Chapter 8 Organizing Your Speech

Organizing Your Speech

The Elements of Sound Organization

  • Explain how the quality of your ideas influences the strength of your speech’s organization

    • Effective speakers strive to organize their ideas carefully and strategically

      • Well-organized speakers are usually viewed as competent and knowledgeable

      • They are also viewed as being invested in their topic and respectful of the audience

      • The better organized the speaker, the more likely the audience will learn form the speech and be influences by it

    • The foundation of a well-organized speech is a set of main ideas that are clearly formulated.

      • Design ideas with a specific purpose in mind, making sure that they are clear, simple, and appropriate to the situation

How Patterns of Organization Connect Ideas

  • Describe basic organizational patterns you might use as you arrange your ideas strategically

    • Ideas should be organized in a coherent and reasonable fashion. The principal patterns of organization follow:

      • Chronological or sequential (arranged in a time or step-by-step order)

      • Categorical (a pattern that emphasizes distinct topics)

      • Climactic (arranged according to importance, size, or degree of simplicity)

      • Causal (moving from causes to effects or from effects to causes)

      • Problem-solution (a logical progression that moves from perceived difficulties to an examination of alternatives to a best solution)

      • Narrative (based on a storytelling model)

Guidelines for Organizing Your Speech

  • List and explain underlying principles of sound organization you will follow, regardless of the specific pattern you choose.

    • Every speech should be organized with underlying principles in mind.

      • Ideas and information should be presented strategically, always guided by the specific purpose of the speech

      • Each idea should be well developed, with a concern for balance and symmetry

      • Main ideas should relate directly to your specific purpose and should be limited in number

      • The most important information and ideas should be presented first or last

Transitions and Connectives

  • Describe different transitional devices you might use in creating a coherent presentation

    • A transition in connective that provides a bridge as you move from one idea to another. Transitions include the following:

      • Internal previews

      • Internal summaries

      • Signposts

      • Rhetorical questions

Introducing Your Speech

  • Identify the key components of a speech’s introduction

    • Once you have chosen the basic organizational pattern and worked on good transitions, you are ready to think about how to introduce your speech. In most situations, your introduction should do the following:

      • Establish common ground with the audience

      • Capture and hold the audience’s attention

      • Show them why your topic is relevant to them

      • Establish your credibility

      • Advance the speech’s purpose

      • Preview your main ideas

Concluding Your Speech

  • List different ways of concluding a speech effectively

    • Crafting an effective conclusion is also important. The conclusion is your last opportunity to connect with your audience and realize your specific purpose. Conclusions allow you to do the following:

      • Summarize your main ideas

      • Challenge your audience

      • Appeal to listeners

      • Visualize the future

      • Offer a memorable quotation

      • Create balance and closure by referring to the introduction


Key terms

Categorical pattern - An organization pattern in which several independent yet interrelated categories are used to advance a larger idea

Causal pattern - An organizational pattern in which ideas focus on causes or effects or are arranged to reveal cause-to-effect or effect-to-cause relationships

Chronological pattern - An organizational pattern in which ideas are arranged in a logical, time-based or sequential order.

Climactic pattern - An organizational pattern in which the ideas being advanced in a speech are arranged so that they build in intensity

Dewey’s reflective thinking sequence - A problem-solution pattern that takes listeners through a thorough problem exploration before considering possible solutions and arguing for the preferred course of action

Fidelity - Narratives that seem authentic to listeners because they ring true witht heir own life experiences

Internal preview - A quick look ahead at what will be covered under one of the main points to within a particular section of a speech

Internal summary - A brief review of what one has presented under a main point or within a particular section of a speech

Monroe’s motivated sequence - An organizational pattern for a persuasive speech that is based on psychological studies of what engages people’s emotions and motivates them to act

Narrative pattern - An indirect, organic organizational pattern that often uses a coherent series of stories to convey the main ideas of the speech

Preview - A glimpse of the major points one will be treating in a speech or in a section of a speech

Primacy effects - The presumed impact of placing the most compelling information or arguments first in a speech

Problem-Solution pattern - An organizational pattern in which a problem is identifies and one or more specific solutions are proposed

Recency effects - The presumed impact of saving the strongest argument or the most important information for near the end of a speech

Rhetorical questions - Questions posed by a speaker to stimulate audience interest and thought, not to solicit information or answers

Sequential pattern - An organizational pattern in which the various steps of a process or phenomenon are identified and discussed one by one

Signposts - Words that alert listeners to where you are in your speech, particularly in relation to the speech’s overall organization

Spatial pattern - An organizational pattern in which ideas are arranged according to their natural spatial and/or geographical relationships

Spiraling narrative - A narrative pattern that builds in intensity from the beginning to the end of the speech

Symmetry - Using a balanced approach to developing and presenting ideas in a speech so that each idea is developed with a similar level of elaboration

Transition - A word, phrase, or sentence that helps the audience perceive the relationship of ideas and the movement from one main idea to another