I.

Introduction (Rollon)

The beginning of a speech is called the introduction. The introduction is important because it sets the
tone for the entire presentation. The introduction can be broken into two parts: the attention grabber
and the preview.

Crafting Introduction

(Rollon)

1. Start with a greeting. The first thing people want to know when you stand to speak is who you
are. If someone else has introduced you, take the time to thank them as well as anyone
responsible for organizing the event or inviting you to speak.[1]
 Keep in mind you may be nervous when you start your speech. Include this in your outline so
you won't forget.
 If there's anything about you that relates you to your audience, or to the group that organized
the event, you want to include that in your brief greeting as well – especially if you didn't have
the benefit of an introduction from someone else.
 For example, you might say "Good afternoon. I'm Sally Sunshine, and I've been a volunteer with
the Springfield Animal Society for five years. I'm honored they've invited me to speak here today
about the importance of spaying or neutering your pets."

2. Open your speech with an attention-getter. You want to grab their attention and hold on to
their attention throughout the whole speech. This could be a joke, a personal story, or an
interesting observation on your topic that doesn't really fit elsewhere in your speech.
 When choosing your attention-getter, keep your audience in mind. Think about what would grab
their attention – not necessarily what you personally find interesting or humorous.
 If you're not sure whether your attention-getter will work, try practicing it in front of friends or
family members who are similar in age and interests to the people who will be in the audience
when you give your speech.
 For example, if you're giving a speech on spaying and neutering pets to a group of suburban
families, you might open with a humorous reference to the Disney movie "101 Dalmatians."

(Sabellano)

3. Give your audience a reason to listen to your speech. In this part of your introduction, you'll
transition from your attention-getting anecdote into the subject matter of the speech itself. This
section should only be a sentence or two.[2]
 Briefly explain the importance of the topic or issue you'll be discussing in your speech.
 If your speech is an informative one, explain why the information is important or relevant to
your audience.
 For argumentative speeches, explain what might happen if action isn't taken on the issue.
 For example, you might say "Every year, our local animal shelter has to put down 500 unwanted
cats and dogs. If all pets were spayed and neutered, it's estimated this number would decrease
to under 100."
 4. Present your thesis statement. Your thesis statement, broadly, tells the audience the scope of
your speech. The structure and content of this statement will vary based on the type of speech
you're giving.[3]
 If you're giving an argumentative speech, your thesis statement will be a statement of the
ultimate point you hope to prove through the information and evidence you lay out in your
speech.
 For example, the thesis statement for a speech arguing that all pet owners should spay or
neuter their pets might be "Our entire community would benefit if all pets were spayed or
neutered."
 The thesis statement for a more informative speech will simply summarize the type of
information you're going to provide the audience through your speech.
 For a more scientific speech, your thesis statement will reflect the hypothesis of the scientific
study you're presenting in your speech.

5. Establish your credibility. You've made your point, but now you need to let the audience know
why they should listen to you. Credibility doesn't necessarily have to be as formal as a specific
degree or years of research – it could be a personal story.[4]
 If you're giving a speech for a class in school, your "credibility" may be as simple as the fact that
you took the class and researched the topic.
 However, if you have a more personalized interest in the topic of your speech, this is a good
time to mention that.
 For an argumentative speech, a personal connection to the subject matter can enhance your
credibility. For example, maybe you're giving a speech about local urban housing policy and you
became interested in the topic when you learned your family was facing eviction. A personal
connection often can mean more to members of your audience than extensive professional
experience in the area.

(Saplot)

6. Preview your main points. Now that the audience knows what you're going to talk about, why
you're going to talk about it, and why they should listen to you, give them a neat summary of
the points you're going to make during your speech.[5]
 There's no hard and fast rule, but speeches typically have three main points. You should list
them in your introduction in the order you plan to present them in your speech. The order in
which you discuss your points depends on the type of speech you're giving.
 For example, your speech on spaying or neutering pets might address the benefits to the pet
first, then the benefit to the pet's family, then the benefit to the community at large. This starts
small and moves outward.
 For an argumentative speech, you typically want to lead with your strongest argument and work
down in order of strength.
  If you're giving an informative speech based on a historical event, you may want to provide your
points chronologically. Other informative speeches may be better served by starting with the
broadest point and moving to more narrow points.
 Ultimately, you want to order your points in a way that feels natural to you and will enable you
to easily transition from one point to another.

II. Body

After the introduction, the speaker transitions to the body of the speech. This is where the speaker will
spend the most amount of time. The goal of the body of the speech is to clearly explain the topic.

Building the body of your Speech

1. State your first point. The outline of the body of your speech will begin with the first point you
intend to make in your speech. Write out a smooth transition from your introduction into the
body of your speech.
 Your first point will be a top-level entry on your outline, typically noted by a Roman numeral.
 Beneath that top-level, you will have a number of sub-points which are comments, statistics, or
other evidence supporting that point. Depending on how your outline is formatted, these
typically will be letters or bullet points.

(Suson)

2. Present your supporting evidence or arguments. Beneath your first point, you'll list specific
evidence or facts you want to mention in your speech that support the point. This could include
dates, statistics, or quotes from sources.[6]
 As with the points themselves, with your evidence you typically want to start with the strongest
or most important sub-point or piece of evidence and move down. This way, if you start running
short on time, you can easily cut the last points without worrying that you're leaving out
something important.
 The type of evidence or sub-points you'll want to include will depend on the type of speech
you're giving.
 Try to avoid pounding your audience with long series of numbers or statistics – they typically
won't retain the information. If you have a significant amount of numerical data or statistics,
creating an infographic you can project during your presentation may be more useful.
 Keep in mind that additional personal stories or anecdotes can be particularly effective to get
your point across in a speech.
 For example, if your first point in your speech about spaying or neutering pets is that the
procedure benefits the pets themselves, you might point out that pets that are spayed or
neutered live longer, are at a decreased risk for certain types of cancer, and are generally
healthier than pets who aren't spayed or neutered.
 3. Transition to your next point. After you've finished all the information you want to include for
your first point, go back to the top level and find a smooth way to transition from that point to
your second point in a sentence or two.
 Avoid over-thinking your transition. It really doesn't need to be incredibly sophisticated. If you
can't come up with anything specific, using a simple transitional phrase will work fine.
 For example, you might say "Now that I've discussed how spaying and neutering has a positive
effect on your pet's health, I want to move to the effect that spaying and neutering has on your
family."
 Some of the most effective transitions turn on a particular word or phrase, such as the word
"effect" in the example above.

4. Repeat the same process for all remaining points. Your outline will look much the same for the
remaining two (or more) points you plan to cover in your speech. Start with a top-level outline
point that provides a topic sentence of the point, then follow it with three or four-lettered or
bulleted sub-points of facts in support.
 When choosing your sub-points or the facts that you want to emphasize in your speech, keep
your audience in mind as well as the overall point. Think about what's important to them, or
what they potentially would find most surprising or most interesting.

(Tapia)

III. Conclusion

The conclusion puts the finishing touches on the speech. It lets the audience know that the speech is
about to end. Like the introduction, the conclusion can be broken into two parts: the review and the
final statement.

Creating your Closing

1. Provide a smooth transition. Now that you've finished the body of your speech, you need an
effective transitional sentence that will signal to your audience that you're reaching the end of
your speech.[7]
 This transition doesn't need to be fancy – it doesn't even have to be a whole sentence. You can
simply say "In conclusion," and then launch into your summary.

2. Summarize the points you've discussed. Speech coaches often describe a speech's organization
as "tell them what you're going to say, say it, then tell them what you said." Start your
conclusion by telling your audience what you told them in your speech.[8]
 You don't need to go into detail here – you're just reinforcing what you've already told your
audience.
 Make sure you don't introduce any new information in your closing summary.
 For example, you might say "As you've seen, spaying or neutering your pet has substantial
benefits not only for you and your pet, but also for the community at large."
 3. Restate your thesis statement. This version of your thesis statement should sound more like a
conclusion or an ultimate finding than the hypothesis it may have been in your introduction.[9]
 If your speech went well, you have fully proven your thesis and demonstrated its importance.
This statement should relate back to the summary of your points and present a strong
statement.
 Particularly for brief speeches, you can even combine your summary of points with your thesis
statement in a single sentence that wraps up your speech.
 For example, you might say "Given the benefits to your pet's health, to your family, and to the
overall well-being of your community, it is clear that spaying or neutering pets should be a top
priority for all pet owners."

(Venci)

4. Leave your audience something to remember. To close out your speech, think of something on
the same note as the attention-getter you used to open your speech. It could be an anecdote or
a humorous restatement of the importance of the issue.
 You may want to think of a way to bring the entire speech back around to that story you initially
told to grab your audience's attention.
 If you have an argumentative or similar speech, your closing lines typically will include a call to
action. Give your audience an example of how important the subject of your speech is, and
implore them to act on the information you gave them in a specific way.
 When making a call to action, make sure you include specific details, such as where to go, who
to contact, and when to act.
 For example, you might say "For the next week, the Springfield Animal Society will be spaying
and neutering pets for free at their clinic on 123 Main Street. Call 555-555-5555 to make an
appointment for your furry friend today!"

5. Thank the audience and anyone who invited you. Thanking the audience for listening to you
demonstrates that you respect them and value their time. If you were specifically invited to
speak by a particular individual or organization, you should also mention them again.
 Particularly if your speech was longer or if you went over the time allotted, be sure to tell them
that you appreciate their time.
 As with your initial greeting, including this in your outline ensures you won't forget it in the
moment. That doesn't mean you should try to write something verbatim. Rather, you should
focus on your thanks being more off-the-cuff and sincere.

6. Note time for questions. Speak with the organizers of the event beforehand and find out if you
can (or should) invite any questions from the audience about your speech. If you intend to
provide time for questions, note this on your outline so you won't forget to mention it at the
end of your speech.[10]
  If you want to establish parameters for the questions, be sure to list these in your outline so you
can mention them when you announce that you're open for questions.
 Anticipate questions that may be asked dependent on your speech topic. Preemptively answer
those questions and include them in your outline.
 You also should note if you only have a specified period of time for questions, or if you're only
taking a set number of questions.

(Violeta)

THINGS TO AVOID IN A SPEECH OUTLINE

Data dumping

Avoid bombarding your audience with stats and numbers. Instead, project an infographic for them to
look at while you explain its findings and relevancy to the topic.

Examples:

✗ “Here’s a graph that shows that.”

✓ “As you can see, the “x” axis corresponds to the star's brightness of while the “y” axis corresponds
to mass. By the line you see here, we know that more massive stars give off more light.”

Extremely formal language

When planning your speech, don’t aim to speak in an overly formal tone or use words that you wouldn’t
use in everyday conversation. Keep it casual, relatable, and speak to the audience like you would a
group of friends.

Examples:

✗ “Many pundits speculate that the mass of information can be rather misleading and contradictory
in nature; however, I am not of that lot. The matter in which we inspect the collected data makes a
noteworthy impact. Thus, I have rendered a formula.”

✓ “There’s a lot of people in my field of work who look at all this data and think that scientists are
trying to mislead them. But I’m not one of them. All I’m saying is that how we look at the data matters.
So that’s why I’ve created my own system.”

Writing every word verbatim

You don’t want to have your head buried in your notes during the speech, so keep your sub-points brief
whenever possible. Use keywords to spark your memory while on stage to make your delivery sound
more natural and in-the-moment. And don’t forget to practice!
Examples:

✗ “I’m not here today to tell you about climate change. We’ve all seen the stats and we all know
that shifts in policy are extremely necessary.”

✓ “Climate change - policies ineffective.”

Abrupt introductions and conclusions

Avoid jumping right into a topic without introducing yourself and other background information that
might be necessary for them to understand the purpose of your speech. Just the same, avoid suddenly
ending your speech and, instead, leave them with something memorable.

Examples:

Introduction

✗ “You don’t need to know my name, you just need to know why it’s important to spay and neuter
your pets.”

✓ “My name is Angela Borren and I’m the founder of Pets Thrive animal shelter, veterinary clinic,
and adoption center. I’m here to talk to you about how spaying and neutering your pet can is not just
good for your pet and your family, but your entire community.”

Conclusion

✗ “Well, that’s all I’ve got!”

✓ “I hope you walk away with more information about how to keep your pets safe and decrease
animal suffering in our community. Whenever you see a stray cat or dog, think of Athena and her
journey from an unhealthy stray to a thriving lap dog. By the way, here’s a photo of Athena now…
happily chewing her birthday bone. Thank you for your time and attention.

Self judgment or depreciation

Don't talk about how you're not a good public speaker or how inadequate your presentation is. This will
lessen your credibility and might cue some people to tune out.

✗ “Sorry, I’m pretty uncomfortable on stages but I’ll try to keep it together.”

✓ “I hope that my passion for this project inspires you to take action as well.”