Visual support

The importance and use of visual aids will be discussed specifically when we examine the
speech to inform. However, visual aids are also useful as a means of supporting and proving
an idea,principle or concept
What is a visual aid?
Any slideshow, background, costuming, or other intentional object used to help the
audience focus, understand, or engage.
.Visual aids are designed to summarize information. Sometimes the amount of data is so
large that and aid is the only practical way of making the information accessible.
•Visual aids allow the writer to explain complex ideas more concretely, and the reader to
visualize abstract concepts
•Visual aids can even present new or additional information to the written text.
Finding Material
Once you have to selected your topic and decided your purpose, the serious task of deciding
what you want to say begins. In making decisions concerning your material, you must begin
by carefully thinking about the audience and your objectives. By placing the topics in its
proper perspective, you will be better able to determine what you know about the central
issues and what you must find out.
Experience and Observation
One of the best ways to gather material for speeches is to be alert to what goes on around you.
Plato wrote “Knowledge is but to remember” To have the experiences and observations to
remember, you must develop a philosophy of awareness.
as the suggested earlier to start your speech preparation by discovering your own ideas, beliefs and
feelings on the subject and examine your memory.
This lack of objectives perceptiveness can often influence what we really see and hear , therefore
make effective and abundant use of observations and experiences,but always remember you are
dealing with a statistic of one. May proof may be needed for valid generalization.

Interviews
The experiences and observations of other persons, who might be in a better position to know more
about the subject than you, are often excellent sources of information The interview has several
advantages. First, it enables you to ask specific questions that are directly related to your topic. This
face-to-face situation lets you acquire quick responses to your questions. Second, the interview
allows you a certain degree of selectivity. Instead of simply talking to someone who knows a little
about the topic, you can gather data by going directly to an expert-someone with firsthand
information.

Printed Material
I. Read with a definite purpose. We wrote earlier in this section that your preparation begins after
you have decided on your specific purpose and reviewed your personal fund of information. With
those two tasks behind you, it is much easier to seek only material that is relevant. you will also be
able to be more selective and avoid going in many errant directions
 2. read more than you think you will use. Most beginning student feel compelled to read
only enough to get by. You will discover, however, that the most effective speakers have a
grasp of the topic that goes beyond the material given in the speech.
3. Be critical. Examine many sources and opinions on the same topic. In this way you will be
able to determine the validity of your ideas as well as the authenticity of what you read.
4. Take complete and accurate notes on what you read. It is important, for ethical as well as
practical reasons, for you to keep a record of exactly where your material comes from.
5. Know your library. Although similarities exist, no two libraries are alike. Discover what
catalog system your library uses, what reference books it has, its physical facilities, its special
collections, its regulations, and its hours. Feel free to ask questions of those who work in the
library.

Indexes
The library card catalog, with its subject, title, and author index, is a superb starting point for
your research. The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, published each month, is a
cumulative index of articles published in more than a hundred selected periodicals. Articles
are listed alphabetically according to author, title, and subject. Two newspapers, the New
York Times and the London Timer, are also indexed

Reference books
Most of us are familiar with the practice of starting our research by turning to encyclopedia.
However, the task of investigation must not stop there; the communicator makes use of other
reference materials, there are

The World Almanac, The Statesman's Year Book. Information Please Almanac, Statistical Abstract
of the United States, and Commerce Reports- all furnish facts and figures that the speaker may find
useful.

Literary references can be found in such books as Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Oxford Dictionary
of Quotations, and The Home Book of Quotations

For information about people, it is always beneficial to look at biographical guides A few of the more
useful guides are Current Biography, Dictionary of American Biography, Who’s Who, Who’s Who in
America, Webster’s Biographical Dictionary, and International Who’s Who.