Student Requirement

Students will present a 3-5 minute speech trying to persuade or inform the audience. Each student must present a written manuscript of the speech before giving their speech. A grading matrix for the speech will be given to the student the day the speech is introduced.

Student Learnings

1. Implement competent delivery skills including eye contact, enunciation, inflection, and appropriate non-verbal skills
2. Construct an organized speech which includes an effective Introduction, Body, and Conclusion

The Dynamics of Delivery

Speech can move us when it is dynamic. For example when a radio baseball announcer describes a homerun, he may speak so enthusiastically that the listener experiences the excitement of the event as if he or she were in the stadium. the voice can soar to inspire or thrill us as in the baseball game or it can produce hushed and serious tones that can frighten us at just the right moment. As speakers we have many tools with which we can make our words come to life.

Sound

The tools that deal with with the manipulation of our voice fall under the heading of paralanguage. Paralanguage consists of volume, pitch, and speaking rate.

Volume is the softness or loudness of your voice.

Pitch refers to how high or low the tone of your voice is

Speaking rate is the pace at which you speak, affected by the length of pauses between words and the amount of time spent with each word as it is spoken.

Inflection is the raising and lowering of the pitch of the voice

Stress can refer to both pitch and volume working together to create emphasis on a certain word or words.

Word Coloring is saying a word in a way that better portrays its meaning 

Sight

Although we think of sound when we say the word speech, it also involves sight. The tools the speaker can use here are posture, appearance, gestures, movement, and facial expression.

Developing Speech Content

Planning a speech consists of collecting information and organizing information.

Collecting

Begin the collecting process by doing some brainstorming. Get a piece of paper and write down everything on the topic that comes to mind.

Organizing

The next step is to create some order in your list. Scan the list to identify subtopics. A technique for organizing your list is called sorting or mapping. Take a sheet of paper and place what you think to be your subtopic headings in different areas, spaced to allow you to write under them. Go through the list and identify under which heading each item falls and write it there.

Support

As you collect your information, check to see that you are clearly supporting your subtopics. You may need to support your subtopics with facts, statistics, testimony, examples, narratives, and comparisons that prove your point.

TYPES OF SUPPORT:

• A fact is an event or truth that is known or has been observed
• Statistics are summaries of numbers such as percentages, rank order or averages
• Testimony is a quotation or statement of opinion that supports a point. They are usually selected because the individual quoted is famous or has particular experience with the subject
• Examples are brief references to instances or occurrences of a generalization or situation you are trying to illustrate
• A narrative is a story, differing from an example in that it is longer, has more detail, and usually contains a little drama
• A comparison uses another object or situation to describe your own object or situation, pointing out the similarities that exist between the two.

Outlining

Once you have mapped out your topic you will have a list of ideas that very closely resembles an outline.

Beginnings and Endings

A speech is organized into three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

The Introduction

There are four steps to a good introduction:

1.  Gain the audience's attention
2. Motivate the audience to listen
3. Assert the purpose of the speech
4. Preview the content of your speech

Attention Getters

• Humor: start with a funny line, story, or joke
• Startling statement: shock the audience with a frightening or hard to believe statement or statistic
• Narrative: a somewhat detailed dramatic story that captures the audience's attention and sets the tone for your speech
• Quotation: a statement from from a famous or familiar person
• Rhetorical Question: Asking a question or two that the audience can answer silently to themselves
• Demonstration: Acting something out or becoming engaged in a process related to your topic

Motivator

The motivator shows the audience the value of listening to your speech.

Asserting the Purpose

The assertion is the same as the thesis or purpose statement and it is the one statement that focuses the entire content of your speech.

Previewing the Content

The preview is often combined with the purpose statement and it is simply a sketch of the way in which you will proceed with your speech. It usually refers to the subtopics in the body of your speech.

What not to say in an introduction:

• "My speech is on ..."
• "I am going to talk about ..."
• "In my speech I will ..."
• "You should listen to speech because ..."

AMAP

• Attention Getter
• Motivator
• Assertion
• Preview

The Conclusion

There are two basic steps to the conclusion: summary and clincher.

Summary

The summary can be as simple as a single sentence emphasizing the purpose of your speech or it may contain a point by point review of your subtopics. It all depends on the length and complexity of your speech and the time you have to deliver it.

The Clincher

The clincher is a way of giving your audience the feel that the speech has ended. This can be done with many of the devices that are used for attention getters. Be sure to give a sense of finality to the clincher.