182 9 Organizing and Outlining YOur Speech
Learning Objectives
9.1 List and describe five patterns for organizing the main ideas of a speech.
9.2 Explain how to integrate supporting material into a speech.
9.3 Use verbal and nonverbal signposts to organize a speech for the ears
of others.
9.4 Develop a preparation outline and speaking notes for a speech.Maria went into the lecture hall feeling exhilarated. After all, Dr. Anderson was a
Nobel laureate in literature. He would be teaching and lecturing on campus for
at least a year. What an opportunity!
Dr. Anderson was greeted by thunderous applause when he walked onto
the stage. Maria was aware of an almost electric sense of expectation among the
audience members. Pen poised, she awaited his first words.
Five minutes later, Maria still had her pen poised. Dr. Anderson had gotten
off to a slow start. Ten minutes later, she laid her pen down and decided to con-
centrate just on listening. Twenty minutes later, she still had no idea what point
Dr. Anderson was trying to make. By the time the lecture was over, Maria was
practically asleep. Disappointed, she promised herself that she would skip the
remaining lectures in the series.
Dr. Anderson was not a dynamic speaker. But his motivated audience of
young would-be authors and admirers might have forgiven that shortcoming.
What they were unable to do was to unravel his hour’s worth of seemingly
pointless rambling—to get some sense of direction or some pattern of ideas from
his talk. Dr. Anderson had simply failed to organize his thoughts.
The scenario described above actually happened. Dr. Anderson (not his real
name) disappointed many people who had looked forward to his lectures. His
inability to organize his ideas made him an ineffectual speaker. No matter how
knowledgeable speakers may be, they must organize their ideas in logical pat-
terns to ensure that their audience can follow, understand, and remember what
is said. Our model of audience-centered communication, shown in Figure 9.1,
emphasizes that speeches are organized for audiences, with decisions about or-
ganization based in large part on an analysis of the audience.9.3 Organizing Your Presentation for the
Ears of Others: Signposting
Previews
Transitions
Summaries
Presentation Aids9.4 Outlining Your Speech
Developing Your Preparation
Outline
Sample Preparation Outline
Developing Your Speaking Notes