Speech Organization

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…

 let the audience know you My purpose has been…

are ending the speech by Let me end by saying…
using phrases like: To conclude
In closing
So you can see…
One final thought…
If you remember just one thing I’ve said today,
remember this… 03/04/2021
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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 Introductory and concluding statements
Te c h n i q u e s
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• 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.
 “Today I am going to talk about high blood pressure.”
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 Introductory and concluding statements
Te c h n i q u e s
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• Shock

• Startling statement

• Stir the emotions

• Reluctant or inattentive audience

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 Introductory and concluding statements
Te c h n i q u e s
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• 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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Te c h n i q u e s
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• 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
Te c h n i q u e s
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• Narrative
• Report
• Anecdote
• Story

• Solid images
• Better experience

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 Example of narrative
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 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
Te c h n i q u e s
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• Analogy

• Facilitate complex ideas

• Comfortable audience
• Descriptive language

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 Introductory and concluding statements
Te c h n i q u e s
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• Humor

• Attention grabber

• Break the ice or tension

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 Introductory and concluding statements
Te c h n i q u e s
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• Rhetorical questions
• Make a point

• Thought provoking

• No answer is needed

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 General Rhetorical Questions
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★ 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
Te c h n i q u e s
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• 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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Thesis statements and preview summary

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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
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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
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 Patterns of
Organization
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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
 Example:
 Address a subject from a  Specific Purpose:
historical perspective, To inform the audience about the books written
especially in narration, by Winston Churchill
description, and
explanation.  Main Points:
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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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 Definition of transition
 Preview transitions
 Review transitions
 Signpost transitions
 Chronological transitions
 Spatial transitions
 Qualifying transitions
 Relational transitions
 Oppositional transitions
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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.
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Preview transitions

 Announce to the audience the  Examples:

general points to be made in a
speech. - Let us begin by…
- Initially…
 They are often used after the
- This brings us to the
initial summary to introduce
point…
the first main point, and after
the last point to cue to the - Let us now move to…
conclusion.
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Review transitions
 Bring the logical coherence  Examples:
and clarity to a speech by
summarizing what the - As previously noted…
speaker has said. - In summary…
 It is preferable to use it when - Up to this point we have seen
…
the speaker wants to review
an idea before introducing a
visual aid etc.
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Signpost transitions
 Examples:
 Are the numerical indications
of the main body points. - First, we will discuss…
- Second/ Then…
 Allow the speaker to move
smoothly from one idea to the - Third/ Last…
next in a speech.
64 Chronological transitions
 Indicate a time order to the  Examples:
audience and show the temporal
relationship between ideas and - Before,…
points. - Meanwhile…
 The speaker can convey the - Presently…
historical development of the - After several minutes…
topic on the time between steps
in process.
65 Spatial Transitions
 This type conveys the spatial  Examples:
relationship between
elements in a speech. - Next to…
- To the right of…
 Spatial and chronological
transitions can be combined - On the opposite side of…
when outlining the steps in a
process.
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Qualifying transitions
 Can be used to clarify the  Examples:
significance of a point or
characterize the relationship - Unless,…
between points. - Although,…

 Can be used while expressing the - Based upon the condition

that…
strength of the logical relationship
between premises and conclusion of - Only if…
an argument.
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Relational Transitions
 Links between points having  Examples:
similar significance, function, or
meaning. - In addition,…
- Similarly…
 Used to show the relationship
between the main points or to - Likewise…
show how evidence supporting - Comparatively,…
another.
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Oppositional transitions
 Instead of linking similar ideas;  Examples:
this type links between the
opposing ideas having different - This is different from, …
meaning or significance. - Conversely, …
 Used when showing different - Whereas, …
perspectives on the same point. - On one hand, … ; On the
other hand, …
Principles of
Outlining
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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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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
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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.
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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.
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Conclusion
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Thank you for your attention

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