Outlining Speeches and other useful information

1. Outlining Speeches and other useful information • SPEECH WRITING AND PRESENTATION • http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/inauguration-speech-analysis-barack-obama-inaugural Outline format: • http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/rules6e/latest/lmcontent/ch07/PDF/Hacker-Levi-MLA-Out.pdf • http://writingcenter.mcc.edu/Outlining.pdf

2. SPEECH PREPARATION How to Prepare Your Presentation Select Your Speech Topic Plan Your Speech Outline Writing Your First Draft Editing Your Speech Add Speech Impact with Rhetorical Devices Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety Practicing Your Presentation Self-Critique: Preparation for Next Time

3. Writing an outline is, unfortunately, a step that many skip. The most common excuse is simply “No time.” This is unfortunate because time spent on an outline is time well spent. It is necessary to ensure that you craft a coherent and focussed presentation. • Contents • Writing a Speech Outline • Basic Speech Outline • Speech Outline Variants • Outline Writing Tips • Speech Outline Extended Example

4. An outline is a blueprint for your presentation. • It highlights the key logical elements. i.e. what points are being made to logically support the core message? • It highlights the key structural elements. e.g. introduction, body, conclusion, stories, high-level concepts • It links these elements together in a sequence, perhaps allocating very rough timings. • It can also map out the transitions between elements, although this may be deferred to a later stage of preparation.

5. The basic speech outline template for structural elements is: • Introduction • Body • Conclusion • Similarly, the basic speech outline template for logical elements is the familiar advice: • Tell them what you’re going to say • Tell them • Tell them what you’ve said • Put these together, and you have the start of a generic speech outline: • Introduction — Establish topic and core message; list supporting points • Body • Supporting Point One • Supporting Point Two • Supporting Point Three • Conclusion — Recap main points; summarize core message; call-to-action

6. Story format • Attention grabbing opening which introduces the topic and core message • Tell a story. • Make a point • Tell another story. • Make another point. • Tell another story. • Make another point • Memorable conclusion which ties together all three stories to support the core message.

7. Scientific Material • The outline for many scientific talks mirrors the scientific method: • Define the problem needing a solution • Describe the hypothesis which will explore one aspect of the problem • Describe the experiment performed to test the hypothesis • Detail 1 — schematic • Detail 2 — photograph • Detail 3 — description • Show the data collected and subsequent data analysis • Data analysis 1 — chart • Data analysis 2 — chart • Data analysis 3 — table • Draw conclusions relating back to the hypothesis • Suggest future actions

8. Business Proposal • Example: Business Proposal to Investors • Be direct: “Invest $___ for %___ of the shares” • Story to illustrate the need for the product XYZ • Story to describe the vision of how product XYZ improves lives • Demo of product XYZ • Benefit #1 (focus on benefits, not features) • Benefit #2 • Benefit #3 • Invest now and make product XYZ possible • Story illustrating strength of the team • Market analysis • Financial projections • Repeat call-to-action: “Invest $___ for %___ of the shares”

9. Sample • Speech Outline Example — Face the Wind • Here is the original outline that I put together for the Face the Wind speech. Comments follow which represent my thinking at the time of writing the outline. • Opening humor – connect with audience as typical home owner • Story #1 – Backyard tree battle • “Strong roots… strong tree” • Foreshadow: neighbour’s monster tree falling • Story #2 – Winter storms knock over many trees • National news (trees falling on houses), but our house okay • Arborists: “Wind came from a different direction” • Establish key analogy – Trees cannot face the wind. • Story #3 – Baby Maximus • Michelle and Lance have strong roots • Maximus is born • Conclusion • Call-to-action: “We must face our problems”

10. At the outline stage, I set up many key elements of the speech. I determined the three main stories, planned humorous opening, identified a few key phrases to incorporate, established contrast (tree/people), used a metaphor (roots of people), and concluded with a call-to-action. • Opening – I wanted to open with humor to offset the drama later in the speech. Also, I wanted to connect with the audience as a homeowner as many in the audience are also homeowners. • Story #1 – I wanted the first story to establish the “strong roots… strong tree” connection. By establishing that trees have strong roots, it makes the fact that they were toppled in the storm (story #2) more dramatic. • Story #2 – This story was essentially an expansion of the “wind came from a different direction” theory of arborists that I picked up several months prior from my friend. The fact that trees cannot face the wind is the key analogy in this speech, although the audience doesn’t know it yet. • Story #3 – This story tells about the struggles which eventually led to the birth of Maximus. The key element here is the contrast between trees and people (who can face the wind).