MEETING V

PLANNING THE CONTENT OF YOUR SPEECH

A. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

With the previous chapter we focused on initial

preparation of your speech, this chapter we will be
discussing on constructing the content of your speech in
preparation for your public speech. Each of these parts; the
introduction, the body and the conclusion- has its functions.
In the end of this lesson, students are able to recognize each
part of constructing the speech such as introduction, the
body, and the conclusion, able to identify the three functions
of each part of constructing your speech and able to
distinguish each of them in your proposed speech and able
to construct your own speech using the three main parts
mentioned above.

B. MATERIAL DESCRIPTION

Speech organization provides two crucial purposes.

The first step in improving idea clarity is organizing and
structuring the discourse. The likelihood that your speech will
be effective is increased by planning it. Disorganized

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 presentations are more likely to be misunderstood by
audiences, who may also assume that the speaker is
trustworthy or credible. The three primary sections of a
speech are the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.

It is crucial to structure your speech in order to achieve

two key goals: first, it improves idea clarity, and second, it
raises the likelihood that the speech will be persuasive. It
means that the audience will believe a well structured
message compared to the chaotic one. As most audiences
are more likely to not understand a chaotic speech, which
would increase the likelihood that the speaker is unreliable
and uncredible, structuring the speech will help your
audience understand your goal. Third, a well structured
message is easier to remember therefore it is more
impactful.

A well-structured message in a speech has a structure

similar to an essay: introduction, body, and conclusion.
Therefore,it is recommended to create an outline as the key
information of the message structure to be developed in a
speech.

1. Writing the introduction

The opening is the most crucial part of your

presentation for grabbing your audience's attention. If
not, they might not pay close attention to your content
(Harrington & Lebeau, 2009).

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 If it's a group presentation, you must begin by
introducing yourself and your colleagues. You must
outline the topics covered by your main points. Explain
to the audience the significance of the material and what
they should expect to hear. In order to give the
presentation's body plenty of time, the introduction must
be succinct (Oregon State University, 2009). Once the
introduction is through, make a seamless transition into
the body.

Possible introduction components include:

a. Greeting the audience (Salutations, greeting them

with good morning, evening, afternoon, etc.)
b. Providing a succinct introduction to your subject;
c. describing your structure; and
d. providing details about the questions.

As they say, first impressions last. A weak

introduction would make the listener doubt the speaker's
authority. In order to increase the speaker's confidence
from the beginning of the speech until the very finish, it
is crucial to start out strong. Three goals can be
achieved by a strong introduction: pique the interest of
the audience, establish and demonstrate your credibility,
and identify the subject of your speech.

Let’s discuss each of the objectives.

a. Pique the interest of the audience

First impressions last as they say. Poor beginning
would result in the audience losing their credibility

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 towards the speech. As to why, it is important to get
on the right foot to boost the audience’s interest. Use
attention-grabbers at the start of your speech, such
as relating the subject, posing queries, or sharing a
personal experience.
1) Making the subject relevant to your audience
It is important to relate the subject to the listeners
in order to pique their interest in your speech.
The audience likes to occasionally participate in
the speaker's speech, which is why it is
important. In order to maintain your audience's
interest, you should always tie your topic to them.
This illustration from Stephen E. Lucas' The Art
of Public Speaking shows how to engage the
audience by relating the subject to them.

The speaker's audience can pay attention

because of the example's use of vivid language
to depict the speaker's classmates.

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 2) Posing a query
Asking your audience a rhetorical question could
also be another way to let your audience think
further with your speech. The purpose of asking
such questions like this is to make a point rather
than to get an answer. A single question can be
effective. How would you respond to a friend who
has been a victim of violence?
There are other instances, wherein instead of
asking a single question, you would be throwing
out several questions to your audience. Each of
which draws the attention of your audience
deeper. Have you tried which side you would be
going when you’re lost? Is it a left or a right?
Which way would you often go? Would you be
willing to take both sides just to see the right
pathway?
3) Story telling
Everyone enjoys listening to stories, especially
ones that are a little bit dramatic, funny, or
suspenseful. The chosen theme must be relevant
for these stories to complement the introduction
properly. Use these tales to effectively stress or
even drive the speech's emotions.
Take a look at this example mentioned from
Stephen E. Lucas’ The Art of Public Speaking.

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 The use of the example piques the interest of the
audience and enables the viewers to emotionally
connect to the narrative.

Personal experiences can also be used. Any

story's effectiveness depends on how it is told by
the speaker. The speaker can use pauses, eye
contact, tone and volume changes, and other
techniques to make the story more real and
compelling. The three techniques mentioned are
the most popular and useful for introducing a
topic.

b. Obtain respectability

Setting up your audience's trust is the third goal that

needs to be achieved in your introduction. The
audience will view a speaker as credible when it is
evident from her speech that she is informed and an
authority on the subject matter. Credibility is a
measure of one's ability to communicate on any given

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 issue. It is not necessary for the speaker's credibility
to be based on personal expertise and experience.
One can make use of sources, it can come from
reading, from interviews, and from notable
personalities.

c. Inform the topic

Don't forget to mention and explicitly state the topic of

your speech while trying to keep the attention of your
audience. This will make it easier for the audience to
understand how the quotes, inquiries, and narratives
you provided in your introduction relate to one
another. The listeners could become lost if the issue
is not made clear along the route. Therefore, aid your
audience in understanding your selected topic by
revealing it to them in order to avoid situations like
these.

This can be considered as a basic point but

speakers often forget about mentioning their topic.
The delivery of their speech can be on point but it is
still best to mention the topic before anything else.Try
to compare both of these examples from Stephen E.
Lucas’ The Art of Public Speaking.

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 The aforementioned scenario leaves the audience
perplexed and raises a number of queries. What
exactly is the subject? photography of nature?
Birding? Tourism? However, the topic's speaker
omitted to clearly state what the topic was about.

While with this example, it has provided a way to get

into the audience’s attention yet it would be best
when revealing a topic, to reveal it right away. Even if
the audience is already aware of the chosen topic.
There is no set of rules or sequence to all of these
objectives; however one must be able to include all of
these objectives in order to build and construct an
effective introduction.

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 2. Writing the body

After structuring the introduction of the speech, the next

step is developing the body part of your speech. The
body of your speech should then be developed after the
introduction has been organized. There are 3 basic
steps to develop the body part: decide the central idea,
decide the main ideas, give the supporting details such
as offering an example of it and the evidence, and
explain why it is significant (if applicable).
a. Central idea
Central idea is the key claim a speaker has in his
speech. A claim is a belief the speaker wants to
share with the audience. In writing, we also call it
the thesis.
An example of a central idea:

Smoking should be banned because it destroys our

health.

There is a main topic: smoking, followed by a

controlling idea: destroying our health. This means
the next information from the speaker is all about how
smoking can destroy health and should not be about
other factors besides the health factors. The key
ideas about the damages are called main ideas.

b. Main ideas
When we discuss a particular body part, we must
provide evidence to back up our claims. Gregory
(1987) listed a few supporting items that we can

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 utilize in the body of our speech, including definitions,
summaries, examples, narratives, comparisons, and
statistics.
For example:

Central idea: Smoking should be banned because it

destroys our health.

Main ideas:

1) In forms of examples:
- It can cause lung cancer
- It can cause heart diseases
- It leads to dental problems
2) In a form of fact

- Smoking is a cause of death.

3) In a form experts’ opinion:

According to tobacco treatment expert and
addiction specialist Maher Karam-Hage, M.D.,
smoking cigarettes can cause damages that are
permanent.
c. Supporting ideas
Supporting ideas are evidence-based. The most
crucial material in your speech's body is the
evidence. When we need to strengthen the content of
our speech, we give justification. For instance, a
speaker might need to provide evidence to back up a
claim after defining it and making a claim. Examples,
facts, data/statistics, expert opinions, and other types
of evidence are all acceptable, for example:

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 Main idea: Smoking is a cause of death.

Supporting details: According to cleveland clinic.org,

every year, around 480,000 people passed away
from the effects of smoking.

An important thing to remember about main

ideas/central ideas and their developments into key
points and supporting details is that a speaker
should adjust it with the length of the speech.
Therefore, making an outline of main ideas and the
supporting ideas is crucial in the preparation phase
of a speech.

d. Transitional device

Consider using transitional devices with your body

part since it will be the longest component of your
speech. Use transitional phrases to join your body
paragraphs together and aid your audience in
following the thread of the topic you've chosen. The
audience can transition easily from one group of
examples to another with the aid of transitional
devices:

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 Table 5. The Aid of Transitional Devices

Of Of Of Of Result Of time
Addition contrast Comparis
on

Also, However, Similarly, Therefore, Next,

Besides, Still, Likewise Hence, Then,
Furtherm Neverthel Thus, Meanwhi
ore, ess, Conseque le,
Moreover Conversel ntly Finally,
y, Subsequ
Nonethele ently,
ss,
Instead

3. Writing the conclusion

Depending on how long your speech is overall. the

speaker's main goal in the conclusion is to restate the
thesis statement or the main idea from the introduction,
as well as to summarize the major concepts covered
during the speech and how they relate to one another.
The introduction and conclusion of the speech should be
cohesive and able to serve as a summary. However,
there are more inventive ways to end your speech. It
also incorporates the following:

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 a. Conclude with a quote
It is equally possible to use a citation in your
concluding comment as it was at the beginning of
your speech. It is thought to be theThe conclusion
often comprises one to two paragraphs, again
depending on how long your essay is overall. The
basic purpose of the conclusion is for the speaker to
recap the key ideas discussed throughout the speech
and how they relate to one another, as well as to
restate the thesis statement or the primary idea from
the opening.
The speech's introduction and conclusion sections
ought to flow together and be able to provide a
summary. There are, however, more creative
methods to wrap up your speech. additionally, it
combines the following:
An illustration from The Art of Public Speaking by
Stephen E. Lucas.

The mentioned example was able to depict on how

the conclusion can end with a conclusion that is in
line with the central idea of your chosen speech.

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 b. Make a strong declaration
Another option, besides including a citation with your
conclusion, is to create your own dramatic statement.
Some speeches have gained notoriety as a result of
original dramatic declarations. Here is an illustration
of a dramatic statement from The Art of Public
Speaking by Stephen E. Lucas..

The closing lines used in the example brought a

dramatic conclusion.

4. Outlining

All keywords of the overall speech then should be

outlined in the preparation stage. An outline can be in
this structure:

Central idea:

__________________________________________

Main idea 1:

Supporting detais for main idea 1:

_________________________________________

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 Main idea 2:

Supporting details for main idea 2:

_________________________________________

Main idea 3:

Supporting details for main idea 3:

_________________________________________

Concluding statement:

_________________________________________

5. Drafting

An outline is needed to be developed to a transcription

of the speech. Therefore, it is necessary for a speaker to
organize the transcript of the speech in the form of
complete sentences. This transcription then can be used
to rehearse for the speech.

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C. COMPREHENSION TEST

According to your chosen topic in the previous assignment

(meeting IV), as you are about to prepare your speech, make
use of the structures mentioned in the lesson to create an
outline of your speech.

Here are the topic you can choose:

a. health
b. economy
c. education
d. technology
e. sport
f. entertainment

Central idea:
________________________________________________
____________________________________________

Main idea 1:

Supporting detais for main idea 1:

________________________________________________
________________________________________________
__________________________________________

Main idea 2:

Supporting details for main idea 2:

________________________________________________

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 ________________________________________________
__________________________________________

Main idea 3:

Supporting detais for main idea 3:

________________________________________________
________________________________________________
__________________________________________

Concluding statement:

________________________________________________
____________________________________________

Develop the outline into the transcript for your speech.

________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________

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 ________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________

D. REFERENCES

Carnegie, D. & Esenwein, J. (2018). The art of public

speaking. Skyhorse Publishing.

Chanock, K. et al. (2007) A Visual Guide to Essay Writing.

https://www.tcd.ie/disability/assets/doc/pdf/essayWriti
ngVisualGuide.pdf

Gregory, H. (2022). Public Speaking for College and

Career(12th edition). McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Harrington, D. & LeBeau, C. (2009). Speaking of Speech.

MacMillan Language House.

Lucas, S. (2008) The Art of Public Speaking, 10th Edition.

McGraw-Hill

Structuring the speech (n.d). University of Pittsburgh.

https://www.comm.pitt.edu/structuring-speech

Taman, P. (2021). Public Speaking: HOW TO SPEAK

POWERFULLY. Pena Persada.

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