A GOOD SPEECH IS LIKE A
RELATIONSHIP. SOMETIMES IT’S
EASY, AND SOMETIMES IT TAKES
A LOT OF WORK.
-Anonymous
Sample Speech
Ronald Reagan, “Challenger Speech” January 28,1986.
(W p. 94)
QUIZ Question 1: Jot down the values you hear praised
What
was special about the people being honored?
How does their example teach or encourage us?
Special Occasion Speeches
The ancient Greeks called
this epideictic oratory.
Special Occasion Speeches aim
to inspire or to entertain through

BUILDING COMMUNITY

USING IDENTIFICATION
USING MAGNIFICATION

When we aim to inspire, we
celebrate what we hold in
common in our community.


We reaffirm the values
We recommit ourselves to live according to
those values
The Special Occasion Speech
Workbook p. 88


4.5 minutes in length [+/- 30 sec.]
Manuscript delivery
 No outlines required!
 Still needs to be organized with connectives,
and proper introductions and conclusions.
 Still needs a Specific Purpose and Central
Idea
The Special Occasion Speech

No source citation requirements!
Two Different Approaches
To Inspire your audience
(Commemorative Speeches)
or
To Entertain your audience
(After Dinner Speeches)
Commemorative Speech
A speech that pays tribute to a person, a
group of people, an institution, or an idea.
Commemorative Speeches

What to do:
 Explain your personal attachment.
 Relate stories that explain why you are
inspired.
 Explain to the audience what they can
learn.
 Help the values have an impact through
creative language.
Commemorative Speeches

What NOT to do:
 Don’t deliver an informative speech.
 Don’t give a Wedding Toast or Eulogy.
 Don’t rely overmuch on quotes from
others.
Commemorative SP and CI


SP: To inspire my audience
with the lessons I learned
from my grandfather.
CI: My grandfather taught
me to live my life as best as
possible by showing
patience, helping those less
fortunate than myself, and
being honest.
Commemorative SP and CI


SP: To inspire my audience
through celebrating the
example of Rosa Parks.
CI: Rosa Parks inspired us
all to act more responsibly
in the world as we imitate
the spirit of courage and
conviction embodied in her
example.
Speeches to Entertain
A speech to entertain that
makes a thoughtful point
about its subject in a
lighthearted manner.
Speeches to Entertain

What to do:



Explain your personal attachment.
Relate the humor directly to your audience.
Include a lesson or moral to be learned in the
end of the speech.
After-Dinner Speeches

What NOT to do:
 Don’t put on a standup comedy routine.
 Don’t use someone else’s stories.
 Don’t use inappropriate humor.
Speeches to Entertain

A speech about my
family


SP: To entertain my
audience with stories of
my family’s summer
reunions.
CI: The characters in
my family sometimes
do outlandish things,
but I wouldn’t trade my
time with them for
anything.
After-Dinner Speech SP and CI

A speech about my term
abroad


SP: To entertain my
audience with tales from
my semester in Spain.
CI: My study abroad
experience was full of
amazing and bizarre
events, but I learned
more about myself and
how to deal with
differences than I ever
expected to.
Sample Speech to Entertain
Which to Choose?
Quiz Question 2

As discussed moments ago, what is the central
goal of Special Occasion speaking?
Final Exam






It isn’t required!
It can’t hurt your grade.
It’s all multiple choice.
It’s cumulative. (covers material from all
semester)
3 o’clock lecture: 2:15-4:15 Monday, Dec. 15
2 o’clock lecture: 12-2 Tuesday, Dec. 16
Last bits due…




Special Occasion Topic form due Thursday at
midnight. (Tomorrow night!)
Class Friday is ONLINE!
Special Occasion Workshop Friday after break.
The Required Outside Speech Observation is
due this Friday. [Bonus Outside Speech can be
turned in through Workshop Day]
Lectures remaining


Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010
 Game development - 7:00 PM @ 1210 LeBaron
Hall - Mike Upah
 Leadership: The Art of Developing Followership
- 7:30 PM @ Sun Room, Memorial Union - Anne
Mulcahy
Thursday, 18 Nov 2010
 Algorithmic Thinking in Biology - 8:00 PM @
Cardinal Room, Memorial Union - Iowa State
professor of computer science Vasant Honavar
Language Matters
Chapter 11
Denotation vs. Connotation



Denotation is the dictionary definition.
Connotation is the cultural meaning—what the
terms suggests or implies.
"House" vs. "Home"
One feature of vivid language is
imagery.
Concrete Words
 Simile
 Metaphor


Personification
Stylistic Devices


Simile – Explicit comparisons using the words
like or as to compare things that are different
yet have something in common.
“A hairless face is like a Christmas tree without
the lights or ornaments.”
Stylistic Devices

Simile Example
 Life is like a box of chocolates, you never
know what you’re going to get.
Stylistic Devices

The cliché is like the cardinal sin of similes!
 Originality matters this round.
 You can do better than using other
people’s words.
Quiz Question 3

Create a simile about speech class. Don’t use a
cliché or you won’t get points for this question!
Stylistic Devices

Metaphor – an implicit comparison that does not
use like or as to compare things that are
different yet have something in common.
Stylistic Devices

Metaphor example:
 A crocodile’s teeth are white daggers ready
to tear through you.
Metaphor



“well-worn face sweater”
Referring to the “chapters” of a life
Space as a “frontier”
Stylistic Devices

Personification – Giving life-like qualities and
characteristics to inanimate objects.
Stylistic Devices

Personification Example:
 I think that batteries are the most dramatic
of all objects. Most things will break or stop
working, but batteries die.
A second feature of vivid
language is rhythm.




Parallelism
Alliteration
Antithesis
Repetition
Stylistic Devices

Parallelism – The similar arrangement of a pair or
series of related words, phrases, or sentences.
Stylistic Devices

Parallelism Example
 I would not, could not, on a boat!
 I would not, could not, with a goat!
Parallelism Examples

Parallelism
 Reagan “There will be more shuttle flights
and more shuttle crews, and, yes, more
volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in
space.” (W p. 94)
 Bush “Americans are generous and kind,
resourceful and brave.” (W p. 100)
Stylistic Devices

Alliteration – Repetition of the initial consonant
sound of close or adjoining words.
Stylistic Devices

Alliteration Example
 Peter Piper Picked a Pack of Pickled Peppers
 “Beards, they’re beautiful, buxom, bodacious
and let’s face it, they're kinda bad.”
Quiz Question 4

Create a sentence that uses Alliteration to
describe your speech lab.
Stylistic Devices

Antithesis – The juxtaposition of contrasting
ideas, usually in parallel structure.
Stylistic Devices

Antithesis Example


“Ask not what your
country can do for you;
ask what you can do for
your country.”
“We are not defined by
our traits, we define
our traits.”
Stylistic Devices

Repetition – Repeating the same word or set of
words at the beginning or end of successive
clauses or sentences.
Stylistic Devices

Repetition Example
 I have a dream…
 One hundred years later…
 Go back to…
Impromptu Speaking



Speaking with little or no preparation
P. 133 in the Workbook
Examples
END