to say will save your lives,“is only a good start. To make
that statement convincing, follow it with an example that
ensures that what you have to say really might save the
lives of those in the audience.
Remember, the third and last portion of the
introduction is called motivation. It contains two parts.
First, an appeal to show the audience how it will benefit
from listening, and second, an example adding color,
reality and personalization to the appeal.
SPEECH EXPLANATION
Learning Objective: Recognize the elements specific to
the explanation part of a speech.
The speech explanation is the major part of any
speech. It is often referred to as the body.” The three
major portions that make up any successful explanation
are the main points, supporting material and phrasing.
MAIN POINTS
A main point is a concise, one-sentence statement
of a fact or idea that you want your audience to
remember. The main points in your talk should be
expressed clearly and emphatically. Two ways to select
main points are by means of self interview and by
audience analysis, a discussion of which follows.
Self Interview
The purpose of the self interview is to find out all
you know about your limited objective before doing any
formal research. If your limited objective is “The
Importance of the Allied Command Atlantic,” jot down
all you know concerning this subject. The more you
know about your limited objective, the less you will
have to research later.
Audience
The second way to select main points is to estimate
what your audience might want to know concerning
your limited objective. Many times the limited objective
you have chosen will be completely foreign to you and
the self interview will be fruitless. If this is the case,
simply choose tentative main points based on what you
think your audience might want to know about your
limited objective. For this, consult your audience
analysis.
From these two lists–first, what you know about
your limited objective, and second, what your audience
might want to know about your limited objective-select
one, two, or three areas that you feel you can cover
adequately in the time allotted. When you have made
this selection, condense the ideas into simple sentences
without losing the meaning of the points. This will make
them easier to remember when you present them.
Now that you have decided on your limited area and
the number of main points, you must consider the most
effective way to handle the main points. How, in a single
sentence, is it possible to tell your audience exactly what
you are going to talk about? There are four possible
approaches in wording your limited objective and main
points: What, Why, How and How to.
THE “WHAT” APPROACH.— Your purpose is to
identify. What you identify can be a term, method, type,
place, person and so forth. In any case, your aim is to
tell what something is, and no more. You are dealing
with facts. You must support these facts using material
that is meaningful and interesting. Analogies explaining
the unknown by comparing it to the known are
particularly effective when using the “What” approach,
as in the following example:
“Today I would like to identify the three main
buildings of the United Nations.”
1st Main Point –One main building of the United
Nations is the Assembly Build-
ing.
2nd Main Point –Another main building of the
United Nations is the Secretariat
Building.
3rd Main Point –The third main building of the
United Nations is the Con-
ference Building.
THE “WHY” APPROACH.— Your purpose is to
state the characteristics or qualities of your objective,
and then, as main points, tell why the characteristic or
quality is true. To do this, state your limited objective
and main points in simple, declarative sentences. Note
the following example:
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