Part 6: SPEAKER’S REFERENCE

• Prepare the introduction after you’ve completed the speech body.
• Keep the introduction to no more than 10 to 15 percent of the overall speech.

• Use a quotation.
• Tell a story.
• Pose questions.
• Offer unusual information.
• Use humor.
• Establish common ground.
• Refer to the occasion.

• Declare what your speech is about and what you hope to accomplish.

• Briefly state your qualifications for speaking on the topic.
• Emphasize some experience, knowledge, or perspective you have that is different from or more extensive than that of your audience.

• Help listeners mentally organize the speech by introducing the main points and stating the order in which you will address them (the preview statement).

• Emphasize the topic’s relevance and importance to audience members.
• Alert them to what they stand to gain by listening.
• Demonstrate that the speech purpose is consistent with their values and motives.

• Signal the close of the speech.
• Summarize key points and reiterate the thesis.
• Challenge the audience to respond to your appeals.

• As in the introduction, use techniques such as quotations, humor, and/or brief stories.
• Pose rhetorical questions.
• Link back to material in the introduction.

• Use language that is simpler, more repetitious, more rhythmic, and more interactive than written language.
• Structure the speech clearly, using transitions to indicate beginning, middle, and end.
• Use an organizational pattern.

• Try to say what you mean in short, clear sentences.
• Avoid words unlikely to be understood by your audience.
• Steer clear of unnecessary jargon.

• Use fewer words to express your thoughts.
• Experiment with phrases and sentence fragments.

• Repeat key words and phrases to emphasize important ideas and to help listeners follow your logic.

• Foster a sense of inclusion by using the personal pronouns I, you, and we.

• Use imagery (concrete and colorful language) that plays off the senses.

  Use descriptive adjectives (“the dark hour”) and strong verbs (“gaze” rather than “look”).

• Use figures of speech, including similes, metaphors, allusion, and irony to help listeners get the message.

• Use language that is appropriate to the audience, occasion, and subject.
• Choose words that are both denotatively (literally) and connotatively (subjectively) accurate and appropriate for the audience.
• Use the active voice.
• Use culturally sensitive and gender-neutral language.

• Repeat key words, phrases, or sentences at various intervals.
• Choose words that repeat the same sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables (alliteration).
• Arrange words, phrases, or sentences in similar form (parallelism).