Public Speaking Chapter Nine

Organizing Your Speech

Organizing Your Main Ideas

O When organizing the main ideas for your speech, there are five organizational patterns that you can choose from:O topicalO chronologicalO spatialO causalO problem-solution

Organizing Ideas Topically

O topical organization is the organization of the natural divisions in a central idea according to recency, primacy, complexity, or the speaker’s discretion

O natural divisions are often essentially equal in importanceO it may not matter which point you

discuss first, second, third, etc.

Organizing Ideas Topically

O at other times, you may organize your main points based on one of three principles:O primacy

O primacy is the arrangement of ideas from the most important to the least important

O this principle will work best if your audience is unfamiliar or hostile toward your central idea

O recencyO recency is the arrangement of ideas from the least

important to the most importantO this principle will work best if your audience is somewhat

knowledgeable and generally favorable toward your topic

O complexityO complexity is the arrangement of ideas from the simple

to the more complex

Organizing Ideas Chronologically

O chronological organization is organization by time or sequenceO your steps are ordered according to when

each step occurred or should occurO it can be either forward or backward,

depending on which end of a set of events the speaker intends to emphasizeO historical speeches and how-to speeches

are two kinds of speeches organized chronologically

Arranging Ideas Spatially

O spatial organization is based on location or positionO it does not matter whether you

progress up or down, east or west, forward or back – as long as you follow a logical progressionO speeches on museums or the travels of

explorers – or even the structure of an atom can be organized spatially

Organizing Ideas to Show Cause and Effect

O cause-and-effect organization is organization that focuses on a situation and its causes or a situation and its effectsO speech may first identify a situation

and then discuss the effects that result from it (cause effect) OR

O speech can present a situation and then seek its causes (effect cause)

Organizing Ideas by Problem and Solution

O problem-and-solution organization is organization focused on a problem and then various solutions or a solution and the problems it would solveO if an audience is aware of a problem, but

does not know how to solve it, discuss the problem first and then the solution

O if an audience knows about an action or program, but now why it was implemented, discuss the solution first and then the problems that caused it to be created

Acknowledging Cultural Differences in Organization

O each culture teaches its members patterns of thought and organization that are considered appropriate for various occasions and audiences

O as an audience member, recognizing the existence of cultural differences when you are listening to a speech can help you appreciate and understand the organization of a speaker from a culture other than your own

Organizing Your Supporting Material

O sometimes, you can use the five standard organizational patterns to arrange your supporting material, as well as your main ideas and subpointsO at other times, none of the five standard

patterns will work and you may need to turn to a strategy more specifically adapted to your supporting materials, like:O primacy or recencyO specificityO complexity

Organizing Your Supporting Material

O supporting material can be arranged from soft to hard evidenceO soft evidence is supporting material

based mainly on opinion or inference; it includes hypothetical illustrations, descriptions, explanations, definitions, and analogies

O hard evidence is factual evidence and statistics

Developing SignpostsO signposts are verbal or nonverbal signals

that a speaker is moving from one idea to the nextO verbal transitions

O in additionO not onlyO in other wordsO in summaryO therefore

O avoid words like “finally” and “in conclusion” because they will encourage a listener to stop paying attention

Developing SignpostsO nonverbal transitions

O facial expressionsO pausesO altered voice pitches or speaking ratesO movement

O most good speakers use a combination of verbal and nonverbal transitions

PreviewsO audience-centered speakers need to

remember that the members of their audiences cannot go back to review a missed pointO previews, then, help to provide coherenceO initial previews are statements of what the

main ideas of the speech will be and are usually presented with the central ideas

O internal previews are statements in the body of a speech that introduce and outline ideas that will be developed as the speech progresses

SummariesO like previews, summaries provide

additional exposure to a speaker’s ideas and can help ensure that audience members will grasp and remember themO a final summary occurs just before the

end of a speech, often acting as a transition between the body and the conclusion

O an internal summary is a restatement in the body of a speech of ideas that have been developed so far

Supplementing Signposts with Presentation Aids

O one way to increase the probability that your listeners will pay attention to your signposts is to supplement them with presentation aidsO for example, powerpoints or posters

with bulleted or numbered main ideas