public speaking assignment 5

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Public Speaking Activities

5 fun speech games to build skills and confidence.

By:  Susan Dugdale  | Last modified: 10-26-2023

There are five public speaking activities on this page, along with numerous spinoffs.

Their principal purpose is to develop speech fluency and confidence through fun!

You'll find they are easily adaptable to groups of all ages and skill levels: from newcomers to advanced.

I've used them all and know they work. People become so enjoyably engrossed in them, they forget to be fearful!

1. Interview Introductions

Interview Introductions are a great way to break the ice with a new group of people. The exercise has them finding out about each other and then introducing the person they interviewed to the whole group.

As it's a lot less threatening or scary to talk about someone else rather than yourself, you'll find people respond really positively as they're generally eager to represent the person they interviewed well.

Instructions

• Divide your group into pairs.
• Each person interviews the other in turn. The information gained forms the basis of a brief introduction speech they'll give to the whole group when the interviewing process is complete.
• Ask them to find out their partner's name, where they live/work, what hobbies they have, what their favorite book, film, song...is, what they're most proud of (an achievement perhaps), what they hope for from the class, something funny that happened in their childhood, where they go for holidays, what they think about the latest local issue ... Obviously they can't expect to cover all of that in detail inside the brief time they spend talking with each other. One or two interesting points is enough!
• Establish a time limit for the interviews. I've found 10 minutes works well. Keep track of the time and call change at the halfway point, 5 minutes, to ensure both people get an opportunity to be interviewed and to interview.  
• When the group comes back together the introductions begin: "This is Mary from Taupo. When she's not working for the Social Welfare Department as a community social worker she's collecting stamps. She says part of their charm is that they don't answer back and are quiet!"

2. Image Starters

Picture prompts or image starters are great for sparking  imaginative storytelling and conversations.

Either use my ready-made printable file of 40 picture prompts , (which you can find out more about by clicking the link), or gather up a collection of your own to use.

You'll need interesting images/photos from magazines or newspapers - enough for everybody to have one each and then a few spare.

Place them face down and have everybody pick one.

Using the image as a prompt, what can they share about it? 

Questions to get started are:

• Where is this photo/image from? (And the answer doesn't have to be true - merely plausible! Encourage imaginative creativity.)
• What's happening in this photo/picture?
• What feelings does the image evoke?
• Is there a season or time associated with it?
• What happened after or before the photo was taken?

5 activities using image starters

If you'd like specific instructions for five different activities based around images you'll find them here: picture prompts for impromptu speeches . 

They range from introductory 'show and tell', like the starter questions above, to more advanced. There are solo as well as group activities.

3. For and Against

'For and Against' encourages flexibility: the ability to see a topic from opposing sides.

A speaker has 30 seconds to talk 'for' a topic and then another 30 seconds to speak 'against' it.

Prepare and print out a selection of controversial speech topics. You'll need one per person.

Put the topics into a non-see through bag. Have each speaker select their topic when it's their turn to speak.

Ideally what's wanted is at least two or three good points supporting both sides: for and against.

Time the speech. Call start, the half way point and, stop.

Sample topics:

• money is the root of all evil
• a country gets the government it deserves
• ' green ' politics are just the current fashion
• pets in apartments should be banned
• marriage is essentially a business contract
• 'Religion is the opiate of the masses' : Karl Marx
• poverty is a state of mind
• euthanasia is unjustifiable
• global warming is media hype
• cloning animals should be banned
• animal testing is immoral

For variation split your group into pairs and extend the time limit to 1 - 2 minutes. One person takes the 'for' position, and other takes the 'against'.  

More 1 minute speech practice

For 150 1 minute speech topics with 3 example speech outlines following the PREP (Point, Reason, Example, Point) format, the full text of three speeches plus audio, visit:  1 minute speech topics .

Get instant organizers for impromptu speeches

For more on structuring impromptu speeches quickly and effectively go to impromptu speaking templates . You'll find 7 useful speech outline organizers explained (including PREP), alongside suggestions to banish impromptu speaking blues. 

4. The Object of my Affection

Gather up a collection of small objects, enough for one per speaker. For example: a vintage toy car, a can of sardines, a hair ribbon, an old black and white photographic portrait, a pair of baby shoes .... 

Put all of them into a non-see through bag.

Each speaker puts their hand into the bag and pulls out an object. Whatever they get forms the basis of their 1 - 2 minute speech.

Ideas to help the speakers get started:

• This ... { insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand } saved my life. It happened like this...
• Whenever I see a ...{ insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand } it reminds me of the time I...
• I collect ...{i nsert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand } and this one is the prize of my collection. It used to belong to ...

5. Conducted Speech

This is a group public speaking activity. It is noisy, effective and outrageously good fun! 

Select a tongue twister from this page of  diction exercises  eg. " Sister Susie sat on the seashore sewing shirts for soldiers ".

Divide your class into groups of four. Three in each group will be the speakers and the fourth, the conductor.

The speakers repeat the tongue twister responding to the conductor's direction. He/she can make them go faster or slower, louder or quieter. The conductor could even decide to make it a round by staggering when each person begins! 

The goal of the exercise is to practice articulation coupled with vocal variety ie. speech rate and volume.

It also teaches cooperation and focus, or concentration. Let your mind wander, and it's game over! You've lost it, not only for yourself but your group as well.

Swap the conductor role around to give everybody a turn.

Once everybody is familiar with the activity, give the groups turns at demonstrating their prowess to the whole class. They'll love seeing and hearing each other perform. ☺

If you liked these speech activities ...

You'll love my ebook!

28  public speaking games  (with many more variations and extensions), full instructions, PLUS printable topic, tongue twister, poem and image sheets.

A complete  one-stop-select-print-go  public speaking resource for busy people.

Find out more >>

For more freebie public speaking activities:

• 10 activities for public speaking - a collection of tried and tested speech class activities for middle school upwards
• Another 7 fun-filled public speaking games for groups
• Improv games - a collection of 5 excellent drama games for groups
• Public speaking exercises - these focus on the individual speaker- how to breathe well, stand, use eye contact effectively...

What's the difference between these freebie activities and your ebook?

My ebook contains the best of all the games from these pages and then some more strictly Susan specials, PLUS detailed instructions on how to use them.

You'll find out how to select games for a class, introduce them for maximum effect, integrate them into your lesson plans, and so on.

It also has all the topics, tongue twisters, images etc you need to play available as printables.

It's a one-stop, time saving resource that you'll return to time, and time again. Why not check it out?

Your students will thank you for it!

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5 Chapter 5: Developing Topics for Your Speech

The materials below are attributed fully to the free online Open Education Resource,  Exploring Public Speaking: The Free Dalton State College Public Speaking Textbook, 4th Edition .

Chapter 5 Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, the student will be able to:

• Distinguish between the specific purpose, central idea, and main points of a speech;
• Differentiate between a speech to inform, persuade, and inspire or entertain;
• Write a specific purpose statement;
• Write a thesis or central idea statement;
• Distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable specific purpose and central idea statements;
• Compose appropriate specific purpose and central idea statements for informative, persuasive, and inspirational/entertaining speeches.

Chapter Preview

5.1 – Getting Started with Your Topic

5.2 – Formulating a Specific Purpose Statement

5.3 – formulating a central idea statement, 5.4 – problems to avoid with specific purpose and central idea statements, 5.1 – getting started with your topic and purpose.

So far in this book we have examined many practical and theoretical aspects of public speaking as a method of communicating and as an art form. In this chapter we are going to get into  the real meat of putting your speech together.

Often when we get to the point of sitting down to prepare a speech, we think about topics. That is understandable, but before we go any further, let’s recalibrate our minds to think also, or even more, about  “purpose. ”   There are some benefits to considering purpose and topic simultaneously.  Doing so will help you focus your speech to a manageable amount of content and become more audience-centered.  Also  you will be  able to make strategic decisions about  other aspects of the  speech, such as organization, supporting evidence, and visual aids.

Speeches have traditionally been seen to have one of  three broad purposes:   to inform, to persuade,  and — Well, to be honest,  different words are used for the third kind of speech purpose:  t o inspire,  to amuse, to please, to delight, or to entertain .   We will just use “ t o inspire”  as the overall term  here.  These  broad goals are commonly known as a speech’s   general purpose ,  since , i n general, you are trying  to inform, persuade, or entertain/inspire your audience without rega rd to specifically what the topic will be.   P erhaps you could think of them as appealing to the understanding of the audience (informative), the will or action (persuasive), and the emotion or pleasure.

Your instructor will most likely assign you an informative and a persuasive speech, and then perhaps one more.  The third one might be a special occasion speech, such as a tribute (commemorative), an after-dinner speech, a toast, or a eulogy. These four types of speeches fit into the category of “to inspire” or “to entertain.”  This book has chapters on and examples of all three types (Chapters 12, 13, and 15).

General Purpose

t he broad, overall goal of a speech; to inform, to persuade, to entertain, etc.

It should be understood that  these three purposes are  not necessarily exclusive of the others .  A speech designed to be persuasive can also be informative and entertaining, even if neither of those is the main purpose.

As we saw in Chapter 1,  the canons of rhetoric is the traditional way to explain the process of preparing a speech.  That process is still a practical guide for today.  The first canon, invention, or  inventio , is discussed, at least in part, in this chapter.  Although in modern times we tend to think of  invention as the creation of a new technology,  invention basically means “discovery” of what to say.

The scholars of rhetoric from the ancient times encouraged the use of questions to “discover” the arguments and content of the speech. These were called “ topoi ” and there were a couple of dozen of them;  modern scholars have reframed them as  questions that can be used to develop reasons and material.  These can be helpful in many ways, but here we will present just  two basic questions you should consider for beginning your speech:

• What value, connection, or interest does my purpose/topic have for the audience? What needs do they meet? and
• Why would the audience consider me, the speaker, a credible source on this purpose/topic?

We suggest that these two questions be in your mind as you develop your speech. You should answer them, directly or indirectly, for your audience in your speech. If your audience is unfamiliar with your topic, for instance, you would want to address the first one early in the speech.   If your audience does not know anything about you, you should mention (in an appropriate way)  your background in the subject area.

One of the authors has a core concept in her basic public speaking classes:  The most effective speeches are the ones that answer the questions in the minds of the audience .  She uses that to change the students’ focus from speaking just to express themselves to being audience-centered. She also uses the acronym  “WIIFM.”  This is not a new radio station, but the abbreviation for  “What’s In It For Me?”   The audience is asking this question, directly or indirectly, during a speech .  Keep the WIIFM acronym in mind as you start to think about your speeches more and more from your audience’s perspective.

Now that you know your general purpose (to inform, to persuade, or to entertain), you can start to move in the direction of the specific purpose.   A  specific purpose statement   builds on your general purpose  (such as to inform ) and makes it more specific  (as the name suggests).   So if your first speech is an informative speech, your general purpose will be to inform your audience about a very specific realm of knowledge, for example, the history of NASA’s Shuttle program.

Specific Purpose Statement

an infinitive phrase that builds upon the speaker’s general purpose to clearly indicate precisely what the goal of a given speech i s

In writing your specific purpose statement, you will  take  three contributing elements that will come together to help you determine your specific purpose.   The diagram in Figure 5.1 shows those three elements.   T hese three elements are   you  (your interests, your background, past jobs, experience, education, major),  your audience  (which you learned to analyze in Chapter 2), and  the  context  or setting   (also discussed in Chapter 2).

An old adage states,  “Write about what you know.”  In many ways, that is a great place to start with creating a speech, although you will need to consult other sources as well. If  you  start with ideas that reflect your interests, goals, and passions, that passion and commitment will come across in your speech, give you more credibility in the eyes of your audience, and make your speech more interesting.

This would be a good place for you to do an inventory. Retail stores do regular inventories to know what is “really there” in the stores. You have much more going on in your brain and background than you can be conscious of at any one time.  Being asked the right kinds of prompts can help you find ideas. Figure 5.2 is a list of prompts for this inventory. To help generate some ideas for your speeches, complete the phrases and/or answer the questions in Figure 5.2 to see if any ideas can be generated from experiences or interests you may not have realized you had.

This inventory may seem long and intrusive, but digging a little deeper may help you find ideas and directions that are unique to you. You want to find this kind of subject matter and not the same topics others will gravitate towards just because they saw a list on Google on informative speech topics.  Also, generating your list based on these questions and prompts will get you excited about your topic and talking about it to your classmates. For example, a very common persuasive speech topic is organ donation . There is nothing wrong with that topic  per se  and it is an important issue. However, if you ask yourself the right questions, you may  come up with something far more central to who you are and that might interest and/or apply to the audience more.

Another approach that you might find helpful is to determine what you are passionate about through two binary routes. First, you will obviously be passionate about the  things you love , so talk about those. Is  The Simpsons  your favorite TV show? Then you can inform us on the people and vision of the team behind this highly popular and long-running TV show. Do you feel that Big Brothers Big Sisters is a vital organization in the way it helps kids? Then persuade us to volunteer there. Conversely, you can also be passionate about  things you don’t love  (i.e.,  hate ). Does it really annoy you when people don’t use their turn signals? Then persuade us to always use them.  Do you want to scream when you hear a cell phone go off at the movies? Then  persuade us  that cell phones should be banned in theaters.

The Audience

Of course, what you love or hate may be in stark contrast to how your audience feels, so it is important to keep them in mind as well, which brings us to the next contributing factor.   After you examine what you know and are passionate about, you have to  determine  if and how the topic has practical value or interest for others .   It may be that it is a topic the audience is not immediately interested in but needs to know about for their own benefit. Then it becomes necessary for you to find that angle and approach that will help them see the benefit of the topic and listen to you.  The more you know about your audience, the better you can achieve this goal.   Good speakers are  very knowledgeable about their audiences.

The Context

Many aspects come into the context of a speech, but as mentioned in Chapter 2, the main ones are  the  time, place, and reason(s) for the event and the audience being there .   Your  classroom speeches have a fairly set context: time limits, the classroom, assignment specifications.  Other speeches you will give in college (or in your career and personal life) will require you to  think more deeply about the context just as you would the audience.

Putting It Together

Keeping these three inputs in mind, you can begin to  write a  specific purpose statemen t,  which will be the foundation for everything you say in the speech and a  guide for what you  do not  say.   This formula will help you in putting together your specific purpose statement:

Specific Communication Word  (in infinitive phrase) ( to inform, to explain, to demonstrate, to describe, to define, to persuade, to convince, to prove, to argue)

Target Audience  (my classmates, the members of the Social Work Club, my coworkers)

The Content   (how to bake brownies, that Macs are better than PCs)

Each of these parts of the specific purpose is important.  The first two parts make sure you are clear on your purpose and know specifically who will be hearing your message.  However, we will focus on the last part here.

The   content part of the specific purposes statement  must first be singular and focused , and the  content must match the purpose .   The  word “ and” really should not appear  in the specific purpose  statement since that would make it seem that you have two purposes and two topics.   Obviously,  t he specific purpose statement’s content must  be  very narrowly defined  and, well,  specif ic .   One mistake beginning speakers often make is to try to “cover” too much material . They tend to speak about the whole alphabet, A-Z on a subject, instead of just “T” or “L.”  This comes from an emphasis on the topic more than the purpose, and from not keeping audience and context in mind. In other words,  go deep (specific), not broad . Examples in this chapter will show what that means.

Second,  the content must  match the focus of the purpose word .   A common error is to match an informative purpose with a persuasive content clause or phrase. For example,

To explain to my classmates why term life insurance is a better option than whole life insurance policies.

To inform my classmates about how the recent Supreme Court decision on police procedures during arrests is unconstitutional.

Sometimes it takes an unbiased second party to see where your content and purpose may not match.

Third,  the specific purpose statement  should be relevant to the audience .   How does the purpose and its topic touch upon their lives, wallets, relationships, careers, etc. ?  It is also a good idea to keep in mind  what you want the audience to walk away with or what you want them to know, to be able to do, to think, to act upon, or to respond to your topic —your ultimate outcome or result.

To revisit an earlier example, “to explain to my classmates the history of NASA” would be far too much material and the audience may be unsure of its relevance. A more specific one such as “to inform my classmates about the decline of the Shuttle program” would be more manageable and closer to their experience. It would also reference two well-known historical tragedies involving the Shuttle program, the Challenger Disaster in 1986 and the Columbia Explosion in 2003. Here are several examples of specific purposes statements. Notice how  they meet the standards of being singular, focused, relevant, and consistent.

To inform my classmates of the origin of the hospice movement.

To describe to my coworkers the steps to apply for retirement.

To define for a group of new graduate students the term “academic freedom.”

To explain to the Lions Club members the problems faced by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To persuade the members of the Greek society to take the spring break trip to Daytona Beach.

To motivate my classmates to engage in the College’s study abroad program.

To convince my classroom audience that they need at least seven hours of sleep per night to do well in their studies.

Now that you understand the basic form and function of a specific purpose statement, let’s revisit the original diagram in Figure 5.1. The same topic for a different audience will create a somewhat different specific purpose statement.  Public speaking is not a “one-size-fits-all” proposition. Let’s take the subject of participating in the study abroad program.  How would you change your approach if you were addressing first-semester freshmen instead of first-semester juniors? Or if you were speaking to high school students in one of the college’s feeder high schools?  Or if you were asked to share your experiences with a local civic group that gave you a partial scholarship to participate in the program? You would have slightly different specific purpose statements although your experience and basic information are all the same.

For another example, let’s say that one of your family members has benefitted from being in the Special Olympics and you have volunteered two years at the local event. You could give a tribute (commemorative speech) about the work of Special Olympics (with the purpose to inspire), an informative speech on the scope or history of the Special Olympics, or a persuasive speech on why audience members should volunteer at next year’s event. “Special Olympics” is a key word in every specific purpose, but the statements would otherwise be different.

Despite all the information given about specific purpose statements so far, the next thing you read will seem strange:  Never start your speech by saying your specific purpose to the audience .   In a sense, it is just for you and the instructor .  For you, it’s like a note you might tack on the mirror or refrigerator to keep you on track. For the instructor, it’s a way for him or her to know you are accomplishing both the assignment and what you set out to do.   Avoid the temptation to default to saying it at the beginning of your speech. It will seem awkward and repetitive.

While you  will not actually say your specific purpose statement during your speech,  you will need to  clearly state what your focus and main points are going to b e  (preferably after using an introductory method  such as those described in Chapter 8).  T he statement that reveals your main points is commonly known as the  central idea statement   (or ju st the central idea).

C entral Idea Statement

a statement that contains or summarizes a speech’s main points

Now, at this point we need to make a point about  terminology .  Your instructor may call  the central  idea statement “the thesis” or “the thesis statement. ”   Your English composition instructor probably uses that term in your essay writing. Another instructor may call it the “ main idea statement. ” All of these are basically synonymous and you should not let the terms confuse you, but you should use the term your instructor uses.

That said, is the central idea statement the very same thing as the thesis sentence in an essay? Yes, in that both are letting the audience know without a doubt your topic, purpose, direction, angle and/or point of view.   No, in that the rules for writing a “thesis” or central idea statement in a speech are not as strict as in an essay . For example, it is acceptable in a speech to announce the topic and purpose, although it is usually not the most artful or effective way to do it. You may say,

“ In this speech I will try to motivate you to join me next month as a volunteer at the regional Special Olympics.”

That would be followed by a preview statement of what the speech’s arguments or reasons for participating will be, such as,

“You will see that it will benefit the community, the participants, and you individually.”

However, another approach is to  “capsulize” the purpose, topic, approach, and preview in one succinct statement.

“Your involvement as a volunteer in next month’s regional Special Olympics will be a rewarding experience that will benefit the community, the participants, and you personally.”

This last version is really the better approach and most likely the one your instructor will prefer.

So,  you don’t want to just repeat your specific purpose in the central idea statement, but you do want to provide complete information .  Also,  unlike the formal thesis of your English essays,  the ce ntral idea statement in a speech can and  should use personal language (I, me, we, us, you, your,  etc.) and should attempt to be attention-getting and audience-focused. A nd importantly, just like a formal thesis sentence, it must be a  complete, grammatical sentence.

The  point of your central idea statement in terms of your audience is to reveal and clarify the ideas or assertions you will be addressing in your speech , more commonly known as  your main points, to fulfill your specific purpose.  However, as you are processing your ideas and approach, you may still be working on them. Sometimes those main points will not be clear to you immediately . As much as we would like these writing processes to be straightforward,  sometimes we find that we have to revise our original approach.  This is why preparing a speech the night before you are giving it is a really, really bad idea.  You need lots of time for the preparation and then the practice.

Sometimes you will hear the  writing process referred to as  “iterative.”  This word means, among other things, that a speech or document is  not always written in the same order as the audience finally experiences it.  You may have noticed that we have not said anything about the introduction of your speech yet. Even though that is the first thing the audience hears, it may be one of the last parts you actually compose.  It is best to consider your  speech flexible  as you work on it, and to be willing to  edit and revise . If your instructor asks you to turn the outline in before the speech, you should be clear on how much you can revise after that.  Otherwise,  it helps to know that you can keep editing your speech until you deliver it, especially while you practice.

Here are some examples of pairs of specific purpose statements and central idea statements.

Specific Purpose:  To explain to my classmates the effects of losing a pet on the elderly.

Central Idea:  When elderly persons lose their animal companions, they can experience serious psychological, emotional, and physical effects.

Specific Purpose:  To demonstrate to my audience the correct method for cleaning a computer keyboard.

Central Idea:  Your computer keyboard needs regular cleaning to function well, and you can achieve that in four easy steps.

Specific Purpose:  To persuade my political science class that labor unions are no longer a vital political force in the U.S.

Central Idea:  Although for decades in the twentieth century labor unions influenced local and national elections, in this speech I will point to how their influence has declined in the last thirty years.

Specific Purpose:  To motivate my audience to oppose the policy of drug testing welfare recipients.

Central Idea:  Many voices are calling for welfare recipients to go through mandatory, regular drug testing, but this policy is unjust, impractical, and costly, and fair-minded Americans should actively oppose it.

Specific Purpose:  To explain to my fellow civic club members why I admire Representative John Lewis.

Central Idea:  John Lewis has my admiration for his sacrifices during the Civil Rights movement and his service to Georgia as a leader and U.S. Representative.

Specific Purpose:  To describe how makeup is done for the TV show The Walking Dead.

Central Idea:  The wildly popular zombie show The Walking Dead achieves incredibly scary and believable makeup effects, and in the next few minutes I will tell you who does it, what they use, and how they do it.

Notice that in all of the above   examples that neither the specific purpose nor  the central idea ever exceeds  one sentence .   You may divide your central idea and the preview of main points into two sentences or three sentences,  depending on what your instructor directs.  If your central idea consists of more than three sentences, then you probably are including too much information and taking up time that is needed for the body of the speech.  Additionally, you will have a speech trying to do too much and that goes overtime.

The first problem many students have in writing their specific purpose statement has already been mentioned:  specific purpose statements sometimes try to cover far too much and are too broad.  For example:

To explain to my classmates the history of ballet.

Aside from the fact that this subject may be difficult for everyone in your audience to relate to, it is enough for a three-hour lecture, maybe even a whole course. You will probably find that your first attempt at a specific purpose statement will need  refining .  These examples are much more specific and much more manageable given the limited amount of time you will have.

To explain to my classmates how ballet came to be performed and studied in the U.S.

To explain to my classmates the difference between Russian and French ballet.

To explain to my classmates how ballet originated as an art form in the Renaissance.

To explain to my classmates the origin of the ballet dancers’ clothing.

The second problem with specific purpose statements is the opposite of being too broad,  in that some specific purposes statements are  so focused that they might only be appropriate for people who are already extremely interested in the topic or experts in a field:

To inform my classmates of the life cycle of a new species of lima bean (botanists, agriculturalists).

To inform my classmates about the Yellow 5 ingredient in Mountain Dew (chemists, nutritionists).

To persuade my classmates that JIF Peanut Butter is better than Peter Pan. (professional chefs in large institutions)

The third problem happens when the  “communication verb” in the specific purpose does not match the content ;  for example, persuasive content is paired with “to inform” or “to explain.” If you resort to the word  “why” in the thesis, it is probably persuasive.

To inform my audience why capital punishment is unconstitutional.  (This cannot be informative since it is taking a side)

To persuade my audience about the three types of individual retirement accounts.  (This is not persuading the audience of anything, just informing)

To inform my classmates that Universal Studios is a better theme park than Six Flags over Georgia.  (This is clearly an opinion, hence persuasive)

The fourth problem exists when the content part of the specific purpose statement has  two parts  and thus uses  “and. ”   A good speech follows the   KISS rule — Keep It Simple, Speaker .  One specific purpose is enough.  These examples cover two different topics.

To explain to my audience how to swing a golf club and choose the best golf shoes.

To persuade my classmates to be involved in the Special Olympics and vote to fund better classes for the intellectually disabled.

To fix this problem, you will need to select one of the topics in these examples and speak on just that:

To explain to my audience how to swing a golf club.

To explain to my audience how to choose the best golf shoes.

Of course, the value of this topic depends on your audience’s interest in golf and your own experience as a golfer.

The fifth problem with both specific purpose and central idea statements is related to  formatting.  T here are some general guidelines that need to be followed in terms of how you write out these elements of your speech:

• Do not write either  statement  as a question.
• Always use complete sentences  for central idea statements and infinitive phrases (that is, “to …..”) for the  specific  purpose statement.
• Only use concrete language  (“I admire Beyoncé for being a talented performer and businesswoman”), and  avoid subjective or slang terms  (“My speech is about why I think Beyoncé is the bomb”)  or jargon and acronyms   (“PLA is better than CBE for adult learners.”)

Finally, the sixth problem occurs when  the speech just gets  off track  of the specific purpose  statement,  in that it starts well but veers in another direction.   This problem relates to the challenge of  developing coherent main points, what might be called  “the Roman numeral points”  of the speech. The specific purpose usually determines the main points and the relevant structure. For example, if the specific purpose is:

To inform my classmates of the five stages of grief as described by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.

There is no place in this speech for a biography of Dr. Kubler-Ross, arguments against this model of grief, therapies for those undergoing grief, or steps for the audience to take to get counseling. All of those are different specific purposes. T he main points would have to be the five stages, in order, as Dr. Kubler-Ross defined them.

There are also problems to avoid in writing the central idea statement. As mentioned above, remember that:

• The  specific purpose and central idea statements are not the same thing , although they are related.
• The  central idea statement should be clear and not complicated or wordy ; it should “stand out” to the audience. As you practice delivery, you should  emphasize it  with your voice.
• getting the audience’s attention,
• revealing the topic,
• revealing the central idea and main points,
• establishing your credibility,  and
• establishing rapport with your audience.

One last word. You will notice that we have said nothing about titles of your speeches so far. A  title is a good thing and serves purpose s.  Your instructor may or may not emphasize the title of your speech. This textbook chooses to focus on the purpose and central idea as the basis, even the spine of the speech. A good source on titles can be found here: [How to write good speech titles] (https://www.best-speech-topics.com/speech-titles.html).

Case Studies in Specific Purposes and Central Idea Statements

Case Study One : Mitchell is taking a Fundamentals of Speech course in his second year of college. As a member of the college’s tennis team, he wants to speak on his favorite subject, tennis. He is assigned an informative speech that should be seven minutes long and use four external sources (other than his own experience). He realizes off the bat that he knows a great deal about the subject as far as how to play and be good at it, but not much about the history or origins or the international impact of the sport. He brainstorms a list of topics, as his instructor tells him to:  1. Famous tennis players 2. Rules of tennis 3. How to start playing tennis 4. How to buy or choose equipment for tennis 5. Why tennis is a great sport 6. Tennis organizations 7. Where tennis came from 8. Dealing with tennis injuries 9. Tennis and the Olympics 10. Famous tennis tournaments—grand slam events

However, he also wants to be sure that his audience is not bored or confused. His instructor gives him a chance to get in a small group and have four of his classmates give him some ideas about the topics. He finds out no one in his group has ever played tennis but they do have questions. He knows that everyone in his class is 18-24 years old, single, no children, enrolled in college, and all have part-time jobs.

Critique Mitch’s brainstormed topics based on what you know. What should he do? Can you come up with a good starting specific purpose?

Case Study Two : Bonita is required to give a 5- to 6-minute presentation as part of a job interview. The interview is for a position as public relations and social media director of a nonprofit organization that focuses on nutrition in a five-county region near her home. There will be five people in her audience: the president of the organization, two board members, the office manager (who is also the Human Resources director), and a volunteer. She has never met these people. Bonita has a college degree in public relations, so she knows her subject. She does as much research on the organization as she can and finds out about their use of social media and the Internet for publicity, marketing, and public relations. If does have a Facebook page but is not utilizing it well. It does not have any other social media accounts.

What would you suggest for Bonita? Here are some questions to consider. Should she be persuasive, informative, or inspiring? (General purpose). What should be her specific content area? How can she answer the two important questions of the value of her topic to the audience and why would the audience think she is credible?

You should be aware that all aspects of your  speech are constantly going to change as you move toward actually giving your speech.  The exact wording of your central idea may change and you can experiment with different versions for effectiveness.  However, your specific purpose statement should not change unless there is a really good reason, and in some cases, your instructor will either discourage that, forbid it, or expect to be notified.  There are many aspects to consider in the seemingly simple task of writing a specific purpose statement and its companion, the central idea statement. Writing good ones at the beginning will save you some trouble later in the speech preparation process.

Something to Think About

What if your informative speech has the specific purpose statement: To explain the biological and lifestyle causes of Type II diabetes. The assignment is a seven-minute speech, and when you practice it the first time, it is thirteen minutes long. Should you adjust the specific purpose statement? How?

The Public Speaking Resource Project Copyright © 2018 by Lori Halverson-Wente and Mark Halverson-Wente is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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5 Chapter 5: Selecting a Topic and Adapting to the Audience

Lauren Rome, College of the Canyons

Adapted by Jamie C. Votraw, Professor of Communication Studies, Florida SouthWestern State College

Figure 5.1: Audience 1

Introduction

Think about the most exciting speech or presentation that you have ever heard. What made it so enjoyable? Was it the speaker’s charisma? Was the speaker funny? Were there excellent visual aids? Perhaps, a lively audience kept you engaged? Now, imagine that you did not care for the speech topic. Suppose you found the subject boring or confusing. Your experience would be markedly less enjoyable.

As you start thinking about your public speaking assignments, deciding what to speak about may not be your primary concern. In some speaking situations, the speech topic may be predetermined. For instance, if you are Captain of the Florida SouthWestern State College Women’s Volleyball team, and you are about to secure the Conference Championship again , the purpose and topic of your pre-game speech are likely pretty clear. In most cases, though, while the general purpose of your speech (e.g., to inform, to persuade, to inspire) may be predetermined, you will often be responsible for selecting the specific topic.

In this chapter, we will discuss how to select appropriate speech topics based on the speech goal and with consideration for the audience. Although novice speakers often express anxiety about speech delivery, the reality is that selecting the right topic largely impacts speech delivery and can significantly impact the success of a speech.

Selecting Your Topic

What makes a speech topic a good topic? Many people go to live concerts and love live music. Let’s consider what makes the show meaningful for the audience. Is it just musicians taking the stage and playing music, or is there more to it? The best concerts are the ones that consider what the audience really wants to hear. How would you feel if you went to a concert and the band didn’t play your favorite song? Most likely, the band crafted the environment with sets, sound, comfort, temperature, snacks, and drinks to make the concert worth the money. Just like a concert is nothing without the audience, a speech isn’t a speech without an audience.

Although we might think our speech would be easier without an audience, they are a crucial component and should be a primary focus as you plan and prepare each presentation. Effective public speakers consider the audience throughout the speech process from choosing a topic to identifying examples, and of course, during the speech delivery. Therefore, one characteristic of a good speech topic is that it meets the expectations of the audience and the speaking situation. What does the audience expect from the speech? What are their interests? What kind of response will the audience have to your topic?

In classroom speeches, the audience includes your classmates and your professor. But, before you go on assuming you know something about your audience, remember what we learned in chapter one: every person has their lens for viewing the world, which will be used when interpreting any messages you communicate. In that case, an important rule of thumb is to never assume . We must put aside assumptions or preconceptions to create the most effective and appropriate speech for a specific audience. Later in the chapter, we will discuss audience analysis and the methods you can use to gather accurate information about your audience.

Figure 5.2: John Legend 2

Another marker of a good speech topic is that you, the speaker, can identify with the subject matter. Your speech topic does not need to be wholly original or groundbreaking. Instead, it would be best to focus on a speech topic that is important to you. What interests you? What do you care about? What are your passions? Selecting a topic that matters to you will make the research and speech composition process more manageable and enhance your delivery. If you care about the topic, you will be more likely to speak passionately and with conviction. When speaking enthusiastically, speakers add dynamic to their vocal quality, engage the audience, and exude confidence.

A final consideration when selecting a topic is your pre-existing knowledge and ability to master the topic. When selecting a topic, you must consider the breadth and complexity of the topic, your background knowledge, and the speech assignment parameters. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I know my topic well, or will it require substantial learning?
• Is my topic too simple or too complex for the audience?
• Is the topic too broad or too narrow and trivial?
• Can I effectively accomplish my speech goal within the time limit?

A good topic is both important to you and exciting and appropriate for your audience. However, it also must be manageable for you. Consider the following example. A popular informative speech topic among public speaking students at FSW is climate change. Climate change is a fantastic issue to discuss in an informative speech. It’s a topic of significance. It is relevant, and it is interesting. It is also an appropriate topic for a college classroom setting. Yet, “climate change”, in general, is a complex, multifaceted topic. When a student proposes “To inform the class about climate change”, we wonder, will the speech focus on the causes of climate change? The consequences? Strategies for reducing climate change? Perhaps, the speech will focus on one specific issue related to climate change, such as increased wildfires or the impact of rising temperatures on food production and availability. A broad topic like climate change cannot be addressed adequately in a short 5-7 minute speech. Thus, a good topic is one that you can manage. As you brainstorm and research possible topics, give yourself time to explore your options. If you are interested in a complex issue like climate change, you should first investigate the broader subject matter and then refine your focus to a more narrow topic. Even if you know the general speech topic, exploring and refining your topic for your speech assignment can take time.

Refining Your Topic 

Once you have a good topic with a narrow focus, you should start thinking about how your chosen topic will help you accomplish your speech goal. To ensure your speech topic aligns with the expectations of the speaking event, consider the general purpose of the speech. A  general purpose  is the broad objective of the speech. Most speeches fall into one of the following categories: 1. to inform, 2. to persuade, or 3. to entertain. There are other general purposes, such as to introduce, to inspire, and to honor. We typically see these in special occasion speeches (discussed in Chapter 13).

To effectively craft your speech, you must determine the general purpose. In an informative speech, the general purpose is “to inform.” Note that a general purpose statement is a sentence fragment that indicates the broad speech objective. When the general purpose is to inform, the speaker acts as a teacher or educator. In an informative speech, the speaker’s goal is to share information with the audience objectively and unbiasedly. This means that the speaker should not be advocating or persuading. Instead, it is the speaker’s job to convey information accurately and clearly to help the audience understand and retain it. Although an informative speech may include competing perspectives, especially if the topic is controversial, an ethical informative speaker only teaches the audience about the varying viewpoints and refrains from taking a position or revealing personal opinions. Rather, an informative speaker shares information and lets the audience decide what to think or do.

To Persuade 

In a persuasive speech, the general purpose is “to persuade.” In this type of speech, the speaker acts as an advocate. The goal of a persuasive speech is to convince the audience to agree with the speaker’s point of view or take some action (e.g., sign a petition, stop smoking, etc.). Unlike informative speaking, a speaker is expected to take a position. Persuasive speaking is often more complex than informative speaking, as speakers must utilize persuasive speaking strategies to gain agreement from the audience. To win over an audience, persuasive speeches, in particular, demand credible evidence and sound logic that support the speaker’s claims. In Chapter 10, we will dive deeper into the various methods of persuasion a speaker can employ to persuade their audience.

To Entertain

When the general purpose is “to entertain,” the speaker is focused on amusing the audience. There is a variety of supporting materials that a speaker can incorporate to engage the audience. Entertaining speeches may consist of stories, anecdotes, quotes, and descriptions. To learn more about the types of supporting materials, turn to Chapter 7.

Determining the general purpose of your speech is a critical step in the speech composition process. A clearly defined speech goal helps the speaker understand their speaking role (i.e., a teacher, an advocate, an entertainer) and determines the information needed to craft and appropriately deliver the speech effectively.

Consider how changing the general purpose from “to inform” to “to persuade” could alter the focus of the speech in the example below.

Topic: Living in LightHouse Commons (FSW College Dorms)

In the examples above, the focus of each speech topic changes significantly when the general purpose of the speech shifts from informative to persuasive. Though there are certainly other potential topics that could be used for this example, you can see that informative speech topics focus on sharing information. In contrast, the persuasive speech topics seek to gain support for a particular point of view. Once you have determined your general purpose, you are ready to craft a specific purpose statement.

Crafting a Specific Purpose 

The specific purpose statement is a concise, declarative statement that identifies the general purpose of your speech, the audience, and the specific goal. Using the speech topic from the example above, “Living in Lighthouse Commons,” the respective specific purpose statements could be written as such:

• To inform incoming freshmen about the pros and cons of living on campus.
• To persuade incoming freshman students that they should live on campus for at least one year.
• To inform prospective FSW applicants of the cost-benefit analysis of on-campus vs. off-campus housing in the Ft. Myers area.
• To persuade the college administration to lower the price of on-campus housing.

In each specific purpose statement example, the speaker identifies the general purpose (e.g., to inform or to persuade), the audience (e.g., incoming freshman, prospective FSW applicants, college administration), and the specific goal of the speech. Notice that each specific purpose statement is crafted as a statement, not a question, and is written clearly and concisely.

Writing a Thesis Statement (central idea) 

Once you craft your specific purpose statement, you are ready to write a thesis statement . Building upon the general purpose and specific purpose statement, your thesis statement elaborates by adding the main points you plan to cover in your speech. Most speeches have 2-3 main points. In your thesis statement, you will clearly and concisely list your main points. Continuing with the examples above, a thesis statement might look like this:

• To inform incoming freshman students about the pros and cons of on-campus living, including social opportunities, access to academic resources, and the costs of living expenses.
• To persuade incoming freshman students that they should live on campus for at least one year for social, academic, and economic benefits.

In each thesis statement above, the general purpose, the audience, and the speech goal are identified, followed by the main points that the speaker will cover in their speech. Notice that the main points are listed precisely, but clearly indicate what topics will be addressed in the body of the speech.

Analyzing Your Audience

Since we cannot assume we know everything about our audience, we must analyze them. Audience Analysis is gathering information about your audience to help create and deliver your speech. Information collected can help you better understand your audience’s needs, values, beliefs, and demographics.

By engaging in audience analysis, you’re taking an audience-centered approach. To be audience-centered is to shift your focus from yourself (what do I want to say about this topic?) to your audience (what do they want or need to hear about this topic?). If you don’t consider your audience, you might deliver a speech that isn’t relevant, useful, or ethical. To make the shift to an audience-centered approach, here are some questions to consider:

• Why are they here? Are they here because they have to be (e.g., a mandatory meeting or a class session) or because they want to attend? Is your presentation the “main event,” or is something else bringing this audience together? Knowing the answer to this question can be extremely important in planning your speech to engage the audience directly.
• What do they know already? It would benefit you to understand what your audience knows or if they have any experience with your topic. Based on their knowledge, you can tailor the language and information of your speech to suit them. For example, giving a speech on global warming will sound very different if you are speaking to middle schoolers versus college-age students. A speech on the power of a dating app will be received differently by a room full of married people versus single people.
• Where are they coming from? Does every person in your audience share the same experiences? Absolutely not, because of their unique lenses to view the world. My siblings and I were raised by the same parents, under the same roof, but we are different (in age, gender, friends, hobbies, etc.) and had different experiences. So, although we have similarities, we all have different frames of reference (think back to chapter 1). Your goal is to write to a general audience so that you connect with all of the unique experiences.

Types of Audience Analysis

To answer the questions posed above, there are three different types of information you might want to collect. Depending on the speaking situation and the preparation time available, some of the following strategies will be better suited than others.

Demographic Analysis

You’ve probably heard the term “demographics” used before. A demographic analysis refers to the gathering of data from your audience relating to the population and groups within it. The U.S. Census Bureau is one of the best examples of a group known for collecting demographic data. Every ten years, census takers gather information about the population of the United States. They typically want to know the composition of each household – the number of dependents (children or adults), average annual income, ethnic backgrounds, the gender and ages of those in the household, and other similar information. This data is then compiled to provide the government and other agencies with an overall view of the individuals, families, and other collective groups that compose the population of the United States. This information might be used to determine whether to fund a community necessity or to project the country’s needs in future years. As you might imagine, gathering and compiling this tremendous amount of data is mind-boggling. Luckily, the data you’ll gather to prepare for a presentation is on a much smaller scale. Here are some examples of information you might collect about your audience:

• Gender identities
• Ethnic backgrounds
• Group memberships
• Educational levels
• Political affiliations
• Religious affiliations
• Socioeconomic statuses

How might information collected in these areas assist you in understanding your audience? After all, you won’t use this information to determine county funding or to analyze the needs of a city. You will, however, be able to use the information you collect to better understand your audience – who they are, and what they care about. For instance, your analysis might uncover a religious or political preference that might make it difficult for them to believe you or take your recommended course of action. Knowing these details about your audience will help you choose your language wisely and craft your speech.

Psychological Analysis

While demographic characteristics focus on the “facts” about the people in your audience, psychological analysis can help explain the inner qualities. Knowing their attitudes, beliefs, and values will help you better understand the psychology of the audience.

Being aware of your audience’s attitudes about certain topics can help you craft the best possible speech. An attitude embodies the likes and/or dislikes of an individual. We have attitudes about everything. For example, you might like Nike more than Adidas, or you think MAC has the best mascara. People have strong attitudes for or against one thing or another, which impacts their perceptions and interpretation of information.

Members of the audience may believe that certain things exist or certain ideas are true. Beliefs are convictions or ways of thinking about the world around us that are reflected in statements that we believe are true or false. Your conviction about something is typically based on your cultural upbringing. You believe what you believe because of what you learned and were taught. Beliefs evolve as your frame of reference develops through experience. Beliefs are another important consideration for audience analysis and speech development.

For example, most public speaking professors know that students are hesitant to take a speech class and often disagree that it should be a graduation requirement. Therefore, public speaking professors craft their messages for the first day of class in very particular ways to generate audience buy-in. In this example, public speaking professors have analyzed their audience to craft the message in a way that will be meaningful for them. How will you craft your speeches to align with your audience’s beliefs?

Values are the underlying principles or standards of ideal behavior that we use to justify our beliefs and attitudes. Values are the core principles driving our behavior and are the hardest to change. If you dig into someone’s attitudes and beliefs enough, you will find core values. We look at the world through our own lens of what we judge to be good or bad, right or wrong, moral or immoral, and ethical or unethical. Analyzing audience values will help you to connect your content to the audience.

All three of these psychological factors are important. Although they seem similar, they work in slightly different ways. Here is an example to showcase the nuance of attitudes, beliefs, and values. For example, consider these different notions:

• You like college (this is an attitude).
• You believe that college is a way out of poverty (there is a belief).
• You think everyone has the right to an education, regardless of attitude or cultural background (this is a value).

Situational Analysis

The final type of audience analysis is situational because it focuses on the specific speaking situation. Here are some basic questions you can answer to help you conduct situational analysis:

• How many people will be in the audience?
• What is my purpose for speaking to this audience?
• What will my audience get out of my presentation?
• What is their interest level in my subject?
• What else might this audience have on their mind?
• What is the configuration of the room we are in?
• Is your audience comfortable?
• Is there anything that can interfere with how my audience hears me?

Figure 5.3: Justin Trudeau s peaks at the University of Waterloo 3

Conducting Audience Analyses

We’ve just examined several variables of audience analysis, but how do you find the information you need? You conduct an audience analysis. Here are three options: data collection, inference, and direct observation.

Data Collection

You can collect data about your audience’s demographic, psychological, or situational makeup through quantifiable and deductive means. Surveys, questionnaires, and interviews would give you abundant qualitative and quantitative information you can use to develop your presentation. While data collection isn’t always required before a presentation, some situations would benefit from having specific information. Will your speech benefit from having specific data on the audience? If so, which method will you use?

This is a trickier method of collecting information about your audience. Inference means making tentative, reasoned conclusions about your audience. It requires that you use your critical thinking skills to make an educated guess about the audience. Beware that making educated guesses could backfire, if not grounded in evidence. For example, if we know that 46% of the U.S. population owns an iPhone, we can confidently infer that some students in our class own an iPhone. The only way to make a conclusive statement about how many students own an iPhone in our class, however, would be to comprehensively collect the data through a survey, questionnaire, or interview of every single audience member.

Direct Observation

One way to learn about people is to observe them. As we mentioned earlier, if you are speaking to a room full of classmates, you likely have already observed some demographic information about your audience ahead of time. The same can be true for other settings or environments where you find yourself.

What methods can you use to analyze your audience, especially in a classroom? Observation is as it sounds – you watch and listen to the individuals in your audience over the course of several days or weeks. If you think about it, you already do this without being completely conscious of it. As you chat during a break, you may find out that many of the students in your class are closely following an upcoming election. They have already formed opinions about the candidates and have their reasons for choosing one over the other. Or, perhaps several students in your small group share that they are single parents struggling to balance school, work, and children. While these tidbits of information are normally acknowledged and stored away in the recesses of your brain, you are, in fact, finding information that could help you prepare for an upcoming speech to these students. This is direct observation; all you had to do was actively listen to the chit-chat and conversations going on around you.

Audience Agreement

Whether you are doing an informative or persuasive speech, you can be sure that audience members may agree, disagree, be neutral, or be apathetic. Here is what these situations might look like:

Audiences that Agree

Students often pick topics based on their notion of a friendly audience. If I knew that 95% of my audience believed that we should only drive hybrid cars, it would be much easier to construct a speech knowing there wouldn’t be much opposition. So why even do a speech when you have an audience that already favors your position? Let’s look at a couple of examples. Some people in our society go to a place of religious worship, whether a church, temple, or mosque. If you already have a belief system, why do you need to go? Similarly, recovered alcoholics go to Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, meetings. If you haven’t had a drink in ten years, why go to meetings? Maybe it is for personal growth, gaining knowledge, or attitude reinforcement. In each case, when you know that an audience already agrees with you, you can use the opportunity to reinforce their views.

Audiences that Disagree

When you know that an audience does not agree with your point of view, it is essential to capture their interest early. Disagreement doesn’t mean that you should not present your speech, or that you picked a bad topic. It just means that you need credible research, sound reasoning, and consideration for the type of language the audience will be receptive to hearing. It might be helpful to put your strongest argument first when you know your audience disagrees with you. It is also important that you don’t avoid topics that might be controversial because your audience disagrees. Controversial topics may prove to be the most interesting speaking opportunities and give you the chance to make a greater impact. In fact, the audience may be more receptive to a speaker who is open to acknowledging when there is validity in an opposing position while still arguing for a different point of view.

Audiences that are Neutral

Having a neutral audience is ideal. Suppose an audience has not yet made up their mind or taken a position on the topic. In that case, you can give the audience a balanced view of the topic in an informative speech, while in a persuasive speech, it is your chance to convince them. Whether you are doing an informative speech on TikTok, or a persuasive speech on the harmful effects of social media, a neutral audience most likely has not spent time critically thinking about their position. Your speech may be so compelling that some members of the audience may upload a video, or others may be motivated to delete the app.

Audiences that are Apathetic

The most difficult, or frustrating audience to speak to is the audience that doesn’t care; this is an apathetic audience. Your task is to make them care! For example, why would any group of 18 to 22-year-olds want to listen to a speech on the Social Security system? In most cases, they wouldn’t until you convince them that without reform, the Social Security program will run out of money before they are of age to collect. All of the money that you contribute from your paychecks goes to fund this system. Do you care yet? Maybe not, because you aren’t retiring for another 50 years! However, your parents or family members will retire earlier. If the system runs out of money, is it possible that you would find yourself in a position to care for your family members? You can make them care about your topic by showing them how important it is and how it can impact them. It is important to connect your topic to the audience explicitly. Sometimes public speakers ask personal questions to help show the connection between the topic and the audience. This is a useful attention-grabbing strategy and can be very effective. With apathetic audiences, however, you should also explicitly explain how the topic relates to them.

Presenting in an online environment

Chapter 11 discusses ways to deliver to a virtual environment. Like a physical speech knowing how to present information online is a necessary skill for the modern world. There are nine guidelines for a successful presentation suggested by Mary Abbajay in Forbes (2020), they are: get the lighting right, choose the right background, know the technology, play to the camera, get close (but not too close), stand up, do a sound check, plug into your modem, be yourself and have fun!

This chapter discussed how to effectively select a speech topic, identify speech purposes, craft specific purpose and thesis statements, as well as the importance of conducting an audience analysis when preparing and presenting your speech. Like a pop star crafting their live show at the Hollywood Bowl , you must keep your audience at the forefront of your mind during each step. Although you might not sing a solo during your speech or play the guitar, you can use demographic, psychological, and situational analyses to make adjustments where needed. The more you think about the audience throughout the entire process, the more likely they will listen, learn, and linger backstage for your autograph.

Reflection Questions

• Have you ever engaged in audience analysis in your personal life without realizing it? For example, in a conversation with a friend or parent or on social media? What strategies did you use to make sure you were understood?
• How have your attitudes, beliefs, and values informed some of your thoughts about people you meet?
• Which methods of audience analysis will you use in this class? How will you know which one works best?
• In what ways do the different types of audiences impact how you approach your entire presentation?

Audience Analysis

Audience-Centered

General Purpose

Specific Purpose

Thesis Statement

Introduction to Public Speaking Copyright © by Jamie C. Votraw, M.A.; Katharine O'Connor, Ph.D.; and William F. Kelvin, Ph.D.. All Rights Reserved.

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Public Speaking Activities for Secondary Students

Read on for six public speaking activities. Then, sign up for a free download of the activities that you can hopefully use in diverse ways, even as public speaking games. 

I earned an endorsement in “speech” for my teaching license. (I’m in Illinois.) In college, I took extra communication courses and observed high school speech classes. Plenty of my extracurricular activities (plus my classes) required me to prepare and deliver speeches. When I started teaching, I had experienced public speaking activities as a student and a teacher observer.

Still, I felt underprepared to teach public speaking. I had zero speech activities for high school students. My first year of teaching, I thought materials were lacking on the Internet, from textbooks, from anywhere (and I searched). This was pre-TpT and I was sinking or swimming. My textbook for the class was about sixty years old, and I had no teacher edition.

That first year I did lots of paddling, but over the years I grew confident in teaching a speech class. I developed fun impromptu speech activities and other speech activities for high school students.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t make mistakes ; I made plenty. Through messy lessons, too-short of lessons, and confused students, I learned to provide structure for students without squashing them. I realized how much preparation was needed. I changed basic rubrics to rubrics that encouraged students to set goals and take ownership of their improvement. Scaffolding and modeling became part of my class.

So! I improved and reflected. After years of teaching public speaking, I crafted ideas for what would help young speakers. Hopefully, these activities help your speech classes too.

What are some ice-breaker exercises that can be used in a public speaking activity?

Some ice-breaker exercises that can be used in public speaking activities include “Two Truths and a Lie,” where participants share two true statements and one false statement about themselves, and “Would You Rather,” where participants are asked to choose between two options and explain their choice.

What about public speaking games?

Sometimes, structure helps young speakers, so I created these public speaking activities to address common areas of concern with high schoolers. Most students fear the nature of a speech class, use too many fillers when speaking, and focus on one area, such as volume and forget about the rest: non-verbal communication, tone, eye contact, etc.

Through coaching speech, spending many weekends at speech tournaments, and teaching public speaking, I created these public speaking activities. I’ve seen variations of these or adapted these from activities geared toward younger students. These speech activities should work well with high school students, but you can modify them for middle school or college speech classes.

These are included in my public speaking unit as well because they can be used numerous times.

Fillers can distract an audience from hearing a really well-developed speech. First, not all fillers are bad. We naturally pause and add fillers. The abundance of fillers, however, can be distracting.

Sometimes speech students are unaware that they use fillers. Other times, students become nervous, pause, and fill the empty time with a filler. Talk with students about the reasons why fillers occur and if they have a time they rely on one. Showing compassion and understanding about a common problem during speeches will relax students, and they will be more likely to work on eliminating an abundance of fillers.

After showing compassion, play public speaking games to address filler words.

Before starting, choose your topic and write a list of common fillers that don’t positively add to spoken communication: um, yeah, like, uh. Ask students to contribute to the list. I normally write the list so that students can consult it.

Instruct students to speak for 30 seconds (vary the time if necessary) and not use any fillers. Students should realize how easily fillers creep into their speech. NOW! Everyone uses some fillers, and fillers can make public speaking natural. However, too many fillers can distract audiences.

Each student will give a short speech for 30 seconds. The topic isn’t too important. You can choose one for the entire class or allow students to choose.

Students must restart their speech if they use a filler. Some students will try to pause and draw out the speech by not speaking, but most students speak at a normal pace. Overall, the audience is compassionate toward the speaker because everyone realizes the difficulty of not relying on these words.

This activity is perfect after the first formal speech. Students need to decompress, but they also need to eliminate fillers. When I ask students to write goals for their future speeches, eliminating fillers is a common goal.

2. Nonverbal practice

Nonverbal communication matters. To help students experience that, ask them to perform an activity where the focus is nonverbal communication.

Students will line up in alphabetical order only using nonverbal communication. I have students line up by order of their middle names since they typically know everyone’s last names. They experiment with different forms of nonverbal communication and have fun. Most often they make a capital letter with their fingers. If some students know middle names, they will switch classmates around.

The real practice is when students realize many of them have a middle name that starts with the same letter. “A” is a common one. Then students must figure out how to communicate the second letters of Aarron, Ann, Alice, and Abraham. I will say I’ve never had a class line up correctly.

This activity is the perfect introduction to nonverbal communication. As students continue through the semester, they’ll be able to focus on purposeful movements that emphasize their points. This nonverbal activity breaks the ice as you start to work on nonverbal communication. I never plan on this nonverbal practice becoming a public speaking game, but it often does.

3. One goal

Speeches can overwhelm students. Help students focus on one goal. The best part about the “one goal” activity is that students choose their focus which creates less work for you and buy-in for students.

As students continue with class, ask them what area they see as the greatest potential for improvement. Brainstorm areas as a class. There is no right or wrong! Students normally list eye contact, proper volume level, appropriate nonverbal communication, and natural movement. Then let students decide what they desire to improve.

Students will individually decide what they want to improve in their speaking—they will each have a goal. Some students want to work on eye contact, others want to balance their volume, others want to stop fidgeting. Then I divide students into small groups. Students will practice the current speech they are creating, receiving constructive feedback when they need to correct an action to meet their goal. Their group will also tell them when they did well and moved toward meeting their goal.

(This is a bit like #1 but fillers are such a huge issue with high school orators that it gets its own activity.) I normally do this activity later in the year after students are comfortable with each other. I also don’t do this activity if I feel a class may not give meaningful feedback. Finally, I share with students that improving in an area is part of most jobs. In teaching, for example, teachers often record themselves and reflect on the video later. They then develop goals for improvement in their profession. (Sometimes it is a public speaking goal!)

This activity works well to meet individual goals and to build classroom community. My speech rubrics contain a spot for consideration on improvement of a goal. Plus, the art of reflection will serve students in any field or career, so I stress that message to them. This focused practice works well because it encourages students to work on a goal in which the teacher had very little involvement.

4. M&M/ Skittles

Who doesn’t like candy? With this fun exercise, students share information about a topic. You’ll get students talking in a low-stress, engaging way.

This candy activity is fun and quick. Bring a large bag of small candies like M&M or Skittles to class. Ask students to take as many pieces of candy as they like, but stress not to eat the candies yet. Pass the bag around. Then, students must tell a fact about themselves for each piece of candy. 15 pieces of candy? 15 facts.

This also works with review. 5 pieces of candy? Review 5 facts with the class concerning public speaking terms. After speaking, students may eat their candy. I’ve used a similar process in other classes to review material.

This activity works well as a review or as a first day of school activity. Students are publicly speaking in their speech class on the first day of school without any feedback or real regulations. Since the process is fun, their first experience in class is a positive one. Plus, the candy aspect lends itself to making a public speaking game.

5. Impromptu

Most speeches in real life are actually impromptu speeches. Interviews, business meetings, and proposal presentations require people to think quickly and to speak eloquently, all while proving their point. Body language matters too!

Activate prior knowledge with a bit of an anticipatory set. Ask students about a time they gave an impromptu speech (even though they did not probably label it “impromptu” at the time!). Most people can relate to the frustration of having ideas but not conveying them well. Many times, people think of what they should have said days later! Students probably face this frustration. Acknowledge that feeling, share they you’ve experienced it too, and supply a solution.

Thinking and speaking on your feet might come naturally to some people. With practice, even those who struggle to articulate their ideas under pressure can improve.

Have students organize a speech quickly by delivering an impromptu speech. Often I would ask a class to write a topic on a piece of paper. (Sometimes I would say that the topic needed to be persuasive or informative—but it always needed to be clean.) Students would write their topic, add it to a box, and draw from a box. The topics were great because I didn’t make them and because students knew they had the potential to draw their own.

After drawing, provide 30 seconds to outline their speech. Then, students will talk about the topic for one minute. As the school year continued, I would increase the speaking time.

Older students who have been in class for a bit will probably organize their speech with a general introductory statement, two concepts, and a concluding statement. (That varies, of course.) If students struggle with the format, create a quick outline they can apply to their topics.

Students enjoy creating their own topics and learn to speak on the spot in a mature, organized manner. At first, students groan about impromptu speaking. This area is actually where I see the most growth. Students gain confidence that they can think and speak quickly, and they start to enjoy the process.

Tone matters! Many adults don’t realize the tone that they convey shapes their communication. We should certainly work with our students concerning tone so that they are aware of its power. Not only can the wrong tone hurt speakers, but the right tone can also emphasize their message.

Define “tone” for students. Brainstorm times that students know their tone has affected them. (Normally students share stories about times they were in trouble with their parents for having the wrong tone.) Then think of times that the right tone conveyed the correct message. Students might struggle to come up with examples for best use of tone. Oftentimes, a tone that matches a speaker’s message doesn’t stand out, and that is probably because the tone was woven into the message so well.

Experiment with tone with students. Put students into groups, and assign a speaker. (Everyone will have the chance to be a speaker.) Give the speaker a list of emotions and a list of generic statements. Then ask the speaker to choose a question and an emotion that conveys tone.

Finally, the rest of the group must decide the speaker’s tone. This opportunity allows for discussion about intentional tone and miscommunication. You’ll want to circulate as students practice this.

Public speaking activities can be engaging and memorable. Students might be nervous about giving speeches, so provide a variety of opportunities for them to practice. As you build a classroom community, these activities easily can become public speaking games.

Work on material slowly and purposefully. By helping students see success with public speaking, they will gain more confidence in your speech class and in life. Soon, your speech activities for high school students will be personalized and fit your community.

As you incorporate these public speaking games and activities into your speech units, you’ll discover that they are easily adaptable. Plus, you’ll find the perfect timing for each exercise. Teaching public speaking requires experimentation and reflection. I hope these help!

Would you like these public speaking activities at your fingertips? Download these six lesson plans (plus many more!) when you sign up for library access.

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5.6: Course Assignment: Outline Person of Interest Speech

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Prepare the attached Speech Outline Template. Attach your completed Template for grading.

Speech Outline Template

Introduction

Attention Getter :   ____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 .   Credibility (How do you know so much about this topic? – Research? Your own experiences?)

_____________________________________________________________________

List any websites/references/sources that you used____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.   Thesis sentence (one sentence that tells us what your main ideas are) :   ______________________________________________________________________

Body (Main ideas I, II, III) Facts/details under each idea.

I .     _____________ _________________________________________

A.   _____________________________________________

B.   _______________________________________________________

TRANSITION SENTENCE (How will you switch from your first main idea to the second one? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II.   ______________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

TRANSITION SENTENCE (How will you switch from your first main idea to the second one?) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III.   ______________________________________________

Recap or Summary of Topic (one sentence/thesis restated in past tense) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Memorable Ending (quote, startling detail, rhetorical question, etc.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Assignments

Brave space lesson.

Persuasive Speech Assignment

An assignment that helps students artfully convince an audience. Students will be given the opportunity to persuade audience members that a policy should be started, changed, or stopped, and/or urge cooperation by asking them to performs specific tasks.

Self-Introduction Speech Assignment

Select an object that represents a significant aspect of your cultural background, personality, values, ambitions, etc. Using the chosen object as a point of departure, develop a speech that explains how it relates to your life. The purpose of this speech is not to explain the object in detail, but […]

Peer Feedback Assignment

A simple form to give students so that they can evaluate and comment on their classmates’ presentations. For use in an in-person or synchronous class. Download a Word doc of the Peer Feedback form here.  

Informative Speech Assignment

An assignment by Prof. Williams that discusses and analyzes preparation for the Informative Speech.

Global Competencies Exercises

Various ice-breaker activities compiled by Prof. Williams. For use in in-person or online classes.

African Burial Ground Assignment

This is an assignment that helps students practice using different types of organizational styles when outlining their speeches. Students are asked to write an outline using two different organizational styles. Download a Word doc of Prof. Williams’ African Burial Ground assignment here.

Occasional Speech Assignment

Occasional Speech Assginment. The occasion may take place in the past, present, or future. You’ll need a specific person, place, or thing that you are praising, celebrating, reflecting on, honoring, or saying goodbye to.

  Prof. Tulloch’s Informative Speech Assignment requires students to select a subject area that provides a genuine contribution of knowledge to the class (i.e. something they do not already know).ce.

Assignment Compilation

A compilation of assignments by Professor Brianne Waychoff.  Click to find everything from Informative Speech assignments to Persuasive Speech assignments to Midterm Exam questions.

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Course Resources

Assignments.

The assignments and discussions in this course are openly licensed, and are available as-is, or can be modified to suit your students’ needs. You can view them below or throughout the course.

Assignments by Module

If you import this course into your learning management system (Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), the assignments will automatically be loaded into the assignment tool. The capstone project is a multipart speech project designed to scaffold the various tasks involved in putting together a speech.

Discussions

The following discussion assignments will also be preloaded (into the discussion-board tool) in your learning management system if you import the course. They can be used as is, modified, or removed. You can view them below or throughout the course.

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10 Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills

Few are immune to the fear of public speaking. Marjorie North offers 10 tips for speakers to calm the nerves and deliverable memorable orations.

Marjorie North

Snakes? Fine. Flying? No problem. Public speaking? Yikes! Just thinking about public speaking — routinely described as one of the greatest (and most common) fears — can make your palms sweat. But there are many ways to tackle this anxiety and learn to deliver a memorable speech.

In part one of this series,  Mastering the Basics of Communication , I shared strategies to improve how you communicate. In part two, How to Communicate More Effectively in the Workplace , I examined how to apply these techniques as you interact with colleagues and supervisors in the workplace. For the third and final part of this series, I’m providing you with public speaking tips that will help reduce your anxiety, dispel myths, and improve your performance.

Here Are My 10 Tips for Public Speaking:

1. nervousness is normal. practice and prepare.

All people feel some physiological reactions like pounding hearts and trembling hands. Do not associate these feelings with the sense that you will perform poorly or make a fool of yourself. Some nerves are good. The adrenaline rush that makes you sweat also makes you more alert and ready to give your best performance.

The best way to overcome anxiety is to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Take the time to go over your notes several times. Once you have become comfortable with the material, practice — a lot. Videotape yourself, or get a friend to critique your performance.

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2. Know Your Audience. Your Speech Is About Them, Not You.

Before you begin to craft your message, consider who the message is intended for. Learn as much about your listeners as you can. This will help you determine your choice of words, level of information, organization pattern, and motivational statement.

3. Organize Your Material in the Most Effective Manner to Attain Your Purpose.

Create the framework for your speech. Write down the topic, general purpose, specific purpose, central idea, and main points. Make sure to grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds.

4. Watch for Feedback and Adapt to It.

Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners.

5. Let Your Personality Come Through.

Be yourself, don’t become a talking head — in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.

6. Use Humor, Tell Stories, and Use Effective Language.

Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience’s attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that.

7. Don’t Read Unless You Have to. Work from an Outline.

Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief outline can serve to jog your memory and keep you on task.

8. Use Your Voice and Hands Effectively. Omit Nervous Gestures.

Nonverbal communication carries most of the message. Good delivery does not call attention to itself, but instead conveys the speaker’s ideas clearly and without distraction.

9. Grab Attention at the Beginning, and Close with a Dynamic End.

Do you enjoy hearing a speech start with “Today I’m going to talk to you about X”? Most people don’t. Instead, use a startling statistic, an interesting anecdote, or concise quotation. Conclude your speech with a summary and a strong statement that your audience is sure to remember.

10. Use Audiovisual Aids Wisely.

Too many can break the direct connection to the audience, so use them sparingly. They should enhance or clarify your content, or capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Good communication is never perfect, and nobody expects you to be perfect. However, putting in the requisite time to prepare will help you deliver a better speech. You may not be able to shake your nerves entirely, but you can learn to minimize them.

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About the Author

North is a consultant for political candidates, physicians, and lawyers, and runs a private practice specializing in public speaking, and executive communication skills. Previously, she was the clinical director in the department of speech and language pathology and audiology at Northeastern University.

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