a
series of pros and
cons.
(Grice and Skinner 206)
Organizational Strategy #14

Mnemonic or
Gimmick
Division—The
speech topic is
broken up so that
each element of the
body is presented in
a way that spells out
the first letter of a
word. (207)
The Organizing Question

To determine the best organizing strategy,
the speech writer should create an organizing
question, a question that when answered,
indicates the ideas and information necessary
to develop the speech topic.
 During the research and speech construction
process, the speaker should determine what
information will help answer the
organizational question.
(201)
Developing Key Ideas
 The
4s Strategy of Developing Key
Ideas
 1. Signpost the idea.
 2. State the idea.
 3. Support the idea.
 4. Summarize the idea.
(209)
The Speech Conclusion
Function of Speech Conclusion
 The
speech’s conclusion serves the
following function:
 1. Summarize your key ideas.
 2. Activate audience response.
 3. Provide closure.
(232)
Suggestions for Speech Conclusion

Scott Cook in his book, The Elements of
Speechwriting and Public Speaking, suggests
 Five
Ways to End a Speech:
1. End with a brief story that illustrates your
main point
 2. End with a quotation or ringing phrase
 3. Conclude with a poem
 4. End with an example of your theme
 5. Summarize your main ideas

(87-90)
Suggestions for Speech Conclusion

Joan Detz, in her book How to Write and Give a
Speech, makes one of the most direct comments
about a speech’s conclusion:
“Your
conclusion may be the
only thing the audience
remembers, so make it
memorable”
Suggestions for Speech Conclusions

1. Use compelling imagery.
 2. Share your personal philosophy.
 3. Tie your theme to an anniversary.
 4. Tell a humorous story to illustrate your
point.
 5. End with a strong rhetorical question.
 6. End with words that sound strong.
 7. End with a strong Commitment.
(41-44)
Suggestions for Speech Conclusions

Jim Peterson, on his website "4750+ Speech Topics" makes these suggestions
for concluding a speech:

Conclusion writing can also be explained as
offering the so-called moral of the story:
 Restate the problem and provide your solution
in two sentences.
 Show a benefit or valuable application.
 Give the ultimate answer on some big question
or issue you proposed earlier or at the opening
of your speech presentation.
 Offer them 'how to do it' steps; visualize a
course, sequence or time path of action.
Suggestions for Speech Conclusions

Reaffirm the connection between the
needs and interests of the listeners and
your speech topics.
Suggestions for Speech Conclusions

Close with a dramatic but appropriate
statement based on emotional appeals.
 Examples:




Finish with a heart-felt human interest story or
personal experience anecdote.
Connect the public speaking topics with the
everyday feelings and lives of your public
speaking audience.
Recite a couple of lines from a nostalgic song,
poem or quotation from a historical speech and
refer to its similarities.
State a slogan— transform your central motto,
idea or principle into an easy to remember oneliner.
Practice for success!