checklist for informative speech (P03), (E08), (A03)

Check List for Informative Speeches

Topic Choice

ð Have you chosen a topic that's appropriate for THIS audience? (not too technical, not to specialized for a general audience? Not too trivial for a college-level audience?)

ð What is your real intention? In an informative speech you must take a neutral position.. You must educate and enlighten us, not try to persuade us to agree with your opinion about a controversial topic. Nor must you try to get us to DO something as a result of your speech. (Note: merely using the phrase, "to inform," doesn't make it an informative speech if what you're really after is persuading your audience to agree with your point of view.)

ð Have you chosen a topic that is narrow enough to allow you to cover it in depth in a 4-to-6 minute speech?

ð Have you chosen a topic that will present us with new information (Tell us something we don't already know)?

ð Have you chosen a good, snappy title for your speech?

Audience Analysis

ð Have you checked to see what your audience knows and/or believes about your topic?

ð Have you checked to see how important the topic is to your audience?

ð Have you checked to see if your audience really understands any technical or complicated words or terms that you might use?

Specific Purpose Statement

ð Have you written it according to our new in-class instructions ("By the end of my speech, my audience will be able to _______")?

ð Does you Specific Purpose Statement contain no more than one idea (no use of “and”)

Organization

ð Have you organized the BODY of the speech effectively, according to one of the organization patterns discussed (Chronological, Spatial, Causal, Topical)?

ð Have you chosen the best organizational pattern for your topic and audience?

ð Will your organization pattern help your audience to follow the logical flow of your presentation?

Research

ð If this is a research speech, have you made sure to include the required minimum number of VERBAL references to research in the BODY of your speech?

ð Remember, you must cite those research sources (mention them aloud), otherwise it's the same as if you haven't done any research.

Presentation Aids

ð If this speech requires presentation aids, have you made sure to include the required minimum number of presentation aids in the BODY of your speech?

ð Do your presentation aids meet the criteria discussed in class?

Introduction
DO NOT BEGIN YOUR SPEECH BY ANNOUNCING YOUR TOPIC OR YOUR PURPOSE!

ð Do you have a powerful opening sentence that will “grab” the audience?

ð Have you included statements in your introduction that will

o establish your credibility or authority to speak about your topic

o indicate the importance of your topic to this audience

ð Have you included your central idea at the end of your introduction so that your audience will know exactly what it can expect to hear? Remember, the audience must hear this central idea.

ð Does your central idea flow naturally from your specific purpose statement?

ð Does your central idea match and preview the main points in the body of your speech?

Conclusion
DO NOT CONCLUDE YOUR SPEECH BY SAYING “THAT’S ALL” OR ANY WORDS LIKE THAT.

ð Does your conclusion meet the criteria discussed in class?

ð Have you chosen at least one of the suggested devices for effectively concluding your speech?

Transitions

ð Have you included simple clear transitions going into the 1^st Main Point of the Body and between each of the Main Points?

Planning Outline

ð Have you formatted your preparation outline properly?

o Anything that you divide must be divided into a minimum of two parts.

o Each subdivision must be indented properly.

ð Have you a minimum of 3 typewritten (double-spaced) pages?

o Page 1 All introductory material as per the "Oatmeal Outline"

o Page 2, 3, etc. The Body (may take more than one page)

o Last page All conclusion material including bibliography (if required)

ð Have you stapled your outline in the upper left-hand corner?

Rehearsal and Speaking Outline

ð Have you prepared effective speaking notes -- the speaking outline? (Refer to the text)

ð Have you practiced a minimum of 1 hour for every minute of speech length?

ð Have you recorded your rehearsal and played the tape back for logical flow of ideas, timing, etc?

Notepad

No	FINAL CHECKLIST
1	Have I rehearsed my speech/ presentation at least 3 times?
2	Does my speech have all the major components? Intro? Body? Conclusion?
3	Is it within the allocated time?
4	Does my speech have an attention getter and impactful ending?
5	Have I customized it to my audience?
6	Have I rehearsed at the actual location?
7	Do I know where all the switches are?
8	Are they in good functioning order? For my laptop? LCD? Etc.
9	Is the microphone working?
10	Are all my things (e.g. visual aids) where I want them to be?
11	Do I know how to use the projector?
12	Do I have batteries for my laptop, just in case?
13	Do my marker pens have ink?
14	Have I turned my mobile phone off? Or at least put it on ‘silent’?
15	If I can’t use Plan A, do I have a Plan B? Plan C?

task 5 (P03)

Read the passage below and discuss the question given

As public speakers, we take our audience on a journey, and we need to show them the way. Remember the old maxim, "First, I tell them what I'm going to tell them, then, I tell them and lastly, I remind them what I've told them". This rule is particularly important to keep in mind when our speech is going to include a great deal of information.

When there is a lot of information to cover in our speech, we have to make sure that we go through each point clearly because listening is a passive skill, unlike reading which is active. Thus, when it comes to listening, many people have poorer concentration. Most people listen for about ten minutes and then their mind and attention wander. They begin to think of other things. Because of that, we need to find ways to revive them and make them stay with us throughout the speech.

In order to get back their attention, we can firstly use visual aids. We should include pictures, graphs, mind maps or flowcharts to accompany the point that we make. This is due to the reason that when the listeners can see something while listening, they can concentrate better. Secondly, we can include humour or jokes. Plan the use of humour so that it comes at intervals throughout the speech. Do not joke all the way throughout our speech! If this is what we do, nobody takes us and the information in our speech seriously.

The next point is to surprise our audience with a direct question. It can be as simple as, "Do you agree?". They will surely wake up! And they will try to concentrate on what we are saying in case we ask them again. Then, another way is to ask for a show of hands, in other words, ask them to put up their hands to the question that we ask, for example, "How many of you have a tv screen in your car?". When they raise their hands, they are physically involved and this makes them feel less sleepy.

Besides that, in order to ensure that they can follow our points; use signal words like firstly, secondly, then, finally and others to show sequence. And the last method is to get the listeners to write things down. For instance, ask them to turn to their neighbours and make a list of all the tv programmes that he/she likes. Then, you can even choose a few of them to share it with everybody.

These are just some of the ways that we can adopt to make our speech more interesting and easier to follow. If we manage to apply these methods in our speech, our listeners will stay awake and be able to understand our speech more easily.

List down four of the ways that are used to revive and make the audience stay with us throughout our speech.

task 5 (E08)

Read the passage below and discuss the question given

As public speakers, we take our audience on a journey, and we need to show them the way. Remember the old maxim, "First, I tell them what I'm going to tell them, then, I tell them and lastly, I remind them what I've told them". This rule is particularly important to keep in mind when our speech is going to include a great deal of information.

When there is a lot of information to cover in our speech, we have to make sure that we go through each point clearly because listening is a passive skill, unlike reading which is active. Thus, when it comes to listening, many people have poorer concentration. Most people listen for about ten minutes and then their mind and attention wander. They begin to think of other things. Because of that, we need to find ways to revive them and make them stay with us throughout the speech.

In order to get back their attention, we can firstly use visual aids. We should include pictures, graphs, mind maps or flowcharts to accompany the point that we make. This is due to the reason that when the listeners can see something while listening, they can concentrate better. Secondly, we can include humour or jokes. Plan the use of humour so that it comes at intervals throughout the speech. Do not joke all the way throughout our speech! If this is what we do, nobody takes us and the information in our speech seriously.

The next point is to surprise our audience with a direct question. It can be as simple as, "Do you agree?". They will surely wake up! And they will try to concentrate on what we are saying in case we ask them again. Then, another way is to ask for a show of hands, in other words, ask them to put up their hands to the question that we ask, for example, "How many of you have a tv screen in your car?". When they raise their hands, they are physically involved and this makes them feel less sleepy.

Besides that, in order to ensure that they can follow our points; use signal words like firstly, secondly, then, finally and others to show sequence. And the last method is to get the listeners to write things down. For instance, ask them to turn to their neighbours and make a list of all the tv programmes that he/she likes. Then, you can even choose a few of them to share it with everybody.

These are just some of the ways that we can adopt to make our speech more interesting and easier to follow. If we manage to apply these methods in our speech, our listeners will stay awake and be able to understand our speech more easily.

List down four of the ways that are used to revive and make the audience stay with us throughout our speech.

task 5 (A03)

Read the passage below and discuss the question given

As public speakers, we take our audience on a journey, and we need to show them the way. Remember the old maxim, "First, I tell them what I'm going to tell them, then, I tell them and lastly, I remind them what I've told them". This rule is particularly important to keep in mind when our speech is going to include a great deal of information.

When there is a lot of information to cover in our speech, we have to make sure that we go through each point clearly because listening is a passive skill, unlike reading which is active. Thus, when it comes to listening, many people have poorer concentration. Most people listen for about ten minutes and then their mind and attention wander. They begin to think of other things. Because of that, we need to find ways to revive them and make them stay with us throughout the speech.

In order to get back their attention, we can firstly use visual aids. We should include pictures, graphs, mind maps or flowcharts to accompany the point that we make. This is due to the reason that when the listeners can see something while listening, they can concentrate better. Secondly, we can include humour or jokes. Plan the use of humour so that it comes at intervals throughout the speech. Do not joke all the way throughout our speech! If this is what we do, nobody takes us and the information in our speech seriously.

The next point is to surprise our audience with a direct question. It can be as simple as, "Do you agree?". They will surely wake up! And they will try to concentrate on what we are saying in case we ask them again. Then, another way is to ask for a show of hands, in other words, ask them to put up their hands to the question that we ask, for example, "How many of you have a tv screen in your car?". When they raise their hands, they are physically involved and this makes them feel less sleepy.

Besides that, in order to ensure that they can follow our points; use signal words like firstly, secondly, then, finally and others to show sequence. And the last method is to get the listeners to write things down. For instance, ask them to turn to their neighbours and make a list of all the tv programmes that he/she likes. Then, you can even choose a few of them to share it with everybody.

These are just some of the ways that we can adopt to make our speech more interesting and easier to follow. If we manage to apply these methods in our speech, our listeners will stay awake and be able to understand our speech more easily.

List down four of the ways that are used to revive and make the audience stay with us throughout our speech.