Real Communication An Introduction

354 Part 4  Public Speaking

brief, personal stories that have a point or punch line. The preceding statistics on

murder would be greatly enhanced if they were paired with one or two personal

stories that bring them down to a more intimate and relatable level. Anecdotes

can be pointed or emotionally moving; they can also be humorous or inspiring.

When used well, they add a personal and memorable element to your speech.

Quotations

You can also call on the words of others to lend your speech a sense of history, per-

spective, and timeless eloquence. Quotations, repeating the exact words of another

person, are usually most effective when they are brief, to the point, and clearly

related to your topic. You might quote a historical figure, a celebrity, a poet, or a

playwright. For example, in a speech about motivation, you could quote Michel-

angelo: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and

we miss it but that it is too low and we reach it.” Your sources do not need to be

famous—you may be motivated to quote a friend or family member: “My grand-

father always told me, ‘An education is never a burden.’” Be sure to point out the

source of your quote and, if necessary, explain who the person is or was.

Researching Supporting Material

Of course, the facts, statistics, anecdotes, and other supporting material that you

want for your speech won’t come out of thin air. Now that you’ve got your list

of ingredients for your speech, you’ll need to do some shopping—that is, you’ll

need to go out and find the material. Here’s how.

Talk to People

If you’re looking for testimony, narratives, real-world examples, and anecdotes,

you’ll need to start talking to people. You may be looking for experts in a par-

ticular field or people who have had firsthand experience with an event or occur-

rence, which can be a challenge. You can try networking with people you know,

as well as searching online resources.

You can also talk to people via surveys, which

involves soliciting answers to a question or series

of questions related to your topic from a broad

range of individuals. Conducting a survey can

give you a sense of how a group of people view

a particular event, idea, or phenomenon. For

example, if you are giving an informative speech

on the ways text messages get misinterpreted, you

might randomly select students on campus and

ask them how often their text messages resulted

in misinterpretations or conflicts. Results from

surveys can be discussed to back up your points.

Just remember to consider the credibility of your

survey results. For example, did you make sure

that the sample of people you surveyed was rep-

resentative of the larger population of students?

SURVEYING LOCAL

FARMERS about the

effects of factory farming

and mass-produced food on

their livelihood will likely give

you some interesting insights

and quotations to use in your

speech. SMIRNOV VLADIMIR/ITAR-

TASS/Landov

What type of supporting

information do you find most

compelling in speeches?

Expert testimony? Statis-

tics? Anecdotes? Why? Do

you find that your preference

depends on the topic of the

speech? Why or why not?

AND YOU?