SPEECH CHOICES
What can you do to prepare and present an effective speech? What practices might hold you back? Throughout this book, we’ll consider the examples of Mia and Jacob—two college students who are enrolled in two different public speaking classes. We’ll follow these students as they move through every step in the speechmaking process, from picking a topic to working on their delivery. You can use their ideas and plan to avoid their pitfalls as you prepare your own speeches. At the end of the book, you can see Mia and Jacob’s final outlines and speeches. On LaunchPad, you can watch full-length videos of them giving their speeches.
To introduce Mia and Jacob, let’s take a look at the “introductory biographical” speech that they had to give on their second day of class. Based on these five-minute speeches, the students in their class learned the following about Mia and Jacob:
Career interest: sports medicine -
Hobbies: researching family history, volunteering with an animal rescue organization Favorite app: Instagram, so she can keep up with her favorite female comedians Weekend activity: attending church, which has many parishioners from different parts of the world
YOUR TURN:
How do you think Mia’s and Jacob’s interests might affect their choice of speech topics to present in class? |
Favorite college basketball team: Kentucky Wildcats Favorite professional basketball player: Anthony Davis, who played one year at Kentucky before leaving to play professional ball Sport played in high school: baseball Favorite Web site: The Onion
YOUR TURN:
What important parts of your life would you share in an introductory speech? How would you share these in a way that interests your classmates? |
Look for the 
and 
throughout the chapter for adaptive quizzing and online video activities.
