Speech #1:  Visual Aid/Demonstration Speech

 

Objectives:   During this unit, you will:

                        Learn how to organize a speech

                        Learn the four major parts of a speech

                        Learn the four functions of an introduction

                        Learn how to create an effective introduction

                        Learn different ways to organize the body of your speech

                        Learn different ways to conclude a speech

                        Demonstrate your knowledge by passing a test

                        Create and present a visual aid/demonstration speech

Organization

Your speech will have four major parts:  They are:

            I.  Introduction

            II.  Central Purpose Statement

            III.  Body

            IV.  Conclusion

Introduction

The introduction to you speech must do four things.

            A.  Gain Attention

            B.  Establish Good Will

            C.  Create a Desire to Listen

            D.  Orient Your Listeners to the Subject

A.        Appropriate Ways to Gain Attention

1.         Ask a question.

            example:  What would you do if you were awakened in the night by an

            intruder trying to break into your home?

2.         Use a startling statement:

            example:  American Medical Association Figures indicate that twelve

            people in this room will one day suffer a fatal heart attack!”

3.         Personal experience:

            example:  “Six years ago, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure.  My

            doctor said that I was on the road to a heart attack.  That scared me into

            a major lifestyle change.  I went on a diet, began a program of regular

            exercise, and when I had my most recent physical I was found to be in

            excellent shape for a man my age.

4.         Striking Mannerism:

            example:  Spinning a baton in your hand is a great way to gain attention

            for a speech that demonstrates the art of baton twirling.

5.         Appropriate joke:

            Be careful of this one.  The joke must relate to your topic and must not

            be offensive.

B.        How to Establish Good Will

 

1.         Compliment your audience

            a.         The Direct Compliment

                         When you use this technique, you say something nice about

                        the people in the audience.

            b.         The Indirect Compliment

                        You can indirectly compliment you audience by:

                        a.         being prepared

                        b.         looking your best

                        c.         being excited (or even nervous)

2.         Common Ground Reference

                        Find something that you have in common with your audience to

                        put them at ease.

3.         Smile

C.        Create a Desire to Listen

            You need to show your audience that they will somehow benefit from    listening to your speech.  If you speech is on “How to Play Linebacker” in

            football, point out to your audience that even though they might not play

            football, they can enjoy the game better if they understand more about it.

D.        Orient Your Listeners to the Subject

            This is just a fancy way of saying that you need to prepare your listeners

            so they can understand your speech.

II.         Central Purpose Statement

            You need to create a single sentence that explains the purpose of your

            speech.  This is very similar to the Thesis Statement in a research paper.

            example:  I’m going to show you how to make your own decorative

            candles out of materials that you probably have around the house.

III.        The Body

            The body of you speech has to be divided into logical units.  There must

            be at least two main divisions in your speech, and no more than five. 

            There are several logical ways to arrange the body of your speech.

 

A.        Logical Order

            This arrangement is commonly associated with “how to” speeches.

            Most students will use this method for their demonstration speech.

            example:

            II.          Central Purpose Statement:  Today I’m going to show you how to

                        build an outdoor barbeque.

            III.         Body

            A.        Collecting the materials

                        1.         Stone—its advantages

                        2.         Brick—its characteristics

                        3.         Tools—those required

            B.        Laying the foundation

                        1.         Footings—specifications

                        2.         Sand and Gravel—specifications

            C.        Building the Structure

                        1.         The pit

                        2.         The Chimney

B.        Chronological Order

            This organizational plan proceeds according to time.

II.          Central Purpose Statement—“I’m going to tell you about the life cycle of

            the Red Tailed Hawk.

III.         Body

            A.        The hawk is hatched

                        1.         Role of the mother hawk.

                        2.         Role of the father hawk.

            B.        The hawk grows

                        1.         Learns to fly.

                        2.         Learns to hunt.

            C.        The hawk matures

                        1.         Selects a mate

                        2.         Builds a nest

                        3.         Raises its young.

 

C.        Pro/Con Order

            This plan allows you to inform both sides of a questions or issues.

II.          Central Purpose Statement:  Grand Rapids needs a new nuclear power

            plant.

            A.        Reasons why we should build a power plant.

                        1.         It will generate power

                        2.         It will create jobs

                        3.         I will bring money to the Grand rapids area

            B.        Reasons why we should not build a power plant.

                        1.         It is dangerous

                        2.         It requires a lot of money to get started.

D.        The Interrogative Method

            This plan uses the questions words (what, what, when, where, why, and

            how) to organize the speech.

            example:

            II.  Central Purpose Statement:  Let’s get rid of frogs.

            III.         Body

                        A.        Why should we get rid of frogs?

                                    1.         Frogs are ugly

                                    2.         Frogs are noisy

                                    3.         Frogs are scary

                        B.        Where should we get rid of frogs?

                                    1.         In the lakes

                                    2.         In the swamps

                        C.        How should we get rid of frogs?

                                    1.         Poison

                                    2.         Dynamite

                                    3.         Bombs

III.        Conclusion

            There are four ways to end your speech.

            A.        Re-state your central purpose statement.

            B.        Sum up your main ideas.

            C.        Tell a story that illustrates your main point.

            D.        Some combination of the above.

 

Sample Speech Outline

           

I           Introduction

            A.        Attention statement:  “Michigan stinks.  The air, land, and water of

                        our great state are polluted.”

            B.        Create good will (compliment the audience)

                        “I know that everybody in this room is concerned about the future of

                        our state and our environment.”

            C.        Reason for Listening:  Pollution harms all of us.

            D.        Orientation to the subject:  Before we can stop pollution, we need to

                        understand it.

II.          Body

            A.        Land pollution

                        1.         Out-of-state garbage

                                    a.  garbage from New Jersey

                                    b.  garbage from Canada

                        2.         Littering

            B.        Water pollution

                        1.         Pollution from factories

                        2.         Pollution from city sewage

            C.        Air pollution

                        1.         Pollution from automobiles

                        2.         Pollution from industry

IV.  Conclusion

            A.        Summary of main ideas

            B.        A story that illustrates the speech

            C.        Restatement of Central Purpose Statement.

 

                                   

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

All of the information in this unit is condensed from material created by Robert H. Allbritten, Ph.D., who has graciously given me permission to use it in my own classroom.