SUPPORTING YOUR SPEECH

Speech 1010
Public Speaking
Mrs. Christianson
USE ILLUSTRATIONS
An illustration a story or anecdote that provides an
example of an idea, issue, or problem you are
discussing almost always ensures audience
interest.
Brief Illustrations are often no longer than a sentence or
two. A series of brief illustrations can sometimes have
more impact than either single brief illustration or a more
detailed one.
Extended Illustrations are longer and more detailed than
brief illustrations; they resemble a story. They are more
vividly descriptive, and they have a plot.
Hypothetical Illustrations may be either brief or extended.
They describe situations or events that have not actually
occurred but that might happen.
USE ILLUSTRATIONS (CONTINUED)
Illustrations are almost guaranteed attention
getters, as well as a way to support your
statements.
Use illustrations that are typical and audience-
centered ones that your audience can relate
to.
Be certain that your illustrations are directly
relevant to the idea or point they are supposed
to support.
Make your illustrations vivid and specific.
Use illustrations with which your listeners can
identify.
Remember the best illustrations are personal ones.
USE DESCRIPTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS
A description tells you what something is like.
Descriptions provide the details that allow audience
members to develop mental pictures of what
speakers are talking about.
Good descriptions are vivid, accurate, and specific; they
make people, places, and events come alive for the
audience.
An explanation is a statement that makes clear how
something is done or why is exists in its present form
or existed in its past form.
Speakers who discuss or demonstrate processes of any
kind rely at least in part on explanations of how those
processes work.
USE DESCRIPTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS
(CONTINUED)
Keep descriptions and explanations brief
An explanation should supply only as many details as
necessary for an audience to understand how or why
something exists.
You can hold your audiences attention more effectively if
you alternate explanations and descriptions with other
types of supporting material, such as statistics or brief
examples.
Use specific, concrete language
Vivid and specific language brings your explanations
alive.
Liveliness helps hold your audiences attention and paint
in your listeners minds the image you are trying to
communicate.

PROVIDE DEFINITIONS
Define any and all specialized, technical, or little-
known terms in your speech.
Use definitions only when needed. Unnecessary
definitions are boring and, more serious still,
insulting to the listeners intelligence.
Make certain you give your audience definitions
that are immediately and easily understandable
or you will have wasted your time and perhaps
even lost your audience.
Be certain that your definition and your use of a
term are consistent throughout your speech
USE ANALOGIES
An analogy is a comparison.
Like a definition, it increases understanding; unlike a
definition, it deals with relationships and
comparisons.
Analogies can help your listeners understand
unfamiliar ideas, things, and situations by
showing how these are similar to something
they already know.
Literal Analogies are comparisons between
two similar things.
But because it is creative, it is inherently interesting
and should help grab an audiences attention.
USE ANALOGIES (CONTINUED)
Figurative Analogies are not considered
hard evidence because it relies on
imaginative insights, not on facts or statistics.
Be sure that the essential similarity between the
two objects in a figurative analogy is readily
apparent.
USE STATISTICS AS SUPPORT
Just as three or four brief examples may be more
effective than just one, a statistic that represents
hundreds or thousands of individuals may be more
persuasive still.
Statistics can help a speaker express the magnitude
or seriousness of a situation.
Use reliable statistics Statistics can be produced to
support almost any conclusion desired.
Your goal is to cite reputable, authoritative, and unbiased
sources.
As you evaluate your sources, try to find out how the
statistics were gathered.
USE STATISTICS AS SUPPORT (CONTINUED)
Interpret statistics accurately People are often
swayed by statistics that sound good but have, in
fact, been wrongly calculated or misinterpreted.
Both as users of statistics in your own speeches and as
a consumer of statistics in articles, books, and
speeches, be constantly alert to what the statistics
actually mean.
Make your statistics understandable and memorable
Compact statistics or express them in limits that are
more meaningful or more easily understandable to your
audience.
Compare statistics. Comparing statistics with another
heightens its impact.
Round off numbers, but do so without distorting or
falsifying the statistic.
Use visual aids to present your statistics.
USE OPINIONS
Expert Testimony, the testimony of a recognized
authority, can add a great deal of weight to your
arguments.
You may quote experts directly or paraphrase their
words, as long as you are carefully not to alter the intent
of their remarks.
Lay Testimony, the testimony of a non-expert, is
more memorable.
To make a point memorable, include a literary
quotation in your speech.
Brief, pointed quotations usually have greater audience
impact than longer ones.

USE OPINIONS (CONTINUED)
Here are a few suggestions for using
opinions effectively:
Be certain that any authority you cite is an expert
on the subject you are discussing.
Identify your sources (qualifications).
Quote your sources accurately.
Cit unbiased authorities
Cite opinions that are representative of prevailing
opinion.
SELECT THE BEST SUPPORTING MATERIAL
You should consider accountability, accuracy, objectivity,
recency, usability, and diversity in evaluating any
supporting material you hope to use.
Magnitude Bigger is better. The larger the numbers the
more convincing the statistics.
Proximity The best supporting material is whatever is
relevant to your listeners, or closest to home.
Concreteness Explain principles and theories using
concrete examples and specific statistics.
Variety Mix illustrations, opinions, definitions, and statistics
Humor Audiences appreciate a touch of humor in an
example or opinion.
Suitability Make sure supporting material fits, or suits you,
your speech, the occasion, and your audience.
ETHICS QUESTION
An aide assigned to work with speakers and speeches
during both the 1996 and 2000 Republican National
Conventions compared the relative freedom allowed
speakers at the 2000 convention with censorship imposed
on 1996 convention speeches.

Speeches at the 1996 convention were diligently reviewed
and monitored by convention organizers, who insisted
that speakers promise to stick to their script before
allowing them to go on.

Is such censorship a violation of the speakers freedom of
speech?