Public Speaking

Choose Your Purpose and Focus (^63)
• Behavioral effects relate to audience actions. She might ask them to change their
purchasing habits and buy only Fair Trade-certified products.
In short, Linnea had to clarify what she wanted her audience to know, feel, or do
and then create a specific purpose statement. One way to keep her desired response in
mind is to write an infinitive phrase that includes the words “my audience.” Here are
some specific purpose statements that illustrate various general purposes.
• To inform my audience about the meaning of Fair Trade by decoding the meanings
in five Fair Trade certification labels. (Cognitive effect: The audience will understand
how to interpret Fair Trade labels.)
• To convince my audience that agricultural workers in the coffee industry often labor
in unfair working conditions. (Cognitive effect: The audience will be persuaded that
there is a labor problem at the production level of the coffee industry.)
• To persuade my audience to become angry about the abuse of agricultural workers in
the coffee industry. (Affective effect: The audience will have an emotional response and
thus develop a negative attitude toward coffee that is not fairly traded.)
• To persuade my audience to purchase only products with a Fair Trade certification
label. (Behavioral effect: The audience will be motivated to do something specific as a
result of this speech.)
Although many instructors want the specific purpose to include the phrase “to
inform my audience,” others ask students to write a statement that identifies the desired
audience response:
• As a result of my speech, my audience will understand the principles of fair trade after
learning the meanings of five Fair Trade labels.
• As a result of my speech, my audience will believe that agricultural workers in the
coffee industry and others like it are not treated fairly.
• As a result of my speech, my audience will feel anger about unjust treatment of
agricultural workers in the coffee industry.
• As a result of my speech, my audience will purchase only products that come with a
Fair Trade certification label.
At this stage of preparation, Linnea had this much of her speech formulated:
Topic: Fair Trade-certified coffee
General purpose: To persuade
Specific purpose: To persuade my audience to purchase only products that
come with a Fair Trade-certification label.
By formulating her general and specific purpose early on, she can focus her research
more effectively. Facts, descriptions, and explanations are especially important in
informative speeches. To prove links between coffee consumption and mistreatment of
laborers on coffee plantations, she should look for opinions from experts in global eco-
nomics. To motivate listeners to care or to act, she needs emotionally compelling examples
of exploited workers. To urge listeners to purchase only Fair Trade-certified products in
general, she needs specific information that will help listeners see this as a realistic goal.
After creating a specific purpose statement centered on your goals for your listen-
ers, your next step is to formulate a central idea or thesis statement that captures the major
idea of your speech.

Write Your Central Idea

Your central idea or thesis statement functions to communicate clearly your topic and

purpose to the audience.^16 Consequently, write it out in the form of a single, declarative

behavioral effects influ-

ences on audience actions

central idea a synonym for

thesis statement

thesis statement a single

sentence that names the

subject and establishes its

significance

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