Persuasive Speech Secrets Sitemap

1. Talk About? - No baseball player would ever try to play baseball without a bat or a ball. No swimmer would ever try to swim in an empty pool. There would not be a football game without a football.

Yet, many people attempt to speak when they lack the most essential element of speech-something to say!

2. Improve Conversation - Conversation is our primary means of communication. Every day of our lives we converse with other people; in fact, we spend more time in conversation than in any other speech activity. Our conversations cover a wide range of topics, for it is through conversation that we express our ideas, our beliefs, our feelings, and our opinions.

3. Improve Storytelling - Very closely related to conversation (and often a part of it) is storytelling. Stories may be told to entertain or to prove a point.

Just as people enjoy traveling, playing games, working, and other forms of activity, they also enjoy hearing others tell about these activities, IF THEY TELL IT WELL.

4. Make a Report - We learn most of what we know through our senses. We smell, touch, taste, see, and hear. Therefore, we know what we can sense and have experiences recorded on or by our senses. When we give an accurate account of our experiences, we are reporting.

James Michener, author of the famous Tales of the South Pacific, went to the New Hebrides to see again the island where so many American soldiers and sailors had lived, fought, and died.

5. Read Aloud - This chapter will present answers to two questions:

What is the purpose of reading aloud?

How should we read aloud to achieve this purpose best?

The practical, basic concepts will be presented here. For refinements in oral reading procedures, see Chapter 14, "Oral Interpretation of Literature."

6. Controversial Material - In your search for materials for your speeches, you will sometimes find that one source contradicts information from another source. The Russians believe that they lead the world in space research; some United States officials make the same claim. The President has said that the United States Information Agency is doing a commendable job, but a representative of the opposing political party writes that taxpayers are not getting their money's worth and recommends a cut in the U.S.I.A. budget. Some members of the House of Representatives highly recommend federal aid to education; others, equally respected, denounce it as an attempt to destroy the public schools.

7. Choose Our Words - Dr. Johnson O'Connor, famous for his psychological testing laboratory at the Stevens Institute of Technology, firmly believes that the acquisition of a large vocabulary is a concomitant of success in business today. He has written many articles on this subject, including the following article on "What Is Success?"

"What is success? And how is it gained? Whether one thinks of success as financial reward, or as assured social position, or as satisfaction in able work accomplished and recognized, or as a combination of the three and something more, many factors contribute.

8. Pronounce Words - In the days when Great Britain ruled the world, it was possible to say, "Give me the right accent and I will rule the world." For in England, even up to 1940, a person's way of speaking determined, to a large extent, his position in society.

In this country, however, class lines have not been determined by accent to the degree that they have been in Great Britain.

9. Profit Listen - An advertisement appeared in the classified section of a large metropolitan newspaper, asking that applicants interested in an attractive position with a steamship company report to a downtown office for interviews. At the suggested hour, a large number of people appeared. The job was a good one, and there was considerable rivalry among the applicants; they eyed one another carefully.

10. Group Discussions - The right to assemble in groups is a fundamental right in every democratic society. This right is specifically granted to us in our Constitution. It has been jealously guarded since the Constitution was ratified and forms a part of our democratic heritage.

Why is it considered a basic democratic right? A democracy is a government by the people, and centuries of experience with self-government have shown men that when they work together to obtain a common goal in governing themselves, they can reach that goal more often through group effort than they can by working in isolation.

11. Parliamentary Procedure - When people have common difficulties, they often organize for the purpose of solving their problems. Their organizations follow procedures in reaching their solutions. Groups, too large to sit around a table in a conference, use parliamentary procedure. This method gets its name from the procedure developed in the British Parliament.

12. Debate - Debate, like group discussion and parliamentary procedure, is a form of group speaking aimed at solving the problems of a democratic people. When a group is so large that it is not possible for all members to participate in the discussion of the problem, then selected individuals present the problem on behalf of the group, for the consideration of the group.

13. Public Speaking - There are times when each of us is called upon to address a group of people. There is no reason why we cannot approach this challenge with relative ease and self-confidence. It will be the purpose of this chapter to point out one basic method for formulating the public speech. The authors do not believe that anyone who makes a good speech must follow these directions, but we do believe that anyone who does follow them will make an acceptable presentation.

14. Oral Interpretation - The wealth of the knowledge of the world, of generations past and of our own generation, is recorded in literature. In the chapter "How Do We Read Aloud?" it was stated that the successful oral reader learns to convey the meaning of what he reads. Success, here, opens the treasure chests of this wealth of knowledge, which contain ideas and concepts much more valuable than money.

15. Dramatization - Dramatization (dramatics) is the most complex and the most demanding of all of the forms of oral communication. In dramatization, all of the principles, techniques, and fundamentals applicable to other speech activities are blended and coordinated. The actor uses all of himself to present and interpret a selection: his face, hands, torso, legs, voice, temperament, personality, and experiences.

16. Choral Reading - We have previously discussed reading aloud as individuals. Now we are going to discuss reading aloud in groups. Group reading is to individual reading just as chorus singing is to solo singing.

The basic principles of choral reading are similar to those used for individual oral interpretation, which have been discussed in detail in the previous Chapters 5 and 14.

17. Radio and Television - Radio and television broadcasting depend upon electronic equipment. Thus, effective speaking, to be used in connection with these two mediums of communication, requires certain modifications and special techniques which are not necessarily demanded in other speech activities. The basic rules and suggestions for effective speaking, given in other chapters, are applicable to radio and television.

ONE-ACT PLAY - What could be a more fitting climax to the Speech Course than the production and, perhaps, even the writing of a suitable one-act play in which all members of the class may participate. Today, we find high school students, under capable supervision and instruction, not only taking part in plays, but building the scenery, making the costumes, and handling the stage lighting.

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