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In the previous section, you learned about a number of different types of supporting materials. To get the best results, you should use a variety of these materials to support your main points. If you use the same type of supporting material over and over, your effectiveness will be reduced as fatigue sets in with your audience.

For instance, one funny personal example might pull listeners into your speech, a well-chosen analogy can help your audience understand a key point, and a startling statistic can convince audience members that a problem you’re describing is serious. By contrast, a speech that mainly uses one type of support—be it personal examples, analogies, or statistics—will quickly lose listeners’ interest.