By Becca Harmer

 Good speeches have supporting material ◦ Examples, narratives, testimony, facts, statistics ◦ They give substance to a speech ◦ Use a variety Pg. 57

 There are 3 kinds of examples: ◦ Brief (couple sentences) ◦ Extended (short story) ◦ Hypothetical (If _____ were to happen, then _____ would be the outcome) Pg. 57

 Blind dates are awkward.  For example…

 Stories and anecdotes help the audience relate to you, and they’re more engaging than just lecturing  Shouldn’t be longer than 2 minutes  Can be personal, or secondhand Pg

 Consider quoting or paraphrasing people who can give insight to your topic  2 kinds of testimonies: ◦ Expert- includes findings, or opinions from professionals ◦ Lay- testimony by non-experts, such as eyewitnesses pg

 What is a fact?  A fact is a true statement that can be backed up with reliable evidence ◦ Documented occurrences, actual events (not like the movies they’re based off of though), dates, times, people, and places Pg. 60

 Statistics: quantified evidence that summarizes, compares, and predicts things ◦ Did you know that 62% of statistics are made of up on the spot? …Or was it 64%? ◦ Don’t make up statistics. ◦ Make sure they’re accurate facts that your audience would be interested in Pg

 According to publicspeakingsuccess.net:  Public speaking is the world’s greatest fear, ranked higher even than fear of death  Henry Harrison, after giving an inaugural speech in cold and wet conditions, died of pneumonia a month later  The longest speech on record was 6 hours long  About 75% of people have speech anxiety, or glossophobia

 Frequencies: a count of the number of times something occurs ◦ Help audience understand comparisons, can indicate size, or describe trends Pg. 61

 A percentage quantifies a portion of a whole  It’s another type of statistic Pg

 Last type of statistic, an average describes information according to its typical characteristics ◦ Can be expressed as the mean, median, or mode; but mean is the most common Pg. 62

 Use only reliable statistics  Cite all of your sources  Present statistics in context (no cherry- picking)  Avoid confusing statistics with “absolute truths” ◦ All statistics are prone to change Pg. 63

 Finding supporting materials requires you to conduct primary research, secondary research, or both ◦ Secondary research- information produced by others (finding information from a website like Wikipedia) ◦ Primary research- original first-hand experience  Interviews, surveys Pg. 64

 Common sources: ◦ Books, newspapers, periodicals, government publications, blogs, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases  All these can be useful, but by far the most common reference is the internet pg

 The following needs to be included when citing a book: ◦ Title ◦ Author ◦ Publisher ◦ City of publication ◦ Year of publication ◦ Page number Pg. 68

 Once you’ve found your source, evaluate it: ◦ What’s the author’s background? ◦ How credible is the publication? ◦ Who is the publisher? ◦ How reliable is the data? (especially the statistical information?) ◦ How recent is the reference? Pg. 72