Speech Chapter 9 Developing And Organizing The Presentation Resource Guide The Opening Page Each

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CHAPTER 9

Developing and Organizing the Presentation

Resource Guide

The opening page of each chapter in Communicating at Work lists desired learning outcomes. The

Resource Guide will assist you in locating activities and resources from the text and Instructor Manual

About Chapter 9

This chapter introduces students to many types of presentational speaking that are common in business

and professional settings. The chapter focuses on five tasks necessary for developing a presentation: (1)

analyzing the speaking situation, (2) setting a goal and developing a thesis, (3) organizing the body of the

speech, (4) planning the introduction and conclusion, and (5) adding transitions.

The chapter highlights three essential factors students must attend to as they analyze the speaking

situation: the audience, themselves as speakers, and the occasion. In analyzing the audience, students can

use the concepts taught previously regarding gender and culture. Information from Chapter 1 on context

Personal Reflection for Individual Journaling Assignment

Think of a presentation you attended in which you felt as though the speaker had not accurately

analyzed the audience or the occasion. As a listener, how did this mismatch make you feel?

What will you do as a speaker to prevent your audiences from feeling that you did not accurately

analyze their needs, interests, and knowledge levels?

Discussion Launchers

1. What types of presentations will your career demand? Describe as many as you can. Why might

YOU be selected as the speaker in these situations, rather than one of your coworkers? If you are

called upon to speak, what can you to do ensure that your presentation is the best it can be?

2. What do you believe a presentation can accomplish that written communication never can? What

are the disadvantages of relying on a written document when compared with an oral presentation?

3. As a listener, what are the biggest clues you have that a speaker has not taken the time to adapt

the presentation so it is appropriate for a particular situation? Think of examples of speeches you

have seen that did not take into account the situation (audience, speaker, and occasion). What

4. Describe some speeches in which the speaker clearly analyzed and fine–tuned the presentation by

considering the uniqueness of the audience, the occasion, and the speaker. Explain how you knew

the preparation was thorough. What was the impact of the speaker’s mindfulness?

5. What are the most significant drawbacks of not taking the time to analyze your audience before

preparing a presentation?

6. Which demographic and cultural factors of an audience do you think a speaker should pay most

attention to during audience analysis? Explain your answer, giving examples.

7. Choose a topic that you have a strong opinion about, such as abortion, gay/lesbian rights, our

country’s stance about going to war, physician–assisted suicide, or a local environmental issue.

What is your typical reaction when a speaker attempts to persuade you to accept an argument that

is antithetical to your view? Now, put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Consider how your

audience might react if you attempted to persuade them to accept a view that directly opposes

8. What can you learn from analyzing yourself as a speaker? Describe how you can apply this

knowledge, using two very different presentational speaking situations.

9. Since your specific goal statement will not be stated out loud in the speech but is a note to

yourself outlining what you hope to accomplish, why bother to write it down?

10. Since you won’t be stating your specific goal out loud to your audience in your speech, how can

audience members tell if you have a clear purpose? What verbal and nonverbal cues can you use

to signal a clear, specific purpose?

11. Are there times when a speaker might avoid describing his or her true goal yet still be ethical?

Explain your answer. How can you differentiate an ethical omission of a goal from an unethical

12. In your own words, contrast the following: general goal, specific goal, and thesis statement. Give

13. Why is it useful to audience members to know the speaker’s goal?

14. The text suggests that you will probably repeat your thesis several times during your presentation.

Will this make a speech seem boring or mechanical? Why or why not? Give examples of how a

speaker could repeat a thesis without sounding overly repetitive.

15. In what ways do your expectations about the organization of a speech reflect a particular culture?

16. Have you ever sat through a presentation that seemed disorganized? Illustrate with a specific

example. What impact did the lack of organization have on your ability to understand and retain

17. Recall one effective and one ineffective speech introduction that you have heard. What made

them effective or ineffective?

18. Sometimes students add the words “Well, that’s about it” or “And yeah” or “Questions?” (when

there is no time for a question–and–answer session) at the end of their speech. Have you ever

19. As a listener, are you aware of transitions? Do you listen for them? Do they help you?

20. As a speaker, how can you create transitions that clearly guide the listener through the speech but

do not sound tedious? Write out one or two examples.

Classroom Activities

1. Situation Analysis

Objective: This activity helps students understand realistic ways of analyzing an audience before giving

a presentation.

Procedure: Divide the class into five groups. Assign one of the following potential audiences to each

group:

• parents of children at a daycare center

• a high school athletic team

• a group of coworkers from your workplace

The task of each group is to select a topic they would be qualified to talk about (speaker analysis).

They should then construct a plan for analyzing the audience and the occasion. Based on that analysis,

how would they tweak their topic to be of interest to their particular audience? Since these are

hypothetical audiences, students will have to use their imaginations to construct a description of the

audience they expect to encounter.

Class Discussion: Ask each group to:

• describe the strategies they would use to obtain information about their assigned audience.

• suggest probable characteristics of the assigned occasion and audience.

2. Specific Goals

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to (1) develop specific goals for a

variety of topics; (2) distinguish between specific goals used for informative compared to persuasive

speeches; and (3) gain an understanding of the elements relevant to the development of a thesis statement.

Procedure: Have each group write a specific goal for each of the following scenarios. Then, create a

possible thesis statement for each situation, based on the goals they wrote.

Class Discussion: Class discussion could center on the various strategies groups used in creating their

purpose statements.

• What is the difference between a purpose statement and a thesis statement? Why would you

develop both for a presentation?

• What strategies do you use when developing purpose statements for informative speech

3. Specific Purpose, Thesis Statement, and Preview

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to distinguish among a general

purpose, a specific purpose, and a thesis statement.

Procedure: Divide the class into groups of three or four. Each group is responsible for selecting one

topic that at least one member is knowledgeable about and could make a presentation on if asked. Discuss

the importance of narrowing the topic and developing a clear specific purpose.

Each group should then develop a highly focused specific goal for the selected topic (one that would

be manageable for a five–minute speech). Ask groups to share their specific goals. The class will evaluate

Class Discussion: After you have completed the procedure above, extend the discussion by asking

questions such as:

• Which steps of this process did you find most difficult?

• How, when, and where might you state your thesis in your speech?

• How can you word a thesis statement so it doesn’t sound too “canned”?

• How can you emphasize the thesis in your introduction so the audience knows it is your

4. Practice with Organizational Patterns

Objective: Students will become familiar with the basic organizational patterns presented in this chapter.

Procedure: Divide the class into eight teams. Assign each team one of the organizational patterns

presented in this chapter (chronological; spatial; topical; cause–effect; problem–solution; criteria

satisfaction; comparative advantages; motivated sequence). Allow groups 10 minutes to plan a 3– to 5–

5. Selecting the Most Effective Organizational Patterns*

Objective: Students will select the most effective organizational patterns for a variety of topics and then

develop main points.

Procedure: Distribute a list of possible topics to individual students or to small groups of students.

Instruct students to define the purpose of their presentation and to specify information about the audience

and the setting. Students should then select an organizational pattern, justify why they chose that pattern,

and identify main points they could use. If you are short of time, you could assign one topic to each group

and then share the results.

Examples of topics:

• You are planning campus tours for prospective students on your campus.

• Your boss wants a status report on why the computer system crashed on your shift and

the consequences of the crash.

• You are presenting a synopsis of the history of community colleges in your education

class.

Class Discussion: Ask each group to share its recommendations with the class. Evaluate the pattern

choices, paying particular attention to students’ justifications. In your discussion, refer to audience and

situation analysis.

• What is your overall purpose in this situation?

• What is your relationship to the audience? How does this affect your credibility?

• How might the occasion and setting affect your choice of pattern?

• What other considerations might influence your choice of pattern?

• Why did you choose these particular main points?

*Adapted from an activity by Ron Adler, Santa Barbara Community College

6. Organizing Informative and Persuasive Presentations

Objective: This activity will allow students to practice creating main points and to begin using the

various types of organizational patterns.

Procedure: Collect several sets of information (enough for one per student or one for every two

students) on your city from the chamber of commerce. Distribute the information to groups of students.

Give them the following instructions:

Instructions for Students: Choose ONE interesting facet of your city. Using the information

provided, construct an outline for an informative speech about your topic. Your general purpose is to

you would use to support each point. After you have finished organizing your outline, write it on the

board.

Variation 1: If you have time, ask students to design a persuasive speech, using the same information

and audience. The general purpose of this speech is to persuade a group of newcomers to visit and

explore this facet of your city.

Class Discussion: The following questions could foster class discussion:

INFORMATIVE PRESENTATION:

• How did the type of information influence the organizational pattern you chose?

• How did the audience influence the organizational pattern you chose?

• Could you have presented the same information using a different organizational pattern?

PERSUASIVE PRESENTATION:

7. Basics of Outlining

Objective: To provide outlining practice for students who do not understand the concept.

Class Discussion: The following questions could be used to lead class discussion.

• Can outlining help us understand what we read? How?

• When you listen to a presentation, can you tell if the speaker has taken time to outline the

presentation before delivering it? How can you tell?

• Why does having a well–organized outline help the audience understand your information better?

• It has been said that a speaker who doesn’t prepare well for their presentation is showing

8. Introductions, Conclusions, and Transitions

Objective: To classify various types of introductions, conclusions, and transitions and to analyze how

they function in an actual speech.

Procedure: Provide each student or each pair of students with a copy of Vital Speeches. If you can get a

Instructions for Students

1. Read or skim one or more of the speeches your instructor has distributed to you. As you

read the introductions, pencil in the margin to code the parts of the introductions that you

can identify, and label the attention–getting method used if it fits into one of the

2. Underline or highlight the transitions, and be ready to read to the class some of the best

examples of transitions. Write each transitional word or phrase used on a post–it note.

3. Look for various techniques in the conclusions. Can you find examples of several types

of closing? Which ones? Be prepared to read to the class any particularly effective

closings you find.

4. After these elements of introductions, transitions, and conclusions have been identified,

evaluate their effectiveness in this particular speech.

Class Discussion: The following questions could be used to lead class discussion:

• Which introduction seemed most effective to you? Why?

• Did you find any types of introductions that don’t fall neatly into one of the categories in the

text? If so, list these on the board or paper provided.

• Which transitions seem especially effective? What makes them effective?

• Which criteria for transitions do they meet?

Variation: You may wish to assign students to read the following article before class, to emphasize key

points of effective introductions and conclusions:

http://publicspeaker.quickanddirtytips.com/how–to–end-a-speech.aspx

Written Application Exercises

1. Organizing Your Speech

Write an essay in which you address the following:

• Why is it important to set a specific goal for your speech? What elements of the speech help you

share that goal with your audience?

• Why is it important to choose an organizational pattern for your speech? How does the audience

Video Activities

1. Identify Thesis, Preview, Main Points, Transitions, Organizational Pattern, and Conclusion

Objective: This activity provides students an opportunity to identify and evaluate various elements of

presentations. This activity helps boost students’ confidence as they view actual examples of rhetorical

For each presentation, start by showing the introduction. Ask students to identify the thesis and

preview. Next, play the body of the speech. Ask students to identify the main points and note the

Class Discussion: As a wrap–up, ask students which speech elements they found most effective and why.

When appropriate, spend some time discussing differences in the students’ perceptions. This can lead into

a discussion of various learning styles and audiences with mixed preferences.

Additional Resources

Kushner, M. (2004). Presentations for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing

Easy–to–follow tips for preparation and delivery of presentations, with additional sections on

humor, managing stage fright, heading off problems, and using PowerPoint.

Leech, T. (2004). How to prepare, stage, and deliver winning presentations. New York: AMACOM.

Addresses the role of presentations in business today. Adopts a systematic approach to

presentations, covering how to plan, organize, support, stage, and deliver presentations. Also

includes chapters on team presentations and international presentations.

Sprague, J., Stuart, D., & Bodary, D. (2002). The speaker’s handbook (9th ed.). Boston: Cengage

Face to Face: A Common–Sense Approach to Developing Effective Business Communication Skills. Vol.

I. Part 2: Planning, Organizing, and Developing the Presentation. 30 min. The Educational Video Group

Excellent information on beginning steps for presentational speaking

Finding Information (1996) 30 min. RMI Media.

Steps for effective research; appropriate use of oral footnotes; why the library is a primary source

Researching a Topic. 11 min. McGraw–Hill.

The Speaker’s Purpose and Occasion. 30 min. VTAE

Reviews three purposes of speeches, types of speeches, requirements of each type of speech, and

the way a speaker must consider the occasion in preparing for a speech.

Speaking Essentials. (2010) 25 min. Cambridge Educational films.

Provides basic tips for successful business presentations, ranging from overcoming anxiety to

scoping out your location.

Successful Speaking: Organizing a Speech. (26min) The Educational Video Group.

Explains topical, spatial, chronological, cause–effect, and problem–solution organizational

patterns.

Web

American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank

Ferguson Center for Public Speaking:

http://www.hsc.edu/Documents/academics/SpeakingCenter/OralPresentationScoringRubric.pdf

Provides a six–level scoring guide (for instructors)

InformativeSpeechTopics.info