What concept or concepts from the class do you thing were the most helpful in preparing your speeches?
I've read all chapters of the book and I think one concept about developing my purpose and topic from the class was the most helpful in preparing my speeches. When I talk with other people I usually have a goal, or purpose, in mind. We can try to make them understand an idea we have or to influence their opinion about a subject or motivate them to do something. I understand that having a well-defined purpose is especially important in pubic speaking. And four key steps make up the early part of speech preparation is very helpful:
- first, you determine your general purpose.
- second, you evaluate and select your speech topic.
- third, you combine your general purpose and topic to identify your specific purpose.
- fourth, you phrase the thesis of your speech as you develop your topic.
We have to define the general purpose of our speech. The general purpose refers to our overall goal and answers the questions, "what do I want my speech to do?". I have never thought about types of speech, but the general purpose of the speech typically corresponds to one of the most common types of speeches: informative, persuasive, or entertaining. When I understand what type of speech is mine I can make up my speech faster and easier. Keeping the general purpose in mind I can develop my speech.
I agree that developing your purpose and topic is very important. When you have that down, you are pretty much set to start developing your body paragraphs. During my first couple of papers, I didn't have a set purpose and topic. My thesis wasn't clear to me and it messed up the entire direction of my paper. My body paragraphs weren’t related to the thesis and it was all unclear. If I had set a purpose and topic from the get go, my speech would have gone very smoothly instead of a messy direction. I enjoyed your opinion of what you have taken from this class! It wasn’t all about the nerves for you, which I admire. Good luck today!
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