February 5, 2006Building the Informative Speech
I. The Central Strategies you will use to build your speeches will be:
  • Supporting Materials
  • Language Use
  • Chapter 14 Advice


    • II.  We viewed a speech from the appendix of the textbook and then analyzed it: Speech Analysis: Dying To Be Thin

    B.  The speech does some things to relating to the audience, but could do much more.
    C.  Language Use and other Choices
    III.   Importance of Support Materials

           Choosing good sources supports your credibility.

           Vary sources.

                 Web pages (choose .org [ know sponsoring org], .edu, .gov)

                 Newspaper articels from Lexis-Nexis academic.

                 Books, magazines, articles
       
                       See esp. library on-line cataglogue and Expanded Academic Index.
                       Vary subject, keyword for searching.

                 Making good choices and citing them is important for success.


    IV.   Speaking clearly and effectively involves hard work and creativity.
        *    Think, how can I best explain this to my audience to help them understand?
        *    Don’t overestimate audience’s knowledge, but don’t underestimate their
              intelligence.
        *    How can I connect with them by personalizing my topic?
        *    How can I incorporate my own experience?
        *    How can I clarify through smart choices of concrete, familiar terms, descriptive
              words,  and visual aids?

    V.    Example of description of Bode Miller (alpine skiing world champion) in Newspaper.

           which talked about his "romantic relationship with danger," to emphasize the importance
           of using concrete and descriptive words and phrases to make your subject vivid to your audience.

    Here is an analysis of the "Sneezing Speech" that may help you in preparing your informative speech.

    VI.  By looking closely at the SNEEZING SPEECH you used to build the preparation outline last week, we can see some of the choices you might want to imitate.

  • D. LANGUAGE USE IN THE SNEEZING SPEECH
    • 1. Introduction:
    • "you," and "your"
    • preview is clear but not overly blatant.
    2. First Main Point:
    • Concrete details and interesting word choices help to bring the story to life.
    • The strong word choices continue: "sneezing,” is called "the nose's most conspicuous function."
    • The language also continues to try to relate to the audience: "If you were walking down the dusty streets of Karim Nagar."
    3. Second Main Point:
    • He avoids getting overly technical; where it borders on technical he does it for humorous effect as in "overly active equilibriating mechanism."
    • Colorful word choice continues: "rampaging predators," and "banishing intruders."
    • Again, he addresses the audience: "If a man lunged at you with a knife.”
      February 7- Visual Aids

           We watched  a demonstration "speech" from the Red/Green Show, saw samples
           of creative, but simple visual aid use in student speeches including a speech on
           different types of contact lenses, saw examples of drawings, and saw a full-length
           student speech to talk about use or lack of use of visual aids.
    I.  Why use visual aids?

         Many people in our audience are visual learners - they are used to having visual images
         keep their interest based on over-exposure to advertising.

        Visual aids  Strengthen the clarity of a Speaker's Message.
        Increase the interest of the audience.
        Visual aids make it easier for listeners to retain the information.
        Enhance speaker credibility.
        Improve persuasiveness
        Even help alleviate stage fright.
  • Murphy's Law: Things Happen!
    •                     Don’t panic.
                        Take your time setting things back.
                        Ask for help if you need it.
                        Pause and take a deep breath – remember that your audience is with you!