Bethami A. Dobkin Roger C. Pace Communication in a Changing World, 2006 Edition McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Organizing and Outlining Public Presentations

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Organizing and Outlining Public Presentations The Overall Structure of Your Speech Ways of Organizing the Body of the Speech Developing and Supporting the Main Ideas of Your SpeechDeveloping and Supporting the Main Ideas of Your Speech Starting Your Speech with an Effective IntroductionStarting Your Speech with an Effective Introduction Finishing Your Speech with an Effective ConclusionFinishing Your Speech with an Effective Conclusion Communicating Responsibly: Developing a Sound StructureCommunicating Responsibly: Developing a Sound Structure

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Organizing and Outlining Public Presentations A well-organized presentation helps the audience remember what was said long after the speech is finished

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved The Overall Structure of Your Speech –Speeches are organized around a three-part structure—introduction, body, and conclusion

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Ways of Organizing the Body of the Speech Chronological Speech Structure organizes information around segments or sequences of time Spatial Speech Structure organizes information around familiar relationships in the environment, such as near and far, up and down, right and left, or east and west Topical Speech organizes information around types of categories

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Ways of Organizing the Body of the Speech Cause and Effect Speech Structure divides the speech into the causes of some phenomenon and the effects that result from it Problem and Solution Speech Structure organizes information in a speech around one or more problems and one or more solutions to those problems

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Ways of Organizing the Body of the Speech Applying Communication Concepts –Identifying Speech Structures How could each of these topics be organized with a different structure? How might two or more structures be combined into a logical organization? –Paris, France

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Developing and Supporting the Main Ideas of Your Speech An effective speech provides enough support to be credible and interesting without overloading listeners with redundant and unfamiliar material There are many different forms of support available to speakers, including –Using Testimony, which is stated opinion is support of an idea, –Using Examples, which are illustrations or stories that explicate a particular point

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Developing and Supporting the Main Ideas of Your Speech “[Although] stories are considered not quite as satisfying as statements and statements not quite as satisfying as statistics... In the long run, a people is known, not by its statement or its statistics, but by the stories it tells.” —Flannery O'Connor, writer

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Developing and Supporting the Main Ideas of Your Speech There are many different forms of support available to speakers, including (continued) –Using Analogies to compare or contrast one unfamiliar concept or object with something that the audience already knows or understands –Using Statistics, numerical representations used to quantify ideas or concepts

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Developing and Supporting the Main Ideas of Your Speech There are many different forms of support available to speakers, including (continued) –Using Explanations and Definitions to clarify some concept or idea by further identifying its source, explaining how it works, or relating it to other concepts –Using Transitions, verbal bridges that move the speech from one point or idea to the next, in the Body of the Speech

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Starting Your Speech with an Effective Introduction Gain and Maintain Audience Attention 1. Attention Getter An introduction should gain and maintain appropriate audience attention by focusing the audience’s thoughts on the topic and purpose of the speech An attention step, which is an explicit attempt by the speaker to gain the audience’s interest, should be in the very first statement or series of statements in the introduction There are several different types of attention steps –Anecdotes/story –Quotations –Provocative statements –Interesting Statistics –Humor –Rhetorical Question

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Starting Your Speech with an Effective Introduction Gain and Maintain Audience Attention Cont. 2. Relevance Statement Give the audience a reason for listening There are different ways: –Use pronouns “you” “us” “we” –Refer to commonalities between you and the audience “students”, “future parents”, “future homeowner”, “Texans”, “U.S. citizens”, etc.

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Starting Your Speech with an Effective Introduction Establish the Speaker's Credibility 3. Credibility Statement Credibility is the audience’s perception of the speaker’s expertise/competence, character/goodwill/trustworthy Tell the audience why you are competent or why they can trust you. There are different ways: –State the research you have done, the personal experience you have with the topic, why you care about the topic or audience, etc. Provide a Thesis Statement 4. Thesis Statement State your 1. Purpose 2. Topic 3. Main points

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Finishing Your Speech with an Effective Conclusion Summarize Key Points 1. Thesis Summary Restate your thesis in past tense 1. Purpose 2. Topic 3. Main points End Memorably 2. Memorable/Vivid Ending There are several different types of attention steps –Anecdotes/story –Quotations –Provocative statements –Interesting Statistics –Humor –Rhetorical Question

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Communicating Responsibly: Developing a Sound Structure Types of Outlines –Sentence outline uses full sentences, including standard punctuation, such as periods, commas, and question marks, in-text citations, etc. –Key Word Outline Once the speech is organized into a complete sentence outline, you should construct a key word outline that uses only a few important words from each sentence, for use in delivery

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Communicating Responsibly: Developing a Sound Structure Principles of Outlining –List main points, which are the most important ideas to be communicated to the audience and those that lead directly to the specific purpose of the speech –Place subpoints, the ideas that amplify or develop the main points, under the appropriate main points

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Communicating Responsibly: Developing a Sound Structure Principles of Outlining –Use a consistent set of spaces and symbols to identify all levels of your speech –Use parallel phrasing and sentence structure –Include an introduction and conclusion in your outline –Include the title of the speech –Include purpose, topic, specific purpose, and general purpose

McGraw-Hill © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Summary Select between two to five main points for your speech Use a lively mix of supporting materials An effective introduction should gain and maintain audience attention An effective conclusion should summarize the key points of your speech and reinforce the purpose of the speech with a clincher Use an outline to help you organize your information