Part 5: SPEAKER’S REFERENCE
SPEAKER’S REFERENCE
ORGANIZING AND OUTLINING
Understand the Value of Organization in a Speech
- Audience understanding is directly linked to speech organization.
- Speech outlines are essential tools in organizing speeches, allowing you to order your ideas into logical divisions.
Recognize the Parts of a Speech
Create Main Points That Express Your Major Claims
- Use the thesis and specific purpose statements as guides.
- Check that each main point flows directly from these statements.
- In most cases, restrict the number of main points to between two and five.
- Focus each main point on a single idea.
- Present each main point as a declarative sentence.
- State main points in parallel form.
Use Supporting Points to Substantiate or Prove Your Main Points
- Create supporting points with your research.
- Ensure that supporting points follow logically from main points.
- Check that supporting points are in fact subordinate in weight to main points.
Pay Attention to Coordination and Subordination
- Make ideas of equal weight coordinate to one another.
- Make an idea that has less weight than another idea subordinate to it.
Create Speech Points That Are Unified, Coherent, and Balanced
- Focus each point, whether main or subordinate, on a single idea.
- Review the logical connections between points.
- Dedicate roughly the same amount of time to each main point.
- Ensure that the introduction and the conclusion are approximately of the same length and that the body is the longest part of the speech.
- Support each main point with at least two supporting points.
Use Transitions to Signal Movement from One Point to Another
- Use transitions to move between main points and between subpoints as needed.
- Use transitions to move from introduction, body, and conclusion.
- Select among full sentences, phrases, and single words.
Use Internal Previews and Summaries as Transitions
- Use internal previews to help listeners anticipate what is ahead.
- Use internal summaries to help listeners review what has been said.
Use a Pattern to Help Listeners Process and Retain Information
- Select a pattern that emphasizes the points you want to make that listeners can easily follow.
- Select a pattern that helps you achieve your speech goals.
Choose from a Variety of Organizational Patterns
- To describe a series of developments in time or a set of actions occurring sequentially, consider a chronological pattern.
- To emphasize physical arrangement, consider a spatial pattern.
- To demonstrate a topic in terms of its underlying causes (or its effects), consider a causal (cause-effect) pattern.
- To demonstrate a problem and then provide justification for a solution, consider a problem-solution pattern.
- To stress natural divisions or categories in a topic, consider a topical pattern.
- To convey speech ideas through a story, consider a narrative pattern.
Plan on Developing Two Outlines before Delivering Your Speech
- Begin by creating a working outline in sentence format.
- Transfer your ideas to a speaking outline in phrase or key-word format.
Become Familiar with Sentence, Phrase, and Key-Word Outlines
- Sentence outlines express speech points in full sentences.
- Phrase outlines use shortened versions of the sentence form.
- Key-word outlines use just a few words associated with the specific point.
Know the Benefits and Drawbacks of the Three Outline Formats
- The less you rely on your outline notes, the more eye contact you can have with the audience.
- Key-word outlines promote eye contact and natural delivery, if you are well rehearsed.
- Sentence outlines offer the most protection against memory lapses but sacrifice eye contact.
Plan Your Speech with a Working Outline
- Treat the working outline as a document to be revised and rearranged.
- Include everything you want to say in your working outline.
Create a Speaking Outline to Deliver the Speech
KEY TERMS
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roman numeral outline |
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