Organizing a Speech in Three Steps

Have you ever been stressed out with having to give a speech? Did you ever get anxiety from it? Perhaps the speech is for a class of some sort you happen to be taking. Maybe you don't really know where to start or how to begin writing your speech. Whatever the case may be, I will be discussing how to prepare your speech through organizing it into three main parts. The introduction, body, and conclusion. Afterwards, I will examine a few of the various methods you can employ such as physical exercise, mental rehearsal, and the deep breathing technique, in order to alleviate stress and tell a successful speech.

First and foremost, the structure of a speech generally has three main components such as an introduction, body, and conclusion. An introduction serves to get the attention of your audience, link the attention-getter to your thesis statement, provide a clear thesis statement, and present a preview of the major areas you will discuss. The first words you say in your speech should be able to captivate the attention of your audience. You may want to open a joke as it is mostly undeniable that humor is refreshing and laughter is generally enjoyable when it is appropriate. Moreover, you could open with rhetorical questions which assist in directly involving your audience with what you are speaking about or you could tell a story. The narrative is one of the most popular attention-getters because it allows you a chance to show more of your personality with your audience and most people enjoy a good anecdote. When you attempt to link your attention-getter with your thesis, it should show a logical connection between the two but it should also tell the audience their motivation for listening to your speech. Why should they care? Why is your speech relevant to them? Your thesis statement should clarify what the goal of your speech is going to be such as to inform, persuade, or entertain your audience and to state what the topic of your speech will be about. The final part of your introduction is the preview statement, which gives the audience an overview of the major areas that will be discussed in the body of your speech. The body of your speech is where you present all of your information in an organized manner. You may name one of the major areas you are speaking on, and then further provide information on it by providing more specific details about the area. Such as how I am currently speaking about how the structure of a speech works and broke it down into an introduction, body, and conclusion. This is called outlining. Finally, your conclusion should effectively summarize the major points of your speech, which reminds your audience the major areas you have discussed, and leave a final impression so there is a feeling finality to your speech and your audience realizes that you have finished with your speech. Following this organizational structure in writing will help your speech come together when it comes time to speak.

While your speech may be prepared, you yourself may not be prepared because you are experience stress or even anxiety from having to give a speech because you making a mistake. If such is the case, physical exercise can help with reducing your stress. Vigorous physical activity isn’t exactly necessary, however light exercises may do. It’s good to do something to get your body moving around within reason such as jumping jacks or walking. This is because physical activity causes your brain to release a hormone called dopamine, which causes you to feel more at ease and happy. If the thought of moving around wears you out, mental rehearsal is a bit of an easier method because it involves you just mentally rehearsing how your speech will go. In your mind you should be thinking about what you are going to say and how you say it. Visualize yourself doing everything right and once you put yourself in the mindset that you are capable of doing everything right, you will be able to give your speech in reality. However, the most helpful technique is the deep breathing technique. The deep breathing technique is in which you inhale for four seconds, hold your breath and smile for four seconds, then exhale for four seconds. Breathing in this way will calm you down. The smiling is associated with positivity and good thoughts, so in a way you are conditioning yourself to appear more cheerful.