Special Interest/Cultural Speech and Outline
Speech: 20 points/Outline: 20 points
Time: 3 minutes
Goals:
 To develop delivery and organization skills
 To enhance public speaking skills
 To explore a broad definition of culture
 To introduce oneself and to begin creating a classroom culture
 To begin using visual aids in formal presentations
Description:
In the special interest speech, you are to choose a culture that you identify with or belong to,
bring an object/artifact that represents this culture, and discuss how this culture has influenced
you.
For the purpose of this assignment, culture can be your ethnic background or a sub-culture that
you identify with. If you choose to go the ethnic background route, get specific and focus on a
specific part of your culture such as a holiday, tradition, custom, event, etc. If you do not identify
with your ethnicity, you can choose to do your speech on a sub-culture. A sub-culture can be any
group, organization, sport, hobby, etc. that you may identify with.
The three main things you will do in this speech are:
1. Discuss the culture/sub-culture and the specific part of it that you are focusing
on. Provide basic information such as history, origin, background, interesting
facts, etc. Conduct some basic research to get accurate information.
Remember that you are teaching us about your culture.
2. Explain your object/artifact-what is it, where you got it from, what does it
look like, basic background information about it (this requires doing some
research), why it’s important to your culture or to a specific part of your
culture, etc…
3. Explain how the culture or the specific part of the culture discussed above has
impacted your identity, made a difference in your life, and why it’s important
to you?
Guidelines:
 Bring an object/artifact to class that represents a culture that you belong to
 You may use a 3x5 note card for reference however DO NOT READ
 Your presentation must be 3 minutes in length
 Use clear organizational pattern with intro, body, conclusion and elements of each
 On the day of your presentation, turn in
 A typed, full sentence preparation outline (further information will be provided)
Special Interest/Cultural Outline Format
I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter or Interesting Opening-Example: You can begin with a story about
your artifact. May include information about how you came to acquire it or why it is very
important to you.
B. Introduce Topic –Briefly introduce topic if not already done so in the attention getter.
C. Thesis Statement-usually 1 detailed sentence that states the claim you are making or
the stance you are taking on an issue
D. Preview-Example: Today I will talk about my culture (mention specific part of
culture), present an artifact that is part of my culture and explain how my culture has
impacted my identity.
II. Body (you will have 3 main points in the body but remember that the number of supporting
points and sub-supporting points may vary depending on your topic-the following is just an
example of how you can organize your supporting points)
A. Main Point 1 (Discuss Culture):
1. Supporting Point–remember supporting points are used to back up main points
a. sub-supporting point
b. sub-supporting point
2. Supporting Point
a. sub-supporting point
B. Main Point 2 (Explain your artifact):
1. Supporting Point
a. sub-supporting point
b. sub-supporting point
2. Supporting Point
3. Supporting Point
C. Main Point 3 (Explain how the culture has impacted your identity):
1. Supporting Point
a. sub-supporting point
2. Supporting Point
a. sub-supporting point
III. Conclusion
A. Refer back to the introduction-you can refer to the story that you opened with.
B. Review-Example: Today I talked about my (artifact), what role it plays in the culture
of (state culture), and how (state culture) has impacted my identity
C. Sense of Closure-leave us with something to think about
*Note-Remember to include transitional statements