Public Speaking

Speech to Inspire (^259)
• When appropriate, use humor. For certain events, such as after-dinner speeches
also called “the speech to entertain,” humor is essential. This example comes from
the opening of a psychiatrist’s^14 address to medical students:
I want to talk to you, soon-to-be-full-fledged doctors, about mystery, myth and
meaning in medicine. But first I’d love to hear you explain to me the mystery, myth,
and meaning of choosing a psychiatrist to speak to you at your graduation. What does
it say about this class that a psychiatrist, a shrink, is your choice of speaker?... [W]hat
is going to happen now when someone asks you, or your family members and friends
who are here today, “Have you ever seen a psychiatrist?” Think about it, you could
be in trouble. Let me encourage you all to not be too literal in your answer to that
question.
• Be relatively brief. These occasions are times to state major themes that reinforce
important values and emphasize listeners’ ideals, history, and memories.
For further examples, go to your online resources and read the transcripts of com-
mencement addresses from a variety of speakers.

Speech to Inspire

Inspirational speeches take place in settings such as sports banquets, service organiza-

tion meetings, or religious gathering. Here, the exemplum pattern is one that speak-

ers have used for thousands of years.^15 Exemplums are created around a quotation that

one or more stories illustrate. The pattern has five elements: a quotation, the source, a

paraphrase, one or more narratives that illustrate it, and the application or point. The

following brief summary of the main ideas in one student’s exemplum speech illustrates

each element.^16

1. State a quotation or proverb. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot
   change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the differ-
   ence.


2. Identify and explain the author or source of the proverb or the quotation.
   Theologian Dr. Reinhold Neibuhr wrote this in a sermon given between World
   Wars I and II; it was later printed on a card and distributed to soldiers. But it is
   most famous as the slogan for Alcoholics Anonymous.


3. Rephrase the proverb in your own words. In other words, we should improve
   situations when we can or find ways to live contentedly when we know we cannot
   change our circumstances.


4. Tell a story that illustrates the quotation or proverb. Her story described how
   she wore hearing aids from age 3 on. Only when she went to school did she real-
   ize she was different, and she withdrew until years of speech therapy and training
   helped her accept her condition and inform others when she didn’t understand
   them. This lessened her stress.


5. Apply the quotation or proverb to the audience. Everyone should learn to ac-
   cept things as they are and to focus on what they have, not on what they lack.
   Select your narrative from personal experiences, from historical events, or from epi-
   sodes in someone else’s life. Your story should represent, illustrate, or explain something
   important to you, perhaps a turning point in your life. Identify a lesson or point to your
   story and then find a quotation that supports this point. You might use a cultural saying,
   such as “silence is golden,” or you can consult sources of quotations (listed topically and
   by author) in the reference section of the library or online.

exemplum speech pattern

built around a quotation and

developed by at least one

narrative

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