Public Speaking

Creating a Content Outline (^141)
III. My senior year of high school, I personally built a hovercraft [two photos] because I wanted
to experiment with the engineering.
IV. I will discuss how these vehicles work, some positive aspects about them, and what keeps
them from being street legal.
Body
I. Hovercrafts are a physicist’s dream.
A. [I will draw a diagram and explain the base, skirt, ground, housing for the propeller, the
propeller itself and the duct.]

1. A common misconception is that a propeller on the ground creates lift.


2. Instead, a single propeller on the top pushes air into a duct that enters the base
   area, builds up air pressure, and creates a cushion of air.


3. This air cushion overcomes the craft’s weight.
   B. Physicists love hovercraft because there’s minimal friction on the ground.
   II. Hovercrafts have many positive features.
   A. They are unique all-terrain vehicles [display photo].


4. They are mostly used on water.


5. They can also go on sand, ice, grass, dirt, or relatively flat pavement.
   B. According to discoverhover.org. (2004), most hovercraft are used as rescue vehicles,
   especially over thin ice and hazardous terrain.


6. They exert minimal pressure on the surface, which keeps the rescue crew out of the
   water (Fitzgerald, 2004).


7. The ice in this photo [display ice rescue photo] is so thin that the weight of another
   vehicle would crack it.
   C. Hovercraft have environmental benefits.


8. Their small engines use less fuel; many of you said you value fuel-efficiency.


9. They exert only 0.33 pound per square inch of pressure, which makes them easy on
   the environment.
   a. This is 1/30 of a human’s footprint pressure (Fitzgerald, 2004).
   b. Just standing on a beach, the average person exerts 3 pounds per square inch
   (Ernst, n.d.).
   c. During walking, the average jumps to 25 pounds per square inch (Ernst, n.d.).
   d. Hovercraft could drive over you and not hurt you.
   D. Hovercraft are very safe.


10. I know from experience that, in a collision, they generally bounce off obstacles and
    inflict no damage to the ground (Borough, 2012).


11. Finally, Borough (2012) says there is not a single recorded injury in the United
    States in over 40 years.
    Transition: Now that you know a little bit about hovercraft and their benefits, let’s discuss
    three reasons why they are not street legal.
    III. Three factors keep hovercraft from being street legal.
    A. They create noise pollution.


12. During one experience, I couldn’t hear my own voice over the engine.


13. The noise comes from turbulence off the propeller blades (think: helicopter noise),
    but newer technology is helping somewhat (Hover-Gen, 2010).
    B. They are extremely hard to control.


14. You cannot turn them.
    a. On the show Top Gear the quote was, “If you can see it, you’re too late to turn”
    (BBC, Australia, n.d.).
    b. Because it has no grip, you must deal with airflow by power sliding every corner
    and swinging the back around.


15. Another problem is stopping; most have no braking system.
    a. You have to turn the vehicle around against its own inertia.

Point IV is his preview,

the transition between

the speech introduc-

tion and body. It tells

the audience to listen

for topically organized

information.

Leif labels the body

of his speech, and he

uses the principle of

coordination. Points

I, II, and III are first-

level points that are

made up of second-,

third-, and fourth-level

supporting materials.

Second- and third-level

supporting points are

subordinated by inden-

tation and alternating

numbers and letters.

All points are phrased

as declarative sen-

tences, one sentence

per point.

He cites the author

or source and date

beside the material it

supports.

Subpoints A through D

are first-level points, 1

and 2 are second-level

supporting points, and

a and b are third-level

supporting points.

This is the separa-

tion point leading to

his final point, so Leif

writes out a transition.

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