The following presentation outline is a very simple
way to organize your material into a speech format.
Note that the presentation outline is not a
word-for-word script for the speech but an outline of ideas to serve as an
organizational and presentation tool for the speaker.
1. Pre-speech preparation
Topic
Decide on your topic.
Audience
Analyze your audience. What do they already know about
your topic? Are they interested in the topic?
Refine and limit topic
Based on your analysis of the audience you may need to
slightly change you topic, by either changing the focus, or the scale
of the topic.
Purpose Statement
Write down a clear statement of what it is you intend
to achieve. What is the purpose of your speech.
For example; The purpose of this speech is to
inform the audience how to travel in Japan without spending too much money.
Organizational Method or Pattern
There is no single way to organize a speech. The pattern you will select will be determined by
the information you have and the specific purpose you want to achieve. There
are six basic patterns for organizing a speech:
§
Logical or topical
§
Chronological
§
Spatial
§
Classification
§
Problem-Solution
§
Cause-effect
Once you have completed these five parts of the
'Header', you are then ready to start planning the speech itself.
2. Introduction
In the introduction, you state the
topic of your speech. You tell the audience the main points of your speech. In
other words, you say what you are going to speak about.
·
What is the topic of your
speech?
·
Why should the audience
listen to your speech ?
·
What will your main points
be?
Greeting and Attention grabber
How will you greet the audience? How will you get the audience's
attention? Think of something (a short story, an anecdote, statistics, etc.)
that will make the audience sit up and listen.
Thesis Statement
The 'purpose statement' is where you simply state what
your goal is. However, it is not possible to use this in the speech. You need
to convert it to a 'thesis statement'. A thesis statement is one sentence in
the introduction in which you declare your purpose and topic.
For example, a thesis statement of the above purpose
statement would be; 'Traveling in Japan need not be an extravagance.'
Credibility
If the audience do not know who you are, you will not only need to
introduce yourself, but you will also need to 'establish your credibility'.
This means you will have to explain to the audience why you are 'qualified' to
speak about the subject.
Outline of main the points - overview
What are your main points?
Why?
Tell your audience why you think your
presentation will be useful to them.
3. The body
Transition
Think of a sentence that will make it clear to the audience that you
have finished the introduction, and are now about to start the body of the
speech.
Main points and ideas
|
Main ideas |
Supporting ideas |
Details & Examples |
Visuals |
|
Write your main points and ideas here |
What ideas will you tell the audience to
support your main points? |
What details or examples do you have? |
Will you have any visuals to help explain your
points? |
main ideas = sub-topics
supporting ideas = sub-sub topics
evidence = details and examples
4. The conclusion
In the conclusion, you should summarize the main points of your speech,
and emphasize what you want the audience to remember.
·
What were the main points of
your speech, and what do you want the audience to remember?
Transition
Think of a sentence that will make it clear to the
audience that you have finished the body and are now coming to the end of the
speech.
Restatement of main points
Summarize your main ideas and think of which piece of
information you really want the audience to remember.
Closer
Think of a final sentence to help the audience
remember your speech.