YourBestSpeechEverEPUB-51

Part 1: How It Works

Part 2: Audience Analysis

Part 3: Purpose Statement

Part 4: Body

Part 5: Introduction

Part 6: Conclusion

Practice Speech: Informative

Objectives

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

1. Identify the five parts to a dynamic speech.

2. Explain how the primary audience analysis can be so beneficial even if you literally don’t ask audience members the questions.

3. Describe how the primary audience analysis differs from the secondary.

4. Identify when a formal audience analysis would be most beneficial. How?

5. List the five rules for creating a statement that has a clear purpose.

6. Identify when a formal audience analysis would be most beneficial. How?

It takes one hour of preparation for each minute of presentation time. —Wayne Burgraff

Let’s begin this chapter by activating your prior knowledge. Think about speeches you have heard or delivered, suppose someone asked you to create a list of ingredients for a speech. What would your list be?

Interaction 7.1: Speech Ingredients

What are the ingredients for a good speech? Examine speeches you have heard and speeches you have presented, construct a list of ingredients you think belong in a speech.

Part 1: How it Works

Introduction

The Speech Formula contains five key ingredients: Audience Analysis, Purpose Statement, Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. This chapter describes the ingredients in detail. Please note, this list of ingredients supplements the speech writing process, but is not the process itself. For example, a recipe has both a list of ingredients and instructions for combining them. The same is true for a speech. This chapter focuses on ingredients. The next chapter, Putting It All Together, will cover the process of assembling the speech. Some readers learning style may be global and others sequential. For the global learners, you may prefer taking a look at the “big picture” or the process presented in Chapter 8 first. For sequential learners, learning about the necessary ingredients first should work best for you. Here’s an example: We use Sources from our research in the Body of the Speech Formula. Research is conducted in the Planning Stage of the Process. Thoroughly understanding what goes into a speech and the process of creating a speech is complex. It involves an itinerant (back and forth motion) process. Therefore, elements must be addressed more than once.

Tell, Show, Do, Apply

To get the most out of this chapter, we will incorporate the Tell, Show, Do, Apply strategy to help you master the Speech Formula.

1. Tell: Each Ingredient of the Speech Formula is explained in detail in a separate section.

2. Show: At the end of each section, a sample speech entitled, “Listening Can Change Your Life” demonstrates how one speech used the Speech Formula and how the Speech Formula comes alive as it’s used.

3. Do: Become familiar with the Speech Formula by writing your own informative speech.

4. Apply: Practice using the Speech Formula. You may find it helpful to use the speech writing application located at www.speechformula.com. Create an account and plug in the promotional code: MyBestSpeech. You can use the Sample Listening Speech content to create your first speech and familiarize yourself with the application, but I recommend you use your own content. Although the website is a fee-based service, everyone gets to write one free speech to try it!

Choosing a Topic for Your Practice Speech

Suggested Topics and Sources Identified for Your Informative Speech

To get the most out of this chapter, identify a topic for a speech you need to prepare or choose a topic that you would like to use. If you need some ideas, here is a list of great topics for an informative speech. These topics are interesting and compelling to a wide variety of audiences as they explore our human condition, for instance, forgiveness, financial freedom, excuses, negotiation and time management all are great topics. Below are topics associated with experts who offer some of worthwhile work in the field.

Table 7.1: Practice Speech Topics

Topic	Expert
Birth Order Theory	Alfred Adler
Culture	Edward T. Hall, Context Geert Hofstede, Cultural Dimensions
Finding Your Voice	Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Finding Your Voice Irving Janis, Spiral of Silence & Group Think
Grit	Angela Duckworth, The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Habits/Grit	Stephen R. Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
Happiness	Marci Shimoff, Happy for No Reason
Lying	Pamela Myers, How to Spot a Liar
Love	John Lee, Styles of Love Robert Sternberg, Triangular Theory Gary Chapman, 5 Languages of Love
Marriage	John Gottman, 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Research Guidelines for Your Practice Speech

In case you were thinking of just speaking off the top of your head, guess what? Research is always a good idea. Depending upon the topic you selected, here are a few guidelines.

Suggested topics: Identify five references you can include as you build your speech. Remember, be credible, do your research, each of these topics has quality research from people who have dedicated their lives to advance the field. Even if you feel as if you know a lot about a topic, save your insights to connect with the audience. Rejoice in their findings, advance your credibility by sharing with your audience and crediting their efforts.

Scholarly topics: If you are the expert, invited to discuss your expertise, be sure to share insight as to how you came to your conclusions. Scholarly research is dependent upon developments in the field, scholars are trained to respect and share ideas from their peers.

Non Scholarly topics: If you’re presenting, for example, reasons why a new park is needed, you’ll have different resources than a scholar would use. Perhaps identifying local reports from school or city, even census data for your community would be beneficial. Substantiate your vision with data.

Great! Now that you have a topic that you can use to interact with the Speech Formula, let’s get started. Review the Speech Formula in its entirety before we break it down section-by-section, element by element.