Speech Organization

By: Kawtar Filahi

Fatmi Abderrahim
2 Presentation Outline
General Speech Structure
Introductory and Concluding Statements
Thesis Statements and Preview Summary
Patterns of Organization
Types of Transitions
Principles of Outlining
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The general speech structure
4 What is the general structure of a speech?

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

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 General speech structure
5

Informative speeches Persuasive speeches

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6 Objectives of introductions:

Grab and stimulate your audience’s attention

Relate your topic to yourself

Relate your topic to the audience

Preview the body of the speech

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Introduction
Grab and stimulate your audience’s attention

Ask questions leading to your topic

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Introduction
Grab and stimulate your audience’s attention
A quotation

From a poem, a film, an authority

Interesting
Not too long

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Introduction
Grab and stimulate your audience’s attention

Clarify a misunderstanding

Giving statistics or facts

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Introduction
Relate your topic and the audience to yourself

Refer to personal experiences or training

Gain the audience’s trust and support

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Introduction
Relate your topic and audience to yourself

Describe your research or cite sources

Build credibility

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Introduction
Relate your topic and audience to yourself

Express empathy with your audience

Understanding their needs/Interests

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Introduction
Relate your topic to the audience

People pay attention to things that affect them directly.

Focus on their future or immediate concerns

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Introduction
State your thesis

Present your thesis and the preview summary

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Introduction Don’ts!

Never apologize for being unprepared

Never make fun of your topic

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Body
Divide your topic into main points

Three to five points

Central issues
Fulfill the intent of the thesis
Equal importance to each idea
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Body
Provide evidence for the main points

Subpoints
Sub-subpoints
Explanations
Descriptions
Analogies….
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Body
Use transitions to unify your speech

Relate the parts of speech

Preview
review
Signpost
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Conclusion In conclusion…
My purpose has been…
 let the audience know
you are ending the Let me end by saying…
speech by using To conclude
phrases like: In closing
So you can see…
One final thought…
If you remember just one thing I’ve said
today, remember this… 4/6/2019
General speech structure
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Conclusion
Review the main parts

to reinforce the audience’s understanding of

the main topic

Summarize your points

Provide closure
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General speech structure
21 Conclusion Don’ts!

Don’t say you forgot to mention something.

Don’t say “that’s it” or “the end.”

Don’t add new points at the end.

Only review what you’ve already said

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Introductory and concluding statements

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Techniques

• Stir Up the Curiosity of the Audience:

• A series of statements

• Draw attention

• stir up curiosity about the subject of your

speech.

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24 Example of curiosity:
 “It is the most common chronic disease in the
US. Controllable but incurable, it is a symptomless
disease. You can have it for years and never know
until it kills you. Some 73 million Americans have
this disease, and 300,000 will die from it before
the year is out. Odds are that five of us in this
class have it. What am I talking about? Not
cancer. Not AIDS. Not heart disease. I am talking
about hypertension, high blood pressure.”
VS. 4/6/2019
 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• Shock

• Startling statement

• Stir the emotions

• Reluctant or inattentive
audience

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Techniques

• Statistics

• Shows credibility
• Surprises the audience
• Make sure it relates directly to the subject of your speech.

Example:
More American soldiers die from suicide than
from fighting in combat.
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 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• Testimony

• Authenticity

A quote from an authority or an expert on the

subject is great to start or end a speech
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 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• Narrative
• Report
• Anecdote
• Story

• Solid images
• Better experience

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 Example of narrative
29

 There I stood, wearing a surgical mask, in the middle of a

large, brightly lit room. In the center of the room where five
figures huddled over a table. I found it difficult to see since
everything was draped in blue sheets, yet I didn’t dare take
a step forward. Then one of the figures called to me,
“Robby, get over here and take a closer look.” My knees
buckled as I walked through the sterile environment. But
eventually I was there, standing over an unconscious body
in the operating room.
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 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• Analogy

• Facilitate complex ideas

• Comfortable audience
• Descriptive language

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 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• Humor

• Attention grabber

• Break the ice or tension

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 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• Rhetorical questions

• Make a point

• Thought provoking

• No answer is needed

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 General Rhetorical Questions
33

★ Is the sky blue?

★ Do you want to be a big failure for the rest of your life?

★ Is there anyone smarter than me?

★ Who cares?

★ How much longer can this injustice continue?

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 Introductory and concluding statements
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Techniques

• State the Importance of Your Topic

 tell your audience why they should think so too.

 Think about ways to demonstrate or

 prove to the audience the importance of your topic.

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35
Thesis statements and preview summary

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36
Thesis statement and preview summary

Thesis statement Preview summary

States: Displays:
Main subject
Purpose main points
Ideas of the topic

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 Thesis statement and Preview summary
37 Guidelines

Speech’s topic and intent

Fitting.. thesis ??
What topic and why
Speaking situation
Time
Audience’s reaction
Type of audience

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 Thesis statement and Preview summary
38 Guidelines

Specific purpose of your speech

To inform Kind of Arguments used

To persuade Kind of Response / feedback

To entertain What Objectives

Long or short term

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 Thesis statement and Preview summary
39 Guidelines

Simple and effective thesis statement

Clear / simple Avoid:

language technical language

Harsh expressions

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 Thesis statement and Preview summary
40 Guidelines

Display your speech’s organization

Show a preview summary

Speaking points

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 Thesis statement and Preview summary
41 Guidelines

Repeat your thesis statement thought out the speech

Remind the audience of

speech’s purpose

Help connect them to the

presented materials

Help audience accept your

thesis 4/6/2019
Organization
43
Patterns of
Organization
 Chronological Pattern
 Spatial Pattern
 Topical Pattern
 Deductive Pattern
 Inductive Pattern
 Parallel Pattern
 Climactic Pattern
 Anticlimactic Pattern
 Causal Pattern
 Problem-and- Solution Pattern
44 Chronological
Pattern
 Address a subject
 Example:
 Specific Purpose:
from a historical To inform the audience about the
perspective, books written by Winston Churchill
especially in narration,
description, and  Main Points:
explanation. Examine the style and content of
Winston Churchill’s writings :

Prior to World War II.

During World War II.
After World War II.
45 Spatial Pattern
 Organizes information according to how things fit together in
physical space, which constructs a mental map of how
things fit together as a whole.

 It is best used when the main points are oriented to different

locations that can exist independently.

 The basic reason to choose this format is to show that the

main points have clear locations.
46 Spatial Pattern
 Example:
- Suppose a speaker wished to describe the forms of
entertainment available to tourists visiting Seattle. He/she
could arrange the information according to "things to do"
in the different districts or geographic locations of the city.
47 Topical Pattern
 Divides a subject into subtopics, each of which is a part of the
whole.

 Those subtopics function as a way to help the speaker organize

the message in a consistent way.

 The goal of this pattern is to create categories of information

that go together to help support the original specific purpose.
48
Topical Pattern
 Example:

 Specific Purpose: To persuade a group of high school

juniors to apply to attend Generic University

 Main Points: Life in the dorms

Life in the classroom
Life on campus
49 Deductive Pattern
 Enable to move from the general to the more specific ideas
or information about a topic.

 The best way to use it, is to begin with a definition then

moving to the most specific elements of the topic.
50 Inductive Pattern
 Allows moving from the specific to the general ideas or
information about a topic.

 Often used to build an argument by describing series of

specific examples of a topic, and then summarizing what is
generally about them all.
51 Parallel pattern

 Involves the repetition of the same idea in different ways.

 Allows to focus on one particular element of the topic.

 Best used when one wants to offer various examples that

represent the same point.
52 Parallel pattern
 Example:

When talking about the U.S presidents, first introduce each of

them with similarly constructed statements, giving a
biography, explaining their most significant contributions, and
closing with a personal quote from each president.
53 Climactic Pattern
 Arguments are arranged from the least important to the most
important.

 It is used by choosing the most important and second most

important arguments and put them at the beginning or at the
end, then what is less important put it in the middle.

 If the order of importance is 1,2,3,4,5 then the climactic

pattern order might follow 4,3,1,2,5
54 Anticlimactic
pattern
 It reverses the sequence of the climactic pattern and places
the stronger arguments before the weaker ones.

 It is mostly not used because:

When trying to convince an audience it usually requires

building evidence incrementally and thereby slowly moving the
audience toward the speaker’s position.
55 Causal Pattern
 The speakers argues either from causes to effects or vice
versa.

 Used to show the different causes and effects of various

conditions.

 Example:
Alcoholism and its deteriorating effects on the human body.
Then, go on discussing its underlying causes.
56 Problem-and-
Solution Pattern
 Divides information into two main sections: one describes the
problem and one serves as a solution.

 Most used when the speaker is trying to persuade the

audience to take a particular point of view.
57 Problem-and-
Solution Pattern
 Example:
- a speech on leaving a smaller carbon footprint could begin
by detailing the problems associated with climate change.
These points could then be followed by information on how
these problems have been or are being addressed, with a
summation indicating a plan of action the audience can take.
 Types of
transitions
59
 Definition of transition
 Preview transitions
 Review transitions
 Signpost transitions
 Chronological transitions
 Spatial transitions
 Qualifying transitions
 Relational transitions
 Oppositional transitions
60 Definition of
transition
 Transitions function

- To provide information about the speech’s structure.

- To signal what the speaker has said or about to say.

- Transitions tell the audience something about the speech and
what the speaker is going to discuss.
61 Preview
transitions
 Announce to the
audience the general
 Examples:
- Let us begin by…
points to be made in a
speech. - Initially…
- This brings us to the
 They are often used after
point…
the initial summary to
introduce the first main - Let us now move to…
point, and after the last
point to cue to the
conclusion.
62 Review
transitions
 Bring the logical  Examples:
coherence and clarity
to a speech by - As previously noted…
summarizing what the - In summary…
speaker has said.
- Up to this point we have
seen …
 It is preferable to use it
when the speaker wants
to review an idea
before introducing a
visual aid etc.
63 Signpost
transitions  Examples:
 Are the numerical
indications of the main - First, we will discuss…
body points. - Second/ Then…

 Allow the speaker to - Third/ Last…

move smoothly from one
idea to the next in a
speech.
64 Chronological
transitions
 Indicate a time order to the  Examples:
audience and show the
temporal relationship - Before,…
between ideas and points. - Meanwhile…

 The speaker can convey - Presently…

the historical development - After several minutes…
of the topic on the time
between steps in process.
65 Spatial
Transitions
 This type conveys the  Examples:
spatial relationship
between elements in a - Next to…
speech. - To the right of…
 Spatial and - On the opposite side
chronological transitions of…
can be combined when
outlining the steps in a
process.
66 Qualifying
transitions
 Can be used to clarify the  Examples:
significance of a point or
characterize the relationship - Unless,…
between points. - Although,…
- Based upon the
 Can be used while expressing
condition that…
the strength of the logical
relationship between premises - Only if…
and conclusion of an
argument.
67 Relational
Transitions
 Links between points having  Examples:
similar significance, function,
or meaning. - In addition,…
- Similarly…
 Used to show the
relationship between the - Likewise…
main points or to show how - Comparatively,…
evidence supporting
another.
68 Oppositional
transitions
 Instead of linking similar  Examples:
ideas; this type links
between the opposing - This is different from, …
ideas having different - Conversely, …
meaning or significance.
- Whereas, …
 Used when showing different - On one hand, … ; On
perspectives on the same the other hand, …
point.
Outlining
70 What is an
Outline?
 An outline is the structure of a speech in basic form.

 It might be bullet points on how the speaker is going to

progress through things, or it could be a mind map.

 It should clearly depict the speech’s introduction, body, and

conclusion.

 Also should depict the main points, subpoints, and transitions.

71

 Before creating an outline the speaker has:

 To create a working outline containing: potential main

points, supporting evidence, introductory, transitional,
and concluding statements.
 To collect evidence and create a thesis statement.
72

 After creating an outline the speaker has to verify that:

 Its parts remain consistent with the thesis statement.

 Each part relates clearly with the ones before.

 The whole speech is moving towards the intended

conclusion.
73

Outlines are essential to:

 Effective speeches
 Help place related items together
 Help ensure the natural flow of ideas from one to
another
 Help create coherent structure
74 Principles
 A good design facilitates reading the speech easily when
delivering it.

 Clearly distinguish between the main parts, main points,

subpoints, and sub-subpoints by using the standard rules of
outlining.

 Use the outline to reflect a clear symmetrical relationship

among the speech’s various parts.
75 Principles
 Use each main point to discuss a different issue relating to the
topic.

 Combine complete sentences, short phrases, and separate

word in the outline.

 Place the oral citations within the outline and a bibliography

of the sources at the end of the outline.
76

Conclu
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77
Thank you for your attention

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