CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SPEAKING FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS
OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter students should be able to:
1. Identify twelve types of speeches for special occasions;
3. Develop speeches for special occasions.
Additional Skill Builder Exercises
1. End of course awards ceremony. Schedule a semester-end speech classroom celebration.
Have one student act as master of ceremonies and present a speech of welcome, and ask another
student to make a keynote address or a victory speech. Ask several students to present after-
dinner speeches and plan other types of special occasion speeches as well. One student can
2. Speech of tribute. Have students select someone they know or admire such as a friend, family
3. Short special occasion speeches. As students to choose on of the following ideas for a 1- to
2-minute classroom speech:
a. Propose a toast to a friend or classmate.
4. After dinner speech. Assign a 4 to 6 minute after dinner speech and ask students to choose
topics from their own experiences or observations. Suggest that students spend a day or two
simply observing people: at the supermarket, surfing the net, waiting in lines, pumping gas,
eating at fast food restaurants, talking on the cell phone, taking tests, studying at the library, or
driving on the expressway. Have them take notes on their observations and find areas which
could be expanded into a speech. Do people pushing shopping carts use strange methods? What
are some idiosyncrasies people exhibit when eating? Are there any common characteristics
students display when taking tests? What are some bizarre methods people use while driving?
What are different methods people use to talk on their cell phones?
InfoTrac/Library Database Exercise
Have students to a search through Vital Speeches or other periodicals to find a commencement
address by a well-known personality. After they read the speech, ask them to respond to the
following questions and report their answers to the class.
a. Who presented the speech and what are the speaker’s credentials, profession,
and/or area of expertise?
b. When was the speech presented and where delivered?
c. Describe the organization of the speech. Describe or paraphrase the introduction
and conclusion. Was a clear thesis provided? If so, what was it? Were there
clear transitions? What were they?