Public Speaking

Quick Guide To Public Speaking/Planning and Practicing

1. Audience and Occasion:  The goal of public speaking is to gain a response from the listeners- to get them to think, feel, or act in a certain way.  To reach the listeners, find out as much as you can about them.

2. Topic:  Choose a topic that is interesting to you and that you know a lot about (either now or after doing research).  Narrow it so that you can comfortably and adequately cover it within the time allotted.

3. Purposes and Central Idea:  Select a general purpose (to inform, to persuade, etc.), a specific purpose (a statement of exactly what you want to achieve with your audience), and a central idea (a statement of the key idea you want to plant in the minds of listeners).

4. Finding Supports: Gather materials (by reading books and periodicals, by interviewing knowledgeable persons, and by drawing from you own experiences) in order to support your points.  Look for interesting items such as examples, statistics, anecdotes, and quotations. Provide sufficient support to explain or prove your point.

5. Organization:  Organize the body of your speech by devising two or three (or sometimes four) main points that explain or prove the central idea, and then develop each main point with support material (statistics, quotations, etc.).

6. Introduction:  For your introduction, plan to grab the attention of the listeners and make them want to listen to the rest of the speech.  Prepare them for the body of the speech (by stating the central idea and/or by previewing the main points).

7. Conclusion: Plan to end with a conclusion that smoothly wraps up your speech and reinforces the central idea.

(Learning Skills; Domino, John.)

 

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revised 01.14.2000 12:27