Speech 1010

Public Speaking
Mrs. Christianson
Consider the audience Your topic should be
relevant to the interests and expectations of
your listeners, and it should also take into
account your listeners knowledge.
Choose important, appropriate topics To be
successful, a topic must be appropriate to
both audience and occasion.
Consider yourself The best public speaking
topics are those that reflect your personal
experience or that especially interest you.
Brainstorm Use brainstorming to generate
ideas for speech topics.
To brainstorm a list of potential topics, write down
the first topic that comes to mind.
Your goal is quantity as long a list as you can
think up in the time you have.
Listen and read Very often, something you
see, hear, or read triggers an idea for a
speech.
Scan Web Directories Access Yahoo or
Google and select a random category. Search
until you see something that piques your
interest.

Dont Procrastinate For most brief speeches
(under 10 minutes), you should allow at least
a week from topic selection to speech
delivery.
Write your general topic at the top of a list
and make each succeeding word in the list a
more specific or concrete topic.
Be careful not to narrow your topic so much
that you cannot find enough information for
a 2 minute speech
If you do, just go back a step.
The general purpose of virtually any speech is
either to inform, to persuade, or to entertain.

Speaking to Inform Informative speakers give
listeners information.
Informative speakers define, describe, or explain a
thing, person, place, concept, process, or function.
Informative speakers try to increase the knowledge of
the listeners.
Speaking to Persuade- Persuasive speakers
may offer information, but they use the
information to try to change or reinforce an
audiences convictions and often to urge
some sort of action.
Speaking to Entertain The entertaining
speaker tries to get the members of an
audience to relax, smile, perhaps laugh, and
generally enjoy themselves.
Unlike the general purpose, the specific
purpose of your speech must be decided by
you alone, because it depends directly on the
topic you choose.

Identify a Behavioral Objective To arrive at a
specific purpose for your speech, you must
think about what you want your audience to
be able to do at the end of your speech.
Formulate the Specific Purpose Specific
purpose statements begin with the same 12
words: At the end of my speech, the
audience will be able to
The next word should be a verb that names an
observable, measurable action.
Use verbs such as list, explain, describe, or write.
Do not use words such as know, understand, or
believe.
The following guidelines will help you prepare
your statement of purpose:
In wording your specific purpose, use verbs that
refer to observable or measurable behavior.
Limit the specific purpose to a single idea.
Make sure your specific purpose reflects the
interests, expectations, and knowledge level of
your audience.
The central idea is a one-sentence summary of
your speech.
The central idea (sometimes called the thesis),
like the purpose statement, restates the speech
topic.
The central idea should be a complete declarative
sentence not a question, phrase, or clause. Use
direct, specific language rather than qualifiers and
vague generalities.
The central idea should be a single idea.
The central idea should reflect consideration of the
audience.
Write the central idea at the top of a clean sheet of paper.
Then, ask these three questions:
1. Does the central idea have logical divisions? (These may be
indicated by such phrases as three types or four means.)
2. Can you think of several reasons why the central idea is true?
3. Can you support your central idea with a series of steps or a
chronological progression?

Once you have generated your main ideas, you can add a
preview of those main ideas to your central idea to produce a
blueprint for your speech.
Preview the ideas in the same order you plan to discuss
them.
Selecting a Topic
Is the topic relevant and important to your
audience?
How much does your audience know about
the topic?
Is the topic important to your audience?
Is the topic appropriate for the occasion?
Is the topic of interest and importance to
you?
Developing Your Central Idea
Is your central idea a complete, declarative
statement?
Does it use direct, specific language?
Is it a single idea?
Does it reflect consideration of your
audience?
You have decided on a topic for your speech
and have been conducting a great deal of
research. However, you have not been able
to find enough material to support your
speech.

Is it ethical to create supporting material or
distort facts to make your point if you have
been unable to find what you need? Explain
your answer.