Pet Peeve Speech
For your first major speech, choose a pet peeve that you can speak about for 2-3 minutes. As you
choose a pet peeve, consider the audience of your classmates – you don’t want to choose something
that will instantly alienate a large portion of you audience, but sometimes, even a controversial topic
can be discussed with good skill and reason to reach an open audience. When dealing with something
that others may do that annoys you, you are encouraged to focus on behaviors rather than people or
groups of people. Your language should always be school appropriate, of course.
Your speech should have the following parts:
Introduction with attention grabber and clear statement of your topic.
Body with discussion of topic (3 main points often feels “complete” without feeling too long) –
you will largely focus on precisely what bothers you and, especially, why that bothers you.
Conclusion that sums up your main points and keeps readers thinking.
This is a prime chance to bring your passion and enthusiasm to a speech. Take advantage of it!
We’ve been working on delivery in class, so your speech 1 grade will be broken down as follows:
40%: Content (What you say)
60%: Delivery (How you say it)
Please come with notes printed out or handwritten – you can’t have a great performance hiding
behind your computer! See also our deliver tips on current events speech documents.
Due Dates
Wed., Aug. 31 – Have your speech topic chosen and an idea for your introduction (ready to share with
instructor)
Thurs., Sept. 1 – Full Draft of Speech due; workshops today
Fri. Sept. 2 – Begin giving speeches; all students upload notes or scripts to sharepoint dropbox by
classtime