OUTLINING YOUR SPEECH

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OUTLINING YOUR SPEECH

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Look for the image throughout the chapter for online video activities at bedfordstmartins.com/speakup.

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Once you have delivered a few speeches, you’ll be well on your way toward developing better skills. You might even begin getting over any speech anxiety you felt when you gave your first presentation. With several presentations under your belt, you may begin to find opportunities to personalize your approach to speech assignments—that is, to develop a style that works best for you. Although your public speaking instructor may assign you a speech with a specific purpose (informing, persuading, or marking a special occasion), he or she will often ask you to select the subject matter for your speech and decide how to organize your ideas. By making these kinds of choices yourself, you have the opportunity to put your own stamp on your speeches and to add life and energy to the proceedings.

At the same time, you want to ensure that your presentations are always clear, well organized, and well supported. Outlining—organizing the content of your speech into a structured form—can help immensely. Outlines are valuable tools: they help you lay out the sequence and hierarchy of your ideas so that you can see if your speech flows logically and covers the subject matter adequately. In other words, you can think of an outline as representing the “structural DNA” of your speech. You can also use an outline to practice your delivery and then present your speech with confidence and flair. In most speech situations, an outline can help you further polish your skills; even seasoned presenters find outlining highly useful!

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The key function of all outlines is to clearly show the hierarchy of the ideas in your speech—what your main points are and what material supports each of these main points. By using an alphanumeric system of headings (beginning with roman numerals for main points and moving through capital letters, arabic numerals, and so on) and a system of indentation, you can present all of your points and evidence, and clearly show how your points are supported. This system makes an outline different from a manuscript or an essay, each of which is organized paragraph by paragraph.