notes on increasing your communication skills, speaking, formal oral presentations, by planning and important organization

1. MODULE 2
WEEK 4: SPEAKING SKILLS
TOPIC 7 : PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS
.PLANNING AND ORGANIZING A FORMAL ORAL PRESENTATION

2. Lesson Objectives
• By the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Select and narrow down a topic for a speech.
2. Identify the general and specific purpose, and the central idea for a
speech.
3. Identify sources of information for preparing a speech.
4. Organize content effectively using an outline.
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3. Topic Selection
• Consider the following factors when selecting a topic to speak on:
The audience – topic should be relevant to theory interests and
expectations. Find out about their needs and try to meet them.
Yourself – topics that capture the speaker’s personal experiences and
interests are usually interesting to the audience.
The occasion – the topic must suit the occasion.
Narrowing the topic – the topic should fit within the time limits of the
speech e.g. Good governance---elections---party elections.
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4. General Purpose
• The following are three general purposes for delivering a speech:
To inform – the goal is to convey information clearly, accurately
and interestingly e.g. to define/describe/ explain a concept,
process, person, place, or thing.
To persuade – the goal is to offer information that tries to change
or reinforce audience beliefs or urge action.
To entertain – the goal is to get listeners to relax, smile, laugh and
generally enjoy themselves. In some contexts, entertainment is
the primary purpose
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5. Specific Purpose
• Write SMART objectives – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and
Time-bound. How?
“At the end of my speech, the audience will…
• This should be followed by a verb that indicates an observable, measurable
action e.g.
“At the end of my speech, the audience will list/describe/explain/discuss….
Abstract and immeasurable terms e.g. know, believe, understand should be
excluded.
• A specific purpose statement carries only one idea. It ought not to carry two or
more ideas
“At the end of my speech, the audience will explain why Members of
Parliament need to be aware of non-verbal communication .” 
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6. Specific Purpose
• Everything in the speech should contribute towards the specific purpose
statement.
• The specific purpose should be in the form of a statement, not a question.
• It should not be vague or general.
• The language should be clear, and precise, not figurative.
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7. The Central Idea
• The Central Idea is also known as the Thesis Statement. It is a one sentence
statement that summarizes your idea.
• While the purpose statement focuses on audience behaviour, as already seen, the
central idea focuses on the content of the speech.
It is a complete statement – not a phrase, clause or question
It captures the opinion of the speaker, or their position, on the topic
Example: Members of Parliament often contradict their verbal messages
through their non-verbal messages.
• The Central Idea is used to generate main ideas in the speech.
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8. Central Idea (Cont…)
• In developing a Central Idea, consider the following:
Does the Central Idea have the possibility of logical divisions e.g.
verbal versus non-verbal communication, types to non-verbal
communication, etc.
Why do you think your Central Idea is true e.g. personal experiences,
observation etc.
Can you support your Central Idea e.g. through anecdotal evidence,
research findings etc.
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9. Gathering Support Material
• Locate and organise information - this demands some knowledge of
research strategies, e.g. one could begin by developing a preliminary
bibliography, and a system to keep track of all their resources.
• Evaluate their usefulness e.g. check the table of contents, skim
through the material.
• Take notes.
• Identify possible presentation aids e.g. charts, graphs, photos.
• Take note of important additional material that will enrich the topic
such as anecdotes, quotes, statistics, facts
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10. Gathering Support Material (Cont…)
• Various sources of support material exist:
1. Personal knowledge and experience.
2. General knowledge, which should be verified for accuracy.
3. The Internet – this requires knowing how to locate an evaluate sources of
information.
Examples:
Google Scholar – provides academic resources.
Boolean search – this is a way of limiting a search through use of quotes, parenthesis
and words like AND, NOT, OR in order to obtain more relevant and focused results.
Understand URL codes – commercial sites often end in .com, country codes include
.ke for Kenya, .uk for United Kingdom etc., educational sites often use .edu, or .ac.,
government sites use .gov and organisations, .org.
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11. Gathering Support Material (Cont…)
• Credible websites are usually:
Accountable - they state the individual or organisation responsible for
the content
Accurate – this can usually be assessed by the credibility of the author,
the amount of care given to the content (few or no errors), and by cross
checking facts with information from other sources
Objective – the information should be credible; not subjective.
Timely – the site should be up to date and current. The information on
last update is usually found at the bottom of the webpage.
Usable – the site should be user-friendly. Note that not all content is
free, and access to certain data may come at a cost.
Diverse – the source should be free from material that contains bias
towards any individual or group.
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12. Gathering Support Material (Cont…)
4. Online databases – these provide bibliographic abstracts and full texts.
They are usually restricted to users of particular libraries, which have
paid a subscription fee for these resources.
5. Traditional libraries – material can be traced through card or online
catalogues. The catalogue supplies the call number e.g. PN 4121.N4
which can be used to track down the material. Library resources include
books, journals, newspapers, reference works e.g. encyclopaedias,
dictionaries etc.
6. Corporate publications - including annual reports, marketing materials,
publicly available information on the organisation
7. Interviews – can be used to gather information from experts .
Interviews require solid preparation and interviewing skills.
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13. Evaluating Sources of Information
• Libraries contain numerous sources of information; therefore it is
important to discern useful and important resources.
• Various parts of a book can help decide relevance:
Book cover
Title page
Preface -written by someone other than the author and tells the readers why
they should read the book
Foreword – written by the author explaining how the book came to be.
Table of contents – list of topics, and pages where found
Introduction – provides general survey of the contents and their arrangement
Glossary – list of technical or special terms used in the book
Appendix – information that adds to content in the book, e.g. tables, transcripts,
maps
Index –list of selected information, showing page numbers where it can be found in
the book
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14. Further Evaluation Criteria
• Also consider the following factors:
Relevance of book
Date and edition (how current?)
Credibility of author(s) and publishers
Book’s popularity
Presentation of content
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15. Organizing Content: Developing an Outline
An outline is a textual arrangement of all the elements of a speech. It ensures
that the speaker keeps within the scope of the thesis statement.
It is an organizational tool: it helps the speaker to consider which the main
points are, which the subordinate points are, and the relevant supporting
ideas for each.
 It is a reference tool: it helps the speaker ensure that they do not exclude
any important information.
It helps ensure that the information intended for the speech is well balanced
in all sections.
Outlines must visually show the importance, order and nature of content
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16. Organizing Content: Developing an Outline (Cont…)
• Outlines differ in their degree of elaboration and detail:
Preparation/working outline – can be used to help the speaker prepare the
speech. Can be developed into a full sentence outline. It generally includes:
Title
General purpose of the speech
Specific purpose
Labels: Introduction, Body, Conclusion
Main points and their sub-points
Identification of content that supports the points
Signals showing transitions
Speaking outlines –more elaborate than working outlines and consist of
words, phrases and signposts. They and can be written on note-cards for
easy reference. They can carry suggestions about delivery e.g. speak softly,
pause etc.
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17. Example of Outline Structure
• INTRODUCTION
• BODY
I – Main Point
A – Sub-Point
1. Supporting Point
a. Example
b. Testimony
2. Supporting Point
a. Statistics
b. Example
B – Sub-Point
(generally structured as before)
C – Sub-Point
(generally structured as before)
II – Main Point
(generally structured as before)
(Transition, Preview)
III – Main Point
(generally structured as before)
• CONCLUSION
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18. Organizing Content: Developing an Outline (Cont…)
• A speech generally has not more than 4-5 main points. If there are many
points, they can be condensed into broader categories.
• After establishing the main points, the speaker needs to decide the manner
in which the points will be ordered.
• Each point should be independent of the others.
• A consistent pattern of wording of the main points (parallel structure)
makes them easily understood.
• Each point should carry enough weight to be developed in a relatively
balanced way relative to the other points.
• Main points are simply phrases or statements that need to be developed
into the body of the speech via sub points and supporting materials.
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19. RECAP
• The audience, self, occasion and a sufficiently narrowed topic are
important considerations in public speaking.
• The general purpose could be to inform, persuade or entertain; however, it
is important to formulate more specific objectives from there.
• Specific objectives are S-M-A-R-T.
• The Central or main idea is also called the thesis statement. It is important
to make this statement as the key points in the speech should revolve
around it.
• Ideas should be well supported with well evaluated content from credible
sources of information
• An outline is recommended for organisation of content prior to delivery.
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