Chapter 2
Developing Your
First Speech
Developing Your First Speech: An
Introduction
• In 1963, 250,000 people witnessed Martin
Luther King Jr.’s powerful “I have a dream”
speech at the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C.
• Powerful speeches require diligent
preparation.
– King wrote multiple drafts of his Nobel Prize
acceptance speech.
– King spent as many as fifteen hours preparing
a typical sermon.
Developing Your First Speech:
An Overview
• This chapter will address:
– Why prepare?
– The classical approach to speech preparation
– Preparing and delivering your first speech
– Overcoming speech anxiety
Why Prepare?
• Preparation helps speakers avoid three
common problems:
– Leaving too little time for planning and
practicing
– Focusing on length rather than quality
– Failing to follow the assignment
Why Prepare?
Leaving too little time for planning and
practicing
• Procrastination
leaves you without a
plan and adequate
practice.
• Unprepared, you
risk losing track of
your thoughts while
speaking.
Why Prepare?
Focusing on length rather than quality
• Beginning speakers
often spend too
much time trying to
fit the time limit.
• This leads to a
disjointed,
lackluster
presentation.
Why Prepare?
Failing to follow the assignment
• Your class
may love your
speech, but if
it doesn’t
follow the
assignment,
you will not
earn a good
grade.
The Classical Approach to Speech
Preparation
• Cicero (106-43 B.C.E.), a Roman lawyer
and politician, developed five keys to
speech preparation in his treatise
De inventione :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Memory
Delivery
The Classical Approach to Speech
Preparation
• Cicero’s five points are called classical
canons of rhetoric.
• The five canons have been studied for the
past 2,400 years and still inform the way
we prepare speeches today.
Cicero’s Canons:
Invention
• The generation of ideas
– Speakers generate many ideas and choose those that
best serve their purpose ethically.
– Effective speakers choose ideas that are adapted to
their audience.
– Speakers select ideas based on their topic, purpose,
and supporting evidence.
Cicero’s Canons:
Arrangement
• The structuring of ideas to effectively convey
them to an audience (organization)
• Most speeches have three parts
– Introduction
– Body
– Conclusion
• Effective speakers arrange ideas based on the
goals of the speech.
Cicero’s Canons:
Style
• The choice of expressive language
• Correct language can make a speech
clear, memorable, and bias free.
Cicero’s Canons:
Memory
• Preparation, or the work speakers do to
remain in command of their material
– This canon originally emphasized techniques
of memorization.
– Now we rarely memorize speeches, but
instead rely on extemporaneous notes.
Cicero’s Canons:
Delivery
• The speaker’s use of the voice and body
during the presentation.
• Effective delivery can make a powerful
statement.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Analyze Your Audience
• Learn about your
audience's
interests and
backgrounds.
• Use knowledge
of the audience
to anticipate
members’
attitudes.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Select Your Topic
• Choose a topic
that interests you.
• Avoid overused
topics.
• Narrow the topic to
fit the time limit of
your presentation.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Select Your Topic
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Determine Your Speech’s
Rhetorical Purpose
• The rhetorical purpose is the speech’s
main goal.
• Speeches typically have one of three
common objectives:
– Informing
– Persuading
– Marking an occasion
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Determine Your Speech’s
Rhetorical Purpose
• Informing increases your audience's
understanding.
• Persuading tries to influence your
audience's views or actions.
• Marking a special occasion is speaking
at events like weddings or graduations.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Create a Thesis
Statement
• A single sentence that sums up your main
message, narrow topic, and rhetorical
purpose
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Determine Your Main
Points
• Choose the major
ideas that you will
emphasize.
• As you research, find
aspects that you
need to highlight.
• Each point must
support the thesis.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Generate Supporting
Materials
• Select information
that bolsters the
claims made in
the main points.
• Brainstorm:
generate many
ideas that could
support your
thesis.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Generate Supporting
Materials
• Conduct research: gather information that
enhances understanding of the topic and thus
your credibility.
– Focus on credible sources from the library, the
Internet, or interviews.
– Take accurate notes.
– Note bibliographic information for each source.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Organize and Outline the
Body of Your Speech
• Create an outline with the three main
parts: the introduction, the body, and the
conclusion.
• Create two to five main points in the body.
• Develop subpoints for each main point,
following the rules of subordination.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Organize and Outline the
Body of Your Speech
A generic sample of subordination
I.
Main Point 1
A.
B.
II.
Subpoint
Subpoint
1. Sub-subpoint
2. Sub-subpoint
Main Point 2
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Outline Your Introduction
and Conclusion
• Your introduction has five parts:
– The attention-getter is a brief story, quote, or fact
that grabs listeners’ attention.
– Your thesis statement conveys the main message.
– Show an audience “what's in it for them.”
– Establish credibility by outlining relevant expertise
you have.
– Preview your main points.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Outline Your Introduction
and Conclusion
• The conclusion has two parts:
– Summary of the main points
– Clincher: a vivid closing sentence or paragraph
Preparing and
Delivering
Your First
Speech:
Outline Your
Introduction
and
Conclusion
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Incorporate Transitions
• Transitions are sentences that tell the
audience that you are moving from one
point to another:
• Use them in the following places:
– Between the introduction and first main
point
– Between main points
– Between the final main point and the
conclusion
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Consider Your Word
Choice
• Revise words to
increase
comprehensibility,
precision, and
vividness.
• Revise to simplify
sentences.
• Revise to remove
biased language.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Consider Presentation Aids
• May help the audience
remember your
message.
• Use actual objects,
images, graphs,
PowerPoints, etc.
• Must be accessible
from all points in room.
• These should support,
not overshadow, your
presentation.
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Practice Your Speech
• Helps develop comfort
and confidence
• Promotes
extemporaneous
delivery
• Requires practice from
outline four to five
times
Preparing and Delivering Your First
Speech: Deliver Your Speech
•
•
•
•
Project your voice.
Maintain an even rate of speaking.
Convey interest in your topic.
Maintain eye contact.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety
• Speech anxiety (stage fright) is common
and experiencing a little of it is okay.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety
Overcoming Speech Anxiety:
Select a Topic You Know and Enjoy
• Researching, planning, and practicing will
all be easier if you pick a topic you find
interesting.
• Preparation ahead of time will make your
speech more natural.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety:
Start Preparing Early
• Early preparation is key; avoid the
temptation to procrastinate.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety:
Take Care of Yourself
• Get enough sleep.
• Avoid too much
sugar and caffeine.
• Manage your other
commitments
before a speech.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety:
Visualize Success
• Visualizing success can help ease your
anxiety.
• Make your visualization as specific as
possible.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety:
Use Relaxation Techniques
• Basic muscle and breathing
exercises can help reduce anxiety.
• Plan time for an enjoyable activity.
Overcoming Speech Anxiety:
Volunteer to Speak First
• If you present early, you will have less
time to work up a debilitating level of
worry.