THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE SPEECH
The Personal Narrative Speech and Essay are all
about you!
THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE SPEECH
The main point is that you are talking about
yourself, your thoughts, your feelings, your ideas,
your views, your opinions, and your events.
 All of these ideas are the main components of this
special speech writing process.

THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE SPEECH
To create a personal narrative, explore each of
these personal ideas, and then choose one to
narrow down so you can build a speech.
 The goal of the personal narrative is also to make
a point about:

a personal past or present experience,
 event,
 knowledge,
 or moral lesson.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF NARRATIVE
SPEECH TOPIC IDEAS:
ABOUT EVENTS –
 An accident or positive event that changed my
life.
 The birth of my brother, sister or other relative.
 My first day at High School or College.
 The decision I regret most.
 My Day of Graduation.
 My first serious date.
More events…
 A significant family event.
 A memorable vacation.
 A historical event that impressed me.
 The day I moved.
 A milestone that seemed bad but turned out to be
good.
 My heroic sports moment.
ABOUT YOUR LIFE LESSONS—
 The influence of a special person on my behavior.
 How I have dealt with a difficult situation.
 What lessons I have learned through studying
the genealogy of my family.
 A prejudice that involved me.
 A Eureka moment: I suddenly understood how
something works in life that I had been
struggling with.
 How I helped someone else and what I learned
from her or him, and from the situation.
ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES –
 My most frustrating moment.
 How I handled an emergency situation.
 How I broke up with my love.
 A narrow escape.
 A moment when I did something that took a lot of
courage.
More personal experience ideas…
 A time when I chose to go my own way and did
not follow the crowd.
 How I stood up for my beliefs.
 The day I rebelled with a decision concerning me.
 How I have coped with my nerves recently.
 What happened when I had a disagreement with
my parent/teacher/employer
ABOUT YOUR RITUALS—
 How I usually prepare for a test.
 My ritual before a sports game.
 My ritual before going out with friends.
 The routines I always follow under certain
circumstances.
ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY—
 My act of heroism.
 How curiosity brings me where I am now.
 I daydream of ... (keep it clean )
 A place that stands for my romantic moments.
 My pet resembles my personal habits.
 A vivid childhood memory in which I can see how
I would develop myself.
ONCE YOU HAVE CHOSEN AN IDEA, YOU
WILL NEED TO NARROW THE SPEECH TOPIC
APPROPRIATELY.
Here are some suggestions:




Pick out one significant story about yourself. Don’t try to
tell your life story—narrow your topic down.
Then, think about the point you want to make and the
response you want to get from your audience. What do you
want them to remember? What is the purpose, point, goal,
lesson, or plot of your story? Why might your audience
think your presentation is valuable or important?
Think about your narrative just like a short story and
include all of the story elements: the main event, the
characters, the relevant details, the steps and/or dialogue.
Organize the text of the speech in a time ordered format.
The chronological order also helps you to remember your
key ideas better.
More suggestions for narrowing your topic:
 Avoid starting your speech with an explanation of
what you learned from this event; use the
chronological order strategy to build up to the
resolution where you can explain the life lesson this
experience taught you.
 Add transitions words like: then, after that, next, at
this moment.
 Rehearse!!! Rehearse your narrative in front of a
friend and ask opinions. Then practice again!!!
 Avoid memorizing or reading your speech. Your
audience will enjoy your narrative so much better if
you sound like you are just talking to them.
 Be sure to try and make eye contact with your
listeners.
STRUCTURING THE NARRATIVE SPEECH:
To develop a thesis, ask yourself these questions:
 What is the main point I want to make to my
audience?
 Do I want them to identify me as a caring
individual?
 Do I want them to think I’m smart so I’ll tell
them about the honors I won last year?
 How can I present my topic so that it
accomplishes my purpose? How would I go about
doing that?
USE THE ELEMENTS
OF A SHORT STORY
PERSONAL
NARRATIVE SPEECH:
TO CONSTRUCT THE

Create a Catchy introduction

Establish the exposition

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Develop the Rising Action

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Introduce a conflict(s)
Build to a climactic moment
Develop the Falling Action

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Characters and relationships
 Physical descriptions
 Dialogue
Setting
Time period
The events in the story that lead to the ending of the story
Create the denouement, or the resolution/conclusion
Review what has happened in the story
 Show the resolution—what happens as a result of your story.
 Emphasize the lesson learned

THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE SPEECH
The Personal Narrative Speech and Essay are all
about you!