Writing the Conclusion of a Speech
You might recall from the section of this website on introductions the fact that audiences tend to put a lot of emphasis on their first and final impressions of a speaker (technically known as the primacy/recency effect). Because of this, it is very important to finish your speech with something great. If you have ever seen a stand-up comedian perform, you will find that they save their best jokes for the end of their set, for this very reason.
Speech Anxiety
Coping with Speech Anxiety
So you have to make a speech? And the thought terrifies you? Well, you’re certainly not alone. Survey after survey has indicated that fear of public speaking is one of the very most common fears. Even many top professional speakers experience some little bit of “stage fright” when they speak. It is normal and natural. The key is to control this nervousness and use it as form of adrenaline instead of anxiety.
Speech Delivery
Speech Delivery
There are four primary types of speech delivery: Manuscript, Memorized, Impromptu, and Extemporaneous.
Manuscript speaking, like it sounds, involves reading your speech word-for-word from it’s written form. The advantage to delivering a speech this way is that you can perfectly plan and control the wording of your speech. This sounds like it is ideal, but really it is not. For one thing, as discussed in the section of this website on writing the speech body, in most speeches you should be striving for an informal, conversational delivery style. Reading prevents that, as well as eye contact. Also, with set wording, you can’t adapt the speech if the audience isn’t following or interested in your speech.
Visual Aids
Using Visual Aids
There are four basic reasons to include visual aids in your speech:
1. To hold the audience’s attention- by getting the audience envolved visually as well as orally, you are more likely to keep their interest.
2. To serve as a memory aid or learning device- people learn in different ways, some people easily recall spoken information, others written information. No matter what style they prefer, the more you expose your audience to the information, the more likely they are to remember it.
Public Speaking Links
Reference Websites
www.itools.com- Search engines, newspaper searches, encyclopedias, quotations, dictionaries, translators, and more on one page.
www.quotationspage.com- Quotations searchable by author or topic.
www.bartleby.com- Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations
www.refdesk.com- A little bit of everything: news, encyclopedias, and hundreds of links. A good place to start if you are doing online research.
www.reference.com- Almanacs, atlases, dictionaries, thesaurases, and more.
www.slonet.org/~tellswor- A pretty good clean humor archive that allows you to search for jokes by keyword.
www.loc.gov- The Library of Congress home page, featuring on-line resources and materials for many topics. Especially good for American History topics.
www.doaj.org- Directory of Open Access Journals, featuring searchable links to nearly 400 free online scholarly journals covering a variety of topics.
www.NewsVoyager.com- Features links to the websites for thousands of newspapers across the country.
www.magatopia.com- Links to magazines available online.
Helpful Websites
www.stylewizard.com- This free site builds MLA and APA citations for your bibliography or works cited.
www.writing2.richmond.edu- An interesting exercise and discussion about how to avoid cliches in your writing.
www.actden.com/pp- A free online PowerPoint tutorial. Looks like it’s designed for kids, but it does the job.
www.crlsresearchguide.org- A free online outline generator. Fill in your info and it creates a nice outline.
www.plagiarismtest.org- Links and information about plagiarism, it’s consequences, and what your professors are doing about it.
speakfreak.com- A self-help website for people with a fear of public speaking. Features chatroom and articles.
www.historychannel.com/speeches- History Channel web page with audio and video clips of some of the great speeches in modern history.
Communication Websites
National Communication Association- promotes communication studies scholarship and education.
NCA Student Membership- Quick link to become a student member of the National Communication Association.
American Communication Association- A free online organization and discussion forum for Communication Studies.
Communication Studies Resources- University of Iowa’s Index of Online Communication Studies Resources
Entertaining Commencement Speeches