Speech Tips Post #4

Hello Class!

A few more tips here for your speeches!

1). Please practice with a timer. Most people said that they practiced, but did not practice nearly enough. Take note of that! Also, if you are over or under the time limit -- for the Informative Speech, the time limit is 5 - 6 minutes. Please make sure you are ending your speech between 5 and 6 minutes.

2). Visual Aids - they are a MUST for every speech in this class. If you need to use powerpoint, please have your slides emailed to me NO LATER than 5pm on Thursday. I will open them up and save them to my computer. If there is a problem with the slides, I will email you back Thursday night, so PLEASE check your email to make sure your slides are safe!

3). Open your speech with an effective attention getter. The beginning of your speech should engage the audience and capture their attention. If you are confused about this, look up Attention Getters in your book.

4). I know I have said this before, but your introduction should most certainly introduce what you are going to talk about in your speech. More specifically, you should introduce ALL MAIN POINTS you are going to cover in your introduction.

5). On the same note, your conclusion should review ALL MAIN POINTS you just talked about.

6). Transitioning from one idea to the next should be clear and apparent during your speech.

7). PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not predispose your audience with, "Wow, I'm really nervous", or, "I should have practiced more". The VERY FIRST THING YOU SAY should be your attention getter!

8). CITE ALL 4 SOURCES in your speech - do it verbally!

9). Practice with your visual aids! Make sure you know when to switch a slide, or hold up your poster board.

10). Make sure you are presenting PROFESSIONALLY. Envision a person who is presenting something to a CEO, or a President of a company. How do you think they would present? By playing with their hair? Probably not! Would they tug at their clothing? Um, no! Would they repetitively say ummm? No. Imagine what a professional person looks like when presenting and mimic them.

And finally, I will be sending back your outlines no later than tomorrow night. Please look them over and make appropriate changes so that you can improve your speech. Your outline is a plan for your speech of course. So, if there are comments on what to change to enhance your speech, make those changes. I will be putting comments on your outlines that are from 2 categories - Category #1 - changes to make for your upcoming outline, and Category #2, changes you should make for your speech on Friday!

Have a great night!