The introduction needs to accomplish three things:įocus your audience's attention. For most classroom speeches, the introduction should last less than a minute. The introduction of the speech establishes the first, crucial contact between the speaker and the audience. Speeches are organized into three main parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. Second, organization increases the likelihood that the speech will be effectiveĪudiences are unlikely to understand disorganized speeches and even less likely to think that disorganized speakers are reliable or credible. First, organization helps improve clarity of thought in a systematic way. Specific Purpose – To demonstrate to my audience the correct method for cleaning a computer keyboard.Ĭentral Idea – Your computer keyboard needs regular cleaning to function well, and you can achieve that in four easy steps.Organizing speeches serves two important functions. Specific Purpose – To explain to my classmates the effects of losing a pet on the elderly.Ĭentral Idea – When elderly persons lose their animal companions, they can experience serious psychological, emotional, and physical effects. Just as you would create a thesis statement for an essay or research paper, the central idea statement helps focus your presentation by defining your topic, purpose, direction, angle and/or point of view.

The statement that reveals your main points is commonly known as the central idea statement (or just the central idea). 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 be. To _ my _.Įxample: The purpose of my presentation is to demonstrate for my coworkers the value of informed intercultural communication. This formula will help you in putting together your specific purpose statement:

Keeping these three inputs in mind, you can begin to write a specific purpose statement, which will be the foundation for everything you say in the speech and a guide for what you do not say.

You, your audience, and your context (Tucker & Barton, 2016) Putting It Together

You (your interests, your background, past jobs, experience, education, major),įigure 5.3.

In writing your specific purpose statement, you will take three contributing elements (shown in figure 5.3) that will come together to help you determine your specific purpose : 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. A specific purpose statement builds on your general purpose (to inform) and makes it more specific (as the name suggests). 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. Perhaps you could think of them as appealing to the understanding of the audience (informative), the will or action (persuasive), and the emotion or pleasure. These broad goals are commonly known as a speech’s general purpose, since, in general, you are trying to inform, persuade, or entertain your audience without regard to specifically what the topic will be. 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: to inspire, to amuse, to please, or to entertain. Chapter 5: Presentation Organization 32 Purpose and Central Idea Statements

Demonstrative speech central idea