ORATORY
10 Steps to a Winning Oratory:
Oration is a persuasive speech. You want to move the listener from their point of view to
yours. You HAVE to sell your speech.
Motivated Sequence:
1. Get Attention
2. Establish a need
3. Satisfaction of needs: you are trying to persuade them to do it
4. Paint the picture: tie the whole thing together, visualize, SHOW the listener the whole
picture.
5. Challenge the listener
STEP 1: Choose your topic
A. Choose something that you feel strongly about.
B. Choose something that relates to everyone- not just a small group.
C. Choose something that won’t offend anyone (abortion, racism, religion, etc.)
D. Choose something that will stand out- something that people will remember.
Be Creative! Anything is possible.
STEP 2: Research
Find out about your topic. Find information (poems, articles, quotes, statistics,
stories, etc.), read it, and copy it. Brainstorm- write down ANY idea that you
could use on your topic- even if you think it’s dumb.
STEP 3: Organize your material
Take all your material and ideas, read over them, and throw out anything you
can’t use. Organize the remaining information into related parts.
STEP 4: Outline
I. Attention getter- a poem, story, quote, statement, statistic, etc.
II. Establish- here you will state the focus of your speech, and your points.
III. Satisfaction of needs- tell them why they should do what you want them to.
IV. Conclusion- paint the picture here, tie it all together.
V. ACTION STEP- these are your FINAL statements- the ones the judge will
remember the most. Here you want to introduce a challenge, and tie your ending
into your introduction.
*Build one upon another. Put references down. Other people’s ideas will make your
speech more persuasive.
STEP 5: Rough Draft
A good oratory lasts 10 minutes almost to the second. If it is not long enough, add
more info to your points. If you have too much, take some info out- be selective,
keep only the very best.
STEP 6: Proofread
Take it to an English Teacher to be corrected.
STEP 7: Final Copy
Make this triple spaced. This will allow you to write in ideas (i.e. voice changes,
speed changes, and body movements)
STEP 8: Take it to your coach
STEP 9: Memorize
Go over your speech EVERYDAY. Tape it. If you listen to it FIVE times a day,
you will be able to give it in about two weeks.
STEP 10: Movement
Once the speech is memorized, practice it everyday with the movements. Block it
like you would a play.
You know you are giving an Oration right when you don’t think about the words or
motions. You think about the audience and how you are affecting them.
Performance
1. You need to be healthy to compete. Go to bed early the night before, and eat a
healthy meal before you compete. If you state to feel sick, take care of yourself so
that it won’t get worse. Give yourself a change to your best!
2. Stay away from Milk, Chocolate, and Pop- they ruin your voice, and make your
mouth dry.
3. Exercise your voice and body. NEVER give a speech without warming up your
voice and body first. Just talking to your friends and walking around for a while
should be enough.
4. Don’t worry about or be distracted by other orators.
5. Appearance: Dress appropriately for your speech, and be clean. Wear
something you feel great in, but that isn’t distracting. Keep your hair out of your
face. Look your very best.
6. Perform your speech. Don’t just go through the oration- perform it. There is a
difference. Be sure to use eye contact, and talk loudly. Make your speech stand
out!
ORATORY TOPIC LIST
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Self-destructive
tendencies
Old age
Environmental rape
Death of the American
dream
Value of anger
Value of work
People pollution
Limits of tolerance
Learn to do things
Education
Feeding on scandal
Sexually abusive doctors
No more great leaders
Propaganda
Drunk driving
Gun control
Artificially created life
Growth of extremist
Loss of activism
Courage of conviction
Moral courage
Mental exercise
Teacher abuse
Beauty pageants
The pill society
Child snatching
Divorce
Time to reflect
Fear of success
Conformism
The passion of living
Using your handicaps
Conservatism as a cloak
for intolerance
The fear of God and it’s
pragmatic uses
Action vs. Reaction
Non-verbal
communication
Love thyself
Making friends
Treatment of mentally ill
Alcoholism
Being moral in an
immoral society
Child custody
The supernatural
Sensationalism
Compulsive gambling
Tranquilizers
The terror of being an
adult
Turning failure into
success
Persistence
Judicial activism
Guilt
Realistic optimism
Bureaucracy
Religion and politics
Show your emotions
Popularity of social
concern
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58.
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60.
61.
Anti-intellectualism
Anti-religion
Emotional overload
Insensitivity
Benefits of service to
others
62. Indifference
63. Commitment
64. Ambition
65. Horror movies
66. Bigotry
67. Fast-paced lifestyle
68. Youth suicide
69. Anxiety
70. Vicarious experience
71. Wife abuse
72. Soap operas
73. Boredom
74. The New Right
75. Laughter, the best
medicine
76. Passing the buck
77. Censorship
78. The youth of America
79. Loneliness
80. Video games
81. Injustice in America
82. Heroes
83. Health and freedom
84. Body Language
85. Labor unions
86. Personal worth
87. Deception
88. The worth of man
89. Government invasion of
privacy
90. Aggressiveness
91. Coping with death
92. Insincerity
93. Armageddon
94. Cloning
95. Paranoia
96. Cheating
97. Burnout
98. Limits of human ego
99. Honesty
100. Motivation
101. Simplify, Simplify
102. Managing Time
103. Phobias
104. Fear
105. Sex Superiority
106. Children’s Rights
107. Drugs and the athlete
108. Exercise
109. The family of tomorrow
110. The power of
suggestion
111. Teaching values
112. Differences
113. Discrimination
114. Decency
115. Prisons –heritage of
crime
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Mind control and
advertising
Let the buyer beware
Language
Ignorance
Communication
Lack of leadership
Insuits
Door mist people
A “gladiator” society
The value of praise
Guilt manipulation
Is life worth living
Child Custody
The effect of divorce on
others
Advertising
The power of
suggestion
Education
Falling out of love
Imagineering
Who said life is fair?
Cheating
Stereotypes
Bigotry
Overcoming fears
Brainwashing
Raising your parents
Energy
Depression
Cruelty
Self-reliance
The right to die
Games people play
Saying no
Setting priorities
Gun control
Courage of conviction
Genetic engineering
Nutrition- junk food
Cultural conditioning
Dating games
Americanism
Hypochondria
Authority
Risk
Depression
Conceit
Responsibility
Money
Trust
Cultural conditioning
Compulsive dieting
Dieting
Obsession with youth
Obsession with thin
Criminal authors
Junk food
Competition
Fantasy
Procrastination
Shyness
Self-confidence
Cruelty
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Things done in the
name of religion
Things of real worth in
life
Attitude
Old age
Procrastination
Risk
Mental exercise
Individually
Destroying others with
words
Sensual deadening
Shyness as a handicap
Paying the price
Teen sensitivity
Pornography
Male macho
Our polluted world
Battered spouses
Date rape
Are we alone
Goals
Juvenile delinquency
Malpractice
Mind control
The perfect mate
No more great leaders
Loss of activism
The pill society
Vanity
Man’s self destruction
The power to do
The insanity pleas
Rednecks
Death of the American
dream
Exercise
The simple answer
Family
Television violence
Television women
Self-confidence
The right to fail
Surrogate parents
Searching for me
Male in liberated world
Winning
Put-downs
Your erroneous zones
Superstitions
Divorce
The forgotten victim
Forcing kids to grow up
Extremism
Beauty pageants
Passion for life
Insensitivity
Reading
Winning at any cost
Morality
“But he said…”
Drug testing
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Language
Intellectual stagnation
The “joys” of aging
Getting lucky
Believing
Teaching thinking
Using your handicaps
Commitment
Rich and free
Sensationalism
Rights vs.
Responsibility
Discrimination
Paranoia
Authority
Obsessions
Negotiating
Taking the easy way
Though love
Truth, Justice and the
American Way
Corruption in
government
Determination
Laughter
The spark of life
Sexual stereotypes
Critical thinking
Loving yourself
Honesty
How to praise parents
Television violence vs.
women
Popularity
Fear of failing
Dreams
Accepting death
Constructive fear
Coping
Winning through
Love
Temper
Looking out for number
One
Quality
Getting organized
Getting involved
Child snatching
Fear of success
Realistic optimism
Ambition
Persistence
Children’s rights
Teaching values
Burnout
Manners
Giving vs. taking
Self-hatred
Omni-Cosmics
(miracles)
Lying
Risk of revealing real
self
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Make the miracle
happen
Emotional overload
Fast-paced lifestyles
Challenge of youth
Managing time
Religion and morality
Let the buyer beware
The human ego
Inspiration or
perspiration
Charities – for service
or profit
Government or
corporate bureaucracy
Expressing emotions
Power
So sue me!
Importance of
expressing self
Loss of imagination
The power of influence
Miracles do happen
Life isn’t fair – work
doesn’t always pay off
Why me?
Best is bought at price
of great par
I am a liberal
(stereotyping)
Republican
Communist
Dependability
Being moral in an
immoral world
Something for nothing
A society of excess
Historical distortion
Person as a billboard
(composite of your
actions)
The world as a weapon
The power of money
The power of being
good
Why not me?
Abuses of religion
Teaching kids to hate
Bad taste
A touch of class
Over sensationalism
Damaging people
through words
Talk Titles
Here are the titles of some talks and
some quotations. See if you can
come up with additional speech
ideas.
333.
334.
335.
I thank you
“Cut”
Once in a lifetime
Making an Outline
It is essential to make an outline prior to writing an oratory. An outline keeps a
writer’s ideas organized, separated, and flexible. It is also much easier for a coach to find
basic errors in one’s logic and reasoning before the ideas have been doctored with fancy
phrases and saucy sayings. The outline must be written in complete sentences.
A basic outline should look something like this:
I. This is the Introduction.
A. This is my clever story that makes my audience interested in my speech
B. I have a transition or abstraction here.
C. This is my strong thesis statement that tells my judge exactly what my focus is.
II. I now move on to the body of the speech.
A. It’s important to first show the effects and significance of my speech.
1. I now give a definition of the problem.
2. How many people are affected?
3. What kinds of effects happen because of this problem?
4, To what extent do these effects occur?
B. Now that we know the effects, what causes them?
1. This is cause number one and an illustration.
2. This is cause number two and an illustration.
3. This is cause number three, and an illustration.
4. This is cause number four and an illustration.
C. It’s important to give solutions now that the audience understands that there is
a problem.
1. Here is solution number one.
2. Here is solution number two.
3. Here is solution number three.
III. It is now time for the conclusion.
A. I must restate my thesis in the conclusion.
B. I should review my major points.
C. I should conclude my speech by tying my opening story into the
conclusion.
Although this is a basic outline, it is surely not the only outline. There are several
methods that can be used in writing an oratory, which of course begin with an outline.
The method that you choose should depend upon the topic of your speech, whether
serious or lighthearted. It should also depend upon the goal of your oratory and on your
style. The following organizational patterns are some of the more commonly used
outlines.
The Dewey Problem-Solving Method
A. Introduction which catches attention and includes a specific thesis.
B. Define and discuss the problem. Present proof of the problem and show the
impacts and ramifications of the problem.
C. Suggest solutions
D. Evaluate solutions showing the advantages and disadvantages of each.
E. Advocate a best solution.
F. Conclusion: Tell the audience how they can help with the solution.
*Examples of when to use: Saving the environment, preserving energy.
Personal Problem Outline
A. Introduction to catch the attention and give a roadmap.
B. Justify the importance of the speech with examples of the problem and the
impacts.
C. Personalize the problem. Show how it affects you.
D. Personalize the problem to the audience. Show how it affects them
E. Reinforce the significance of the topic.
F. Present actions that can be taken.
G. Summarize with tie-back to introduction.
*Examples of when to use: Guilt, manipulation, the loss of morality.
Wheel, Turn, or Flip Outline
A. Outrageous or humorous introduction.
B. Wheel or turn: “This is no laughing matter!”
C. Horror stories to prove the extent of the problem. This should take about 33% of
the speech time and include debate style harms.
D. Present the solution. Have a social and an individual solution.
E. Conclusion presents the consequence of the listener’s failure to act.
*Examples of when to use: The evils of hate, how attitudes affect us.
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
A. Attention Step: Gain the attention with a specific purpose.
B. Need Step: Prove a problem exists and show the significance.
C. Satisfaction Step: Present a solution.
D. Visualization Step: Show the audience the benefits of solving the problem.
a. Negative: Show that the situation will worsen without your solution.
b. Positive: Show that the situation will improve with your solution.
c. Negative/Positive Combination: Show the negative aspects and then the
positive.
E. Action Step: Tell the audience what they can do to help solve the problem. This is
the most popular outline and can be used with most topics.
Five-Step Formula
A. Make contact with the listener: Get the audience’s attention and preview the topic.
B. Justification: Prove that the topic is worth of consideration.
C. Subject text: Present the central thesis.
D. Establish belief: Unfold the central though through examples and exposition.
E. Application: Present solutions, actions, and values.
*Examples: Speeches that aim to gain recognition of a problem, rather than trying to get
people to solve it.
Combination of Motivated Sequence and Serett’s Structural Climax Approach
A. Attention-getting step: Gain the attention and present a specific purpose.
B. Explain the problem: Include existing conditions, causes, and harms; also, build to
a climax so that the highest emotional point precedes the solution.
C. Present the solution.
D. Conclusion: Reaffirm the central theme and build to a higher emotional place.
*Examples of when to use: Right to die, Suicide.