outline your speech and always aim for clarity

How to Write an Effective Persuasive Speech Outline: 5 Key Elements

• The Speaker Lab
• April 14, 2024

Table of Contents

If you’re a speaker, you are probably well familiar with the path from initial speech drafts to the day you actually present. By its nature, speech delivery is a journey filled with obstacles, yet it’s simultaneously an adventure in persuasion. With a well-crafted persuasive speech outline , you can do more than just present facts and figures to your audience. You can weave them into a narrative that captivates, convinces, and converts.

A meticulously planned persuasive speech outline isn’t just helpful; it’s essential. Crafting this blueprint carefully lets you deliver your message more effectively, making sure each point lands with the impact you’re aiming for. To help you achieve this impact, we have some tips and tricks for you to try.

Writing an Effective Persuasive Speech Outline

When we talk about persuasive speeches , we’re diving into the art of convincing others to see things from a certain point of view. Your speech is your one shot to grab attention, build your case, and inspire action. Your secret weapon for achieving this is your speech outline. In your speech outline, you want to touch on several key elements.

• Pick your fight: Start by zeroing in on what you really want to change or influence with this speech.
• Support your claim with evidence: Identify those key points that back up your stance to appeal to your audience’s rational side .
• The emotional hook: Weave in stories or facts that hit home emotionally .
• Avoid the kitchen sink approach: Don’t throw everything at them hoping something sticks. Be selective and strategic with the info you share.
• Nail that closer: Your conclusion isn’t just goodbye; it’s where you charge your audience with a call to action.

These elements form the backbone of your persuasive speech. By including these in your talk’s outline, you can’t go wrong.

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Establishing Your Main Objective and Structuring Your Points

Now that you have a general idea of what goes into a persuasive speech outline, let’s break a couple of these pieces down and look at them a little more closely.

Identifying the Purpose of Your Persuasive Speech

When writing your speech, you first need to nail down why you’re doing this in the first place. In other words, identify your main objective. After all, choosing to speak up isn’t merely about the desire to express oneself; it’s deeply rooted in understanding the effect you hope your discourse will unleash. Do you hope to sway opinions towards the belief that animal experimentation is a relic of the past? Or perhaps persuade them that social media does more good than harm? Whatever your cause, identifying your main objective will help keep you on track and avoid rambling.

Organizing Key Points for Maximum Impact

Once you’ve determined what you want to persuade your audience of, you can start building your argument. Specifically, you can determine your key points. Key points support your position on a topic, proving to your audience that you have actual reasons for taking your position.

To pack the most punch, arrange these key points in a logical order. Consider how you might connect your key points. Are there some that can be grouped together? The flow of your argument matters just as much as the argument itself, and a disjointed argument won’t do anyone any favors. As you organize your key points, consider these tips:

• Lead with strength, but don’t throw all your cards out at once.
• Build upon each point; important transitions between them can make or break audience engagement.
• Finish strong by tying back everything to the emotional chord you struck at the beginning.

Nailing these steps will ensure that when you speak, your message doesn’t just echo—it resonates.

Selecting Compelling Topics for Your Persuasive Speeches

Let’s face it, picking the right topic for your persuasive speech outline is half the battle. But what makes a topic not just good, but great? First off, it needs to spark interest, both yours and your audience’s. If you’re not fired up about it, chances are they won’t be either. Second, make sure the topic is something relevant. It should resonate with your listeners’ experiences or touch on their concerns and aspirations. Lastly, your topic has to be something you can research and back up with solid facts and expert opinions.

For ideas to get you started, check out a variety of speech topics here .

Enhancing Persuasion Through Rhetorical Appeals

The art of persuasion is something that’s been studied since ancient Greece. Back then, Greek philosopher Aristotle came up with the three rhetorical appeals . Each one described a different way of convincing your audience of your position. Together, these appeals help you form a rock-strong argument, making them worth learning.

Building Credibility with Ethos

To get people on your side, you first need to win their trust. That’s where ethos comes into play. Demonstrating to your listeners that you’re both trustworthy and deserving of their attention hinges on transparency about your qualifications, genuine self, and the wisdom gained from occasional setbacks. Letting folks know why they should listen can make all the difference.

Connecting with the Audience Through Pathos

At some point, we’ve all been moved by a story or an ad because it hit right in the feels. That sort of emotional appeal is called pathos , and it’s powerful stuff. If you want people really invested in what you’re saying, then be sure to use this appeal in your presentation. To harness the power of pathos, try telling a story , especially one your audience can relate to. The key is authenticity—sharing true experiences resonates more than anything fabricated ever could.

Strengthening Arguments with Logos

Last but not least, we have logos, our logical appeal. Oftentimes, this logical appeal entails facts and data points, which are used to back up what you’re selling, turning skeptics into believers. But just because you’re listing facts and figures doesn’t mean this part has to be boring. To keep your audience engaged, craft persuasive narratives and then ground them in robust proof. Giving your story to go with your numbers doesn’t just help keep them engaged, it also helps the information stick.

The Importance of Supporting Evidence and Counterarguments

In your persuasive speech outline, you need to note compelling evidence for each key point. In addition, you’ll want to address opposing views.

Gathering and Presenting Convincing Evidence

No matter how trustworthy you seem, or how compelling your stories are, most people need tangible proof. That’s where concrete evidence steps into the spotlight. To fortify your argument and boost its believability, sprinkle in a mix of hard data, customer stories, numerical evidence, and endorsements from authorities. To illustrate this data for your audience, you may find it helpful to create a slideshow . Supporting every assertion with research is an essential part of any persuasive speech. Without it, arguments inevitably sound flimsy and unconvincing.

Addressing Opposing Views Effectively

Although it may seem counterintuitive, address counter-arguments head-on in your persuasive speech outline. It might feel like walking into enemy territory but it actually strengthens your own argument. By acknowledging opposing views, you’re showing that not only do you know what they are, but also that they don’t scare you.

When you address these counter-arguments, demonstrate your understanding. Again, this is where your good research skills are going to come in handy. Present the facts, and ditch biased explanations. In other words, don’t mock or belittle the other side’s viewpoint or you’ll undermine your own trustworthiness. Instead, explain opposing viewpoints with neutrality.

Adopting this strategy not only neutralizes possible objections but also enhances your stance. Plus, this makes for an engaging dialogue between both sides of any debate, which keeps audience members hooked from start to finish.

In essence, tackling counter-arguments is less about winning over naysayers and more about enriching discussions around hot-button issues. At its core, persuasion isn’t just convincing folks; it’s sparking conversations worth having.

Crafting a Captivating Introduction and Conclusion

Now that you have the body of your persuasive speech outline, it’s time to talk beginning and end. To really hit your message home, you want to grab your audience’s attention at the beginning and call them to action at the end.

Creating an Engaging Hook to Capture Attention

The opening of your speech is where you need a good first impression. To hook your audience, consider starting with an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or even a short story related to your topic. Whatever route you choose, keep it interesting and concise, so that you can transition into the rest of your persuasive speech outline.

Concluding with a Strong Call to Action

Crafting strong conclusions is about leaving your readers feeling pumped and ready to jump into action. After all, if you’ve argued convincingly enough, your audience should be ready to act. To channel this energy, urge listeners towards specific actions. Here are some strategies:

• Suggest clear next steps: Don’t leave your audience hanging wondering what’s next. Give them concrete steps they can take immediately after reading.
• Create urgency: Why wait? Let folks know why now is the perfect time to act.
• Show benefits: Paint vivid pictures of how taking action will positively impact their lives or solve their problems.

With that captivating hook and a decisive call-to-action, you are one step closer to presenting an unforgettable speech.

Utilizing Monroe’s Motivated Sequence for Persuasive Structure

As you finish off your persuasive speech outline, you may be wondering how best to structure your speech. If that’s you, then Purdue University professor Alan H. Monroe has some answers. In his book “Monroe’s Principles of Speech,” the professor outlines Monroe’s Motivated Sequence, the best structure for persuasive speeches. Each step is broken down below.

Attention: Grabbing the Audience’s Focus

You’ve got something important to say. But first, you need them to listen. Start with a bang. Throwing out a shocking truth, posing a thought-provoking query, or sharing an enthralling tale could work magic in grabbing their attention. It’s all about making heads turn and ears perk up.

Need: Highlighting the Issue at Hand

Now that they’re listening, show them there’s a gaping hole in their lives that only your message can fill. Paint a vivid picture of the problem your speech addresses.

Satisfaction: Proposing a Solution

This is where you come in as the hero with a plan. Introduce your solution clearly and convincingly. How does it patch things up? Why does it outshine merely applying quick fixes to deep-rooted issues? Give your audience hope.

Visualization: Helping the Audience Visualize Benefits

Show them life on the other side of adopting your idea or product—brighter, easier, better. Use vivid imagery and relatable scenarios so they can see themselves reaping those benefits firsthand.

Action: Encouraging Audience Action

Last step: nudge them from “maybe” to “yes.” Make this part irresistible by being clear about what action they should take next—and why now’s the time to act. Whether signing up, voting, or changing behavior, make sure they know how easy taking that first step can be.

Learn more about Monroe’s Motivated Sequence here .

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Overcoming Public Speaking Fears for Effective Delivery

Let’s face it, the thought of public speaking can turn even the most confident folks into a bundle of nerves. But hey, you’ve got this. Dive into these expert strategies and you’ll find yourself delivering speeches like a seasoned orator in no time.

Techniques to Build Confidence in Public Speaking

If you’re feeling nervous on the big day, these three techniques are perfect for you. Take a look!

• Breathe: Deep breathing is your secret weapon against those pesky nerves. It tells your brain that everything is going to be okay.
• Pose like a superhero: Stand tall and strike a power pose before you go on stage. This isn’t just fun; science backs it up as a confidence booster .
• Kick perfectionism to the curb: Aim for connection with your audience, not perfection. Mistakes make you human and more relatable.

The goal here is to calm yourself enough to be able to deliver your persuasive speech outline with confidence. Even if you still feel a little nervous, you can still present an awesome speech. You just don’t want those nerves running the show.

Practicing Your Speech for Perfect Execution

If you know that you tend to get nervous when public speaking, then you don’t want to be running through you speech for the first time on the big day. Instead, practice beforehand using these techniques.

• The mirror is your friend: Practice in front of a mirror to catch any odd gestures or facial expressions.
• Vary your voice: As you deliver your speech, let your voice rise and fall to match what you’re sharing. Avoid speaking in a monotone.
• Say no to memorization: Rather than memorizing every word, learn key points by heart. You want to sound natural out there.

Remembering these steps won’t just help you tackle public speaking fear, but will also polish those all-important public speaking skills .

Once you’ve honed the skills you need to write a persuasive speech outline, the only thing left to do is to get out there and practice them. So take the rhetorical appeals—ethos, logos, and pathos—and practice weaving each element into your speech. Or take Monroe’s Motivated Sequence and work on structuring your outline accordingly.

Prepare well and when you hit the stage, you have not just a well-prepared persuasive speech outline, but also the power to alter perspectives, challenge the status quo, or even change lives.

• Last Updated: April 11, 2024

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12.3 Using Outlining for Success

Learning objective.

• Understand five basic principles of outline creation.

Tom706 – parallelism – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

As with any part of the speech process, there are some pretty commonly agreed upon principles for creating an outline. Now that we’ve examined the basics of outline creation, there are some important factors to consider when creating a logical and coherent outline: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.

Singularity

For the sake of clarity, make sure your thesis statement expresses one idea only. Only in this way will it be optimally useful to you as you build your outline. If you have narrowed your topic skillfully, you can readily focus the thesis statement as one central point. For instance, if you have a thesis statement that says the Second Amendment protects gun ownership rights but most people are unaware of the responsibility involved, you have a thesis statement focusing on two different issues. Which focus will you follow? It’s crucial to choose just one, saving the other perhaps for a different speech.

The same holds true for your three main points: they should each express one clear idea. For the sake of your audience, maintain clarity. If many different ideas are required in order to build a complete message, you can handle them in separate sentences with the use of such transitions as “at the same time,” “alternately,” “in response to that event,” or some other transition that clarifies the relationship between two separate ideas.

Consistency

The entire point of framing a thesis with one clear focus is to help you maintain consistency throughout your speech. Beyond the grammatical requirements of subject-verb agreement, you will want to maintain a consistent approach. For instance, unless your speech has a chronological structure that begins in the past and ends in the future, you should choose a tense, past or present, to use throughout the speech. Similarly, you should choose language and use it consistently. For instance, use humanity instead of mankind or humans, and use that term throughout.

Similarly, define your terms and use those terms only to designate the meanings in your definition. To do otherwise could result in equivocation and confusion. For instance, if you use the word “right” in two or three different senses, you should change your language. The word “right” can be applicable to your right to a good education; the ethical difference between right and wrong; and the status of a statement as right , or accurate and correct. By the same token, in a health care setting, saying that a medical test had a positive outcome can be confusing. Does the patient test positive for the presence of disease, or does the test reveal some good news? If you find yourself using the same word to mean different things, you will need to spend extra time in your speech explaining these meanings very clearly—or avoid the problem by making other word choices.

To make sure your audience will understand your speech, you must set aside the assumption that what is obvious to you is also obvious to your audience. Therefore, pay attention to adequacy in two ways: definitions of terms and support for your main points.

You should use concrete language as much as you can. For instance, if you use the word “community,” you’re using an abstract term that can mean many things. You might be referring to a suburban neighborhood; to a cultural group, such as the Jewish community; to an institutional setting that includes an academic community; or to a general sense of overarching mainstream community standards for what materials should or should not be broadcast on television, for instance. You may not find any definition of “community” that conveys your meaning. Therefore, you will need to define for your audience what you mean by “community.”

Adequacy is also a concern when you use evidence to support your main points. Evidence of the right kind and the right weight are needed. For instance, if you make a substantial claim, such as a claim that all printed news sources will be obsolete within ten years, you need expert sources. This means you need at least two well-known experts from the institutions that provide news (newspapers, television news, or news radio). They should be credible sources, not sources with extreme views whose contact with reality is questioned. This will give you the right kind of evidence, and a large enough amount of evidence.

A full-sentence outline readily shows whether you are giving “equal time” to each of your three main points. For example, are you providing three pieces of evidence to support each main point? It should also show whether each main point is directly related to the thesis statement.

Parallelism

Parallelism refers to the idea that the three main points follow the same structure or make use of the same kind of language. For instance, in the sample outline we used previously, you see that each of the main points emphasizes the topic, smart dust.

Parallelism also allows you to check for inconsistencies and self-contradictory statements. For instance, does anything within main point two contradict anything in main point one? Examining your text for this purpose can strengthen the clarity of your message. For instance, if in main point one you claim that computer crime leaves an electronic trail, but in main point two you claim that hackers often get away with their crimes, you have some explaining to do. If an electronic trail can readily lead to the discovery of the electronic felon, how or why do they get away with it? The answer might be that cybercrime does not fall within the jurisdiction of any law enforcement agency or that the law lags behind technology. Perhaps there are other reasons as well, and you must make sure you don’t leave your audience confused. If you confuse them, you will sound confused, and you will lose credibility. There is no doubt that a full-sentence outline provides the most useful opportunity to examine your message for the details that either clarify or undermine your message.

Finally, your conclusion should do two things. First, it should come “full circle” in order to show the audience that you have covered all the territory you laid out in your preview. Second, it should provide satisfying, decisive, psychological closure. In other words, your audience should know when your speech is over. You should not trail off. You should not have to say, “That’s it.” Your audience should not have to wait to see whether you’re going to say anything else. At the right time, they should feel certain that the speech is over and that they can clap.

Key Takeaway

• For an outline to be useful, it’s important to follow five basic principles: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.
• Look at an outline you’ve created for your public speaking course. Did you follow the five basic rules of outlining? How could you have changed your outline to follow those five basic principles?
• Write an outline for your next speech in your course, paying special attention to the structure of the outline to ensure that none of the principles of outlining are violated.

Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Persuasive Speech Outline, with Examples

March 17, 2021 - Gini Beqiri

A persuasive speech is a speech that is given with the intention of convincing the audience to believe or do something. This could be virtually anything – voting, organ donation, recycling, and so on.

A successful persuasive speech effectively convinces the audience to your point of view, providing you come across as trustworthy and knowledgeable about the topic you’re discussing.

So, how do you start convincing a group of strangers to share your opinion? And how do you connect with them enough to earn their trust?

Topics for your persuasive speech

We’ve made a list of persuasive speech topics you could use next time you’re asked to give one. The topics are thought-provoking and things which many people have an opinion on.

When using any of our persuasive speech ideas, make sure you have a solid knowledge about the topic you’re speaking about – and make sure you discuss counter arguments too.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• All school children should wear a uniform
• Facebook is making people more socially anxious
• It should be illegal to drive over the age of 80
• Lying isn’t always wrong
• The case for organ donation

Read our full list of  75 persuasive speech topics and ideas .

Preparation: Consider your audience

As with any speech, preparation is crucial. Before you put pen to paper, think about what you want to achieve with your speech. This will help organise your thoughts as you realistically can only cover 2-4 main points before your  audience get bored .

It’s also useful to think about who your audience are at this point. If they are unlikely to know much about your topic then you’ll need to factor in context of your topic when planning the structure and length of your speech. You should also consider their:

• Cultural or religious backgrounds
• Shared concerns, attitudes and problems
• Shared interests, beliefs and hopes
• Baseline attitude – are they hostile, neutral, or open to change?

The factors above will all determine the approach you take to writing your speech. For example, if your topic is about childhood obesity, you could begin with a story about your own children or a shared concern every parent has. This would suit an audience who are more likely to be parents than young professionals who have only just left college.

Remember the 3 main approaches to persuade others

There are three main approaches used to persuade others:

The ethos approach appeals to the audience’s ethics and morals, such as what is the ‘right thing’ to do for humanity, saving the environment, etc.

Pathos persuasion is when you appeal to the audience’s emotions, such as when you  tell a story  that makes them the main character in a difficult situation.

The logos approach to giving a persuasive speech is when you appeal to the audience’s logic – ie. your speech is essentially more driven by facts and logic. The benefit of this technique is that your point of view becomes virtually indisputable because you make the audience feel that only your view is the logical one.

• Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking and Persuasion

Ideas for your persuasive speech outline

1. structure of your persuasive speech.

The opening and closing of speech are the most important. Consider these carefully when thinking about your persuasive speech outline. A  strong opening  ensures you have the audience’s attention from the start and gives them a positive first impression of you.

You’ll want to  start with a strong opening  such as an attention grabbing statement, statistic of fact. These are usually dramatic or shocking, such as:

Sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead from the food that they eat – Jamie Oliver

Another good way of starting a persuasive speech is to include your audience in the picture you’re trying to paint. By making them part of the story, you’re embedding an emotional connection between them and your speech.

You could do this in a more toned-down way by talking about something you know that your audience has in common with you. It’s also helpful at this point to include your credentials in a persuasive speech to gain your audience’s trust.

Obama would spend hours with his team working on the opening and closing statements of his speech.

2. Stating your argument

You should  pick between 2 and 4 themes  to discuss during your speech so that you have enough time to explain your viewpoint and convince your audience to the same way of thinking.

It’s important that each of your points transitions seamlessly into the next one so that your speech has a logical flow. Work on your  connecting sentences  between each of your themes so that your speech is easy to listen to.

Your argument should be backed up by objective research and not purely your subjective opinion. Use examples, analogies, and stories so that the audience can relate more easily to your topic, and therefore are more likely to be persuaded to your point of view.

3. Addressing counter-arguments

Any balanced theory or thought  addresses and disputes counter-arguments  made against it. By addressing these, you’ll strengthen your persuasive speech by refuting your audience’s objections and you’ll show that you are knowledgeable to other thoughts on the topic.

When describing an opposing point of view, don’t explain it in a bias way – explain it in the same way someone who holds that view would describe it. That way, you won’t irritate members of your audience who disagree with you and you’ll show that you’ve reached your point of view through reasoned judgement. Simply identify any counter-argument and pose explanations against them.

• Complete Guide to Debating

4. Closing your speech

Your closing line of your speech is your last chance to convince your audience about what you’re saying. It’s also most likely to be the sentence they remember most about your entire speech so make sure it’s a good one!

The most effective persuasive speeches end  with a  call to action . For example, if you’ve been speaking about organ donation, your call to action might be asking the audience to register as donors.

Practice answering AI questions on your speech and get  feedback on your performance .

If audience members ask you questions, make sure you listen carefully and respectfully to the full question. Don’t interject in the middle of a question or become defensive.

You should show that you have carefully considered their viewpoint and refute it in an objective way (if you have opposing opinions). Ensure you remain patient, friendly and polite at all times.

Example 1: Persuasive speech outline

This example is from the Kentucky Community and Technical College.

Specific purpose

To persuade my audience to start walking in order to improve their health.

Central idea

Regular walking can improve both your mental and physical health.

Introduction

Let’s be honest, we lead an easy life: automatic dishwashers, riding lawnmowers, T.V. remote controls, automatic garage door openers, power screwdrivers, bread machines, electric pencil sharpeners, etc., etc. etc. We live in a time-saving, energy-saving, convenient society. It’s a wonderful life. Or is it?

Continue reading

Example 2: Persuasive speech

Tips for delivering your persuasive speech

• Practice, practice, and practice some more . Record yourself speaking and listen for any nervous habits you have such as a nervous laugh, excessive use of filler words, or speaking too quickly.
• Show confident body language . Stand with your legs hip width apart with your shoulders centrally aligned. Ground your feet to the floor and place your hands beside your body so that hand gestures come freely. Your audience won’t be convinced about your argument if you don’t sound confident in it. Find out more about  confident body language here .
• Don’t memorise your speech word-for-word  or read off a script. If you memorise your persuasive speech, you’ll sound less authentic and panic if you lose your place. Similarly, if you read off a script you won’t sound genuine and you won’t be able to connect with the audience by  making eye contact . In turn, you’ll come across as less trustworthy and knowledgeable. You could simply remember your key points instead, or learn your opening and closing sentences.
• Remember to use facial expressions when storytelling  – they make you more relatable. By sharing a personal story you’ll more likely be speaking your truth which will help you build a connection with the audience too. Facial expressions help bring your story to life and transport the audience into your situation.
• Keep your speech as concise as possible . When practicing the delivery, see if you can edit it to have the same meaning but in a more succinct way. This will keep the audience engaged.

The best persuasive speech ideas are those that spark a level of controversy. However, a public speech is not the time to express an opinion that is considered outside the norm. If in doubt, play it safe and stick to topics that divide opinions about 50-50.

Bear in mind who your audience are and plan your persuasive speech outline accordingly, with researched evidence to support your argument. It’s important to consider counter-arguments to show that you are knowledgeable about the topic as a whole and not bias towards your own line of thought.

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How To Write A Speech Outline

Do you have a speech coming up soon, but don’t know where to start when it comes to writing it? 

Don’t worry. 

The best way to start writing your speech is to first write an outline.

While to some, an outline may seem like an unnecessary extra step — after giving hundreds of speeches in my own career, I can assure you that first creating a speech outline is truly the best way to design a strong presentation that your audience will remember.

Should I Write A Speech Outline?

You might be wondering if you should really bother with a preparation outline. Is a speaking outline worth your time, or can you get through by just keeping your supporting points in mind?

Again, I highly recommend that all speakers create an outline as part of their speechwriting process. This step is an extremely important way to organize your main ideas and all the various elements of your speech in a way that will command your audience’s attention.

Good public speaking teachers will agree that an outline—even if it’s a rough outline—is the easiest way to propel you forward to a final draft of an organized speech that audience members will love.

Here are a few of the biggest benefits of creating an outline before diving straight into your speech.

Gain More Focus

By writing an outline, you’ll be able to center the focus of your speech where it belongs—on your thesis statement and main idea.

Remember, every illustration, example, or piece of information you share in your speech should be relevant to the key message you’re trying to deliver. And by creating an outline, you can ensure that everything relates back to your main point.

Keep Things Organized

Your speech should have an overall organizational pattern so that listeners will be able to follow your thoughts. You want your ideas to be laid out in a logical order that’s easy to track, and for all of the speech elements to correspond.

An outline serves as a structure or foundation for your speech, allowing you to see all of your main points laid out so you can easily rearrange them into an order that makes sense for easy listening.

Create Smoother Transitions

A speaking outline helps you create smoother transitions between the different parts of your speech.

When you know what’s happening before and after a certain section, it will be easy to accurately deliver transitional statements that make sense in context. Instead of seeming like several disjointed ideas, the parts of your speech will naturally flow into each other.

Save Yourself Time

An outline is an organization tool that will save you time and effort when you get ready to write the final draft of your speech. When you’re working off of an outline to write your draft, you can overcome “blank page syndrome.”

It will be much easier to finish the entire speech because the main points and sub-points are already clearly laid out for you.

Your only job is to finish filling everything in.

Preparing to Write A Speech Outline

Now that you know how helpful even the most basic of speech outlines can be in helping you write the best speech, here’s how to write the best outline for your next public speaking project.

How Long Should A Speech Outline Be?

The length of your speech outline will depend on the length of your speech. Are you giving a quick two-minute talk or a longer thirty-minute presentation? The length of your outline will reflect the length of your final speech.

Another factor that will determine the length of your outline is how much information you actually want to include in the outline. For some speakers, bullet points of your main points might be enough. In other cases, you may feel more comfortable with a full-sentence outline that offers a more comprehensive view of your speech topic.

The length of your outline will also depend on the type of outline you’re using at any given moment.

Types of Outlines

Did you know there are several outline types? Each type of outline is intended for a different stage of the speechwriting process. Here, we’re going to walk through:

• Working outlines
• Full-sentence outlines
• Speaking outlines

Working Outline

Think of your working outline as the bare bones of your speech—the scaffolding you’re using as you just start to build your presentation. To create a working outline, you will need:

• A speech topic
• An idea for the “hook” in your introduction
• A thesis statement
• 3-5 main points (each one should make a primary claim that you support with references)
• A conclusion

Each of your main points will also have sub-points, but we’ll get to those in a later step.

The benefit of a working outline is that it’s easy to move things around. If you think your main points don’t make sense in a certain order—or that one point needs to be scrapped entirely—it’s no problem to make the needed changes. You won’t be deleting any of your prior hard work because you haven’t really done any work yet.

Once you are confident in this “skeleton outline,” you can move on to the next, where you’ll start filling in more detailed information.

Full-sentence outline

As the name implies, your full-sentence outline contains full sentences. No bullet points or scribbled, “talk about x, y, z here.” Instead, research everything you want to include and write out the information in full sentences.

Why is this important? A full-sentence outline helps ensure that you are:

• Including all of the information your audience needs to know
• Organizing the material well
• Staying within any time constraints you’ve been given

Don’t skip this important step as you plan your speech.

Speaking outline

The final type of outline you’ll need is a speaking outline. When it comes to the level of detail, this outline is somewhere in between your working outline and a full-sentence outline. 

You’ll include the main parts of your speech—the introduction, main points, and conclusion. But you’ll add a little extra detail about each one, too. This might be a quote that you don’t want to misremember or just a few words to jog your memory of an anecdote to share.

When you actually give your speech, this is the outline you will use. It might seem like it makes more sense to use your detailed full-sentence outline up on stage. However, if you use this outline, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of reading your speech—which is not what you want to do. You’ll likely sound much more natural if you use your speaking outline.

How to Write A Speech Outline

We’ve covered the types of outlines you’ll work through as you write your speech. Now, let’s talk more about how you’ll come up with the information to add to each outline type.

Pick A Topic

Before you can begin writing an outline, you have to know what you’re going to be speaking about. In some situations, you may have a topic given to you—especially if you are in a public speaking class and must follow the instructor’s requirements. But in many cases, speakers must come up with their own topic for a speech.

Consider your audience and what kind of educational, humorous, or otherwise valuable information they need to hear. Your topic and message should of course be highly relevant to them. If you don’t know your audience well enough to choose a topic, that’s a problem.

Your audience is your first priority. If possible, however, it’s also helpful to choose a topic that appeals to you. What’s something you’re interested in and/or knowledgeable about? 

It will be much easier to write a speech on a topic you care about rather than one you don’t. If you can come up with a speech topic that appeals to your audience and is interesting to you, that’s the sweet spot for writing and delivering an unforgettable speech.

Write A Thesis Statement

The next step is to ask yourself two important questions:

• What do you want your audience to take away from your speech?
• How will you communicate this main message?

The key message of your speech can also be called your “thesis statement.”

Essentially, this is your main point—the most important thing you hope to get across.

You’ll most likely actually say your thesis statement verbatim during your speech. It should come at the end of your introduction. Then, you’ll spend the rest of your talk expanding on this statement, sharing more information that will prove the statement is true.

Consider writing your thesis statement right now—before you begin researching or outlining your speech. If you can refer back to this statement as you get to work, it will be much easier to make sure all of the elements correspond with each other throughout your speech.

An example of a good thesis statement might read like this:

• Going for a run every day is good for your health.
• It’s important to start saving for retirement early.
• The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on many small businesses.

The second part of this step is to know how you will communicate your main message . For example, if your key point is that running improves physical health, you might get this across by:

• Citing scientific studies that proved running is good for your health
• Sharing your personal experience of going for a run every day

Your goal is for all of your sub-points and supporting material to reflect and support your main point. At the end of the speech, your audience should be appropriately motivated, educated, or convinced that your thesis statement is true.

Once you have a topic for your presentation and a good thesis statement, you can move on to the bulk of the outline.

The first part of your speech is the introduction, which should include a strong “hook” to grab the attention of your audience. There are endless directions you can go to create this hook. Don’t be afraid to get creative! You might try:

• Telling a joke
• Sharing an anecdote
• Using a prop or visual aid
• Asking a question (rhetorical or otherwise)

These are just a few examples of hooks that can make your audience sit up and take notice.

The rest of your introduction shouldn’t be too long—as a general rule of thumb, you want your introduction to take up about 10% of your entire speech. But there are a few other things you need to say.

Briefly introduce yourself and who you are to communicate why the audience should trust you. Mention why you’re giving this speech. 

Explain that you’re going to cover X main points—you can quickly list them—and include your thesis statement. 

You could also mention how long your speech will be and say what your audience will take away from it (“At the end of our 15 minutes together today, you’ll understand how to write a resume”).

Then smoothly transition into the body of your speech.

Next, you’ll write the body of your speech. This is the bulk of your presentation. It will include your main points and their sub-points. Here’s how this should look:

Your subpoints might be anecdotes, visual aids, or studies. However you decide to support your main points, make them memorable and engaging. Nobody wants to sit and listen to you recite a dry list of facts.

Remember, the amount of detail you include right now will depend on which outline you’re on. Your first outline, or working outline, doesn’t have to include every last little detail. Your goal is to briefly encapsulate all of the most important elements in your speech. 

But beyond that, you don’t need to write down every last detail or example right now. You don’t even have to write full sentences at this point. That will come in your second outline and other future drafts.

Your conclusion should concisely summarize the main points of your speech. You could do this by saying, “To recap as I finish up, today we learned…” and reiterate those primary points.

It’s also good to leave the audience with something to think about and/or discuss. Consider asking them a question that expands on your speech—something they can turn over in their minds the rest of the day. 

Or share one final story or quote that will leave them with lasting inspiration. Bonus points if your conclusion circles back around to your introduction or hook.

In other cases, you may want to end with a call to action. Are you promoting something? Make sure your audience knows what it is, how it will benefit them, and where they can find it. Or, your CTA might be as simple as plugging your Twitter handle and asking listeners to follow you.

Finally, don’t forget to say thank you to your audience for taking the time to listen.

Additional Helpful Speechwriting Tips

Your speech outline is important, but it’s not the only thing that goes into preparing to give a presentation. Take a look at these additional tips I recommend to help your speech succeed.

Use Visual Aids

Visual aids are a good way to make sure your audience stays engaged—that they listen closely, and remember what you said. Visual aids serve as an attention-getter for people who may not be listening closely. These aids also ensure that your points are sufficiently supported.

You might choose to incorporate any of the following in your talk:

• A PowerPoint presentation
• A chart or graph
• A whiteboard or blackboard
• A flip chart
• A prop that you hold or interact with

Don’t overdo it. Remember, your speech is the main thing you’re presenting. Any visual aids are just that—aids. They’re a side dish, not the main entrée. Select one primary type of aid for your speech.

If you decide to include visual aids, use your speaking outline to make a note of which items you will incorporate where. You may want to place these items on your working outline. They should definitely be on your full-sentence outline.

Keep Your Audience Engaged

As you write and practice your speech, make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your audience engaged the entire time. We’ve already talked about including stories and jokes, using visual aids, or asking questions to vary your talk and make it more interesting.

Your body language is another important component of audience engagement. Your posture should be straight yet relaxed, with shoulders back and feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your body open to the audience.

Make eye contact with different people in the audience. Incorporate hand gestures that emphasize certain points or draw attention to your visual aids.

Don’t be afraid to move around whatever space you have. Movement is especially helpful to indicate a clearer transition from one part of your speech to another. And smile! A simple smile goes a long way to help your audience relax.

Practice Your Speech

When you’re done with speechwriting, it’s time to get in front of the mirror and practice. Pay attention to your body language, gestures, and eye contact. 

Practice working with any visual aids or props you will be using. It’s also helpful to make a plan B—for instance, what will you do if the projector isn’t working and you can’t use your slides?

Ask a friend or family member if you can rehearse your speech for them. When you’re through, ask them questions about which parts held their attention and which ones didn’t.

You should also use your speaking outline and whatever other notes you’ll be using in your speech itself. Get used to referring to this outline as you go. But remember, don’t read anything verbatim (except maybe a quote). Your speaking outline is simply a guide to remind you where you’re going.

Learn to Speak Like A Leader

There’s a lot of work that goes into writing a speech outline. That’s undeniable. But an outline is the best way to organize and plan your presentation. When your speech outline is ready, it will be a breeze to write and then present your actual speech.

If you’re looking for more help learning how to become a strong public speaker, I recommend my free 5 Minute Speech Formula . This will help you start writing your speech and turn any idea into a powerful message.

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook , Pinterest , Linkedin and Youtube .

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7.4: Outlining your Speech

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Learning Objectives

• Explain the principles of outlining.
• Create a formal outline.
• Explain the importance of writing for speaking.
• Create a speaking outline.

Think of your outline as the map of your speech. It is a living document that grows and takes form throughout your speech-making process. When you first draft your general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis statement, this is the start of your outline. Once you’ve chosen your organizational pattern, you will write out the main points of your speech and incorporate supporting material for those points from your research. You can include direct quotes from experts or paraphrase your sources, and be prepared to provide bibliographic information needed for your verbal citations in your outline document. By this point, you have a good working outline, and you can easily cut and paste information to move it around and see how it fits into the main points, subpoints, and sub-subpoints. As your outline continues to take shape, you will want to follow established principles of outlining to ensure a quality speech.

The Formal Outline

The formal outline is written in full-sentences to help you prepare for your speech because you will be speaking in full sentences. It includes the introduction and conclusion, the main content of the body, key supporting materials, citation information written into the sentences in the outline, and a references page for your speech. The formal outline also includes a title, the general purpose, specific purpose, and thesis statement. It’s important to note that an outline is not a script. While a script contains everything that will be said, an outline includes the main content. Therefore you shouldn’t include every word you’re going to say on your outline. This allows you more freedom as a speaker to adapt to your audience during your speech. Students sometimes complain about having to outline speeches or papers, but it is a skill that will help you in other contexts. Being able to break a topic down into logical divisions and then connect the information together is a valuable organizational skill which demonstrates that you can prepare for complicated tasks or that you’re prepared for meetings or interviews.

Principles of Outlining

There are principles of outlining you can follow to make your outlining process more efficient and effective. Four principles of outlining are consistency, unity, coherence, and emphasis (DuBois, 1929). In terms of consistency, you should follow standard outlining format. In standard outlining format, main points are indicated by capital roman numerals, subpoints are indicated by capital letters, and sub-subpoints are indicated by Arabic numerals. Further divisions are indicated by either lowercase letters or lowercase roman numerals.

The principle of unity means that each letter or number represents one idea. One concrete way to help reduce the amount of ideas you include per item is to limit each letter or number to one complete sentence. If you find that one subpoint has more than one idea, you can divide it into two subpoints. Limiting each component of your outline to one idea makes it easier to then plug in supporting material and helps ensure that your speech is coherent. In the following example from a speech arguing that downloading music from peer-to-peer sites should be legal, two ideas are presented as part of a main point.

• Downloading music using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs helps market new music and doesn’t hurt record sales.

The main point could be broken up into two distinct ideas that can be more fully supported.

• Downloading music using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs helps market new music.
• Downloading music using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs doesn’t hurt record sales.

Following the principle of unity should help your outline adhere to the principle of coherence, which states that there should be a logical and natural flow of ideas, with main points, subpoints, and sub-subpoints connecting to each other (Winans, 1917). Shorter phrases and keywords can make up the speaking outline, but you should write complete sentences throughout your formal outline to ensure coherence. The principle of coherence can also be met by making sure that when dividing a main point or subpoint, you include at least two subdivisions. After all, it defies logic that you could divide anything into just one part. Therefore if you have an A , you must have a B , and if you have a 1 , you must have a 2 . If you can easily think of one subpoint but are having difficulty identifying another one, that subpoint may not be robust enough to stand on its own. Determining which ideas are coordinate with each other and which are subordinate to each other will help divide supporting information into the outline (Winans, 1917). Coordinate points are on the same level of importance in relation to the thesis of the speech or the central idea of a main point. In the following example, the two main points (I, II) are coordinate with each other. The two subpoints (A, B) are also coordinate with each other. Subordinate points provide evidence or support for a main idea or thesis. In the following example, subpoint A and subpoint B are subordinate to main point II. You can look for specific words to help you determine any errors in distinguishing coordinate and subordinate points. Your points/subpoints are likely coordinate when you would connect the two statements using any of the following: and , but , yet , or , or also . In the example, the word also appears in B, which connects it, as a coordinate point, to A. The points/subpoints are likely subordinate if you would connect them using the following: since , because , in order that , to explain , or to illustrate . In the example, 1 and 2 are subordinate to A because they support that sentence.

• They conclude that the rapid increase in music downloading over the past few years does not significantly contribute to declining record sales.
• Their research even suggests that the practice of downloading music may even have a “slight positive effect on the sales of the top albums.”
• A 2010 Government Accountability Office Report also states that sampling “pirated” goods could lead consumers to buy the “legitimate” goods.

The principle of emphasis states that the material included in your outline should be engaging and balanced. As you place supporting material into your outline, choose the information that will have the most impact on your audience. Choose information that is proxemic and relevant, meaning that it can be easily related to the audience’s lives because it matches their interests or ties into current events or the local area. Remember primacy and recency discussed earlier and place the most engaging information first or last in a main point depending on what kind of effect you want to have. Also make sure your information is balanced. The outline serves as a useful visual representation of the proportions of your speech. You can tell by the amount of space a main point, subpoint, or sub-subpoint takes up in relation to other points of the same level whether or not your speech is balanced. If one subpoint is a half a page, but a main point is only a quarter of a page, then you may want to consider making the subpoint a main point. Each part of your speech doesn’t have to be equal. The first or last point may be more substantial than a middle point if you are following primacy or recency, but overall the speech should be relatively balanced.

Sample Informative Outline

Title: The Beautiful Game

General purpose: To inform

Specific purpose: By the end of my speech, the audience will understand the history and worldwide influence of soccer.

Thesis statement: Soccer is a game with a long history that is beloved by millions of fans all over the world.

Introduction

Attention getter: GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! GOAL! GOAL! GOOOOOOAL!

Introduction of topic: If you’ve ever heard this excited yell coming from your television, then you probably already know that my speech today is about soccer.

Credibility and relevance: Like many of you, I played soccer on and off as a kid, but I was never really exposed to the culture of the sport. It wasn’t until recently, when I started to watch some of the World Cup games with international classmates, that I realized what I’d been missing out on. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but I bet that, like most Americans, it only comes on your radar every few years during the World Cup or the Olympics. If, however, you lived anywhere else in the world, soccer (or football, as it is more often called) would likely be a much larger part of your life.

Preview: I am going to talk about the history of soccer, a few famous players and teams and the worldwide influence of the sport.

Main point 1: History

 Subpoint: Over 2000 years again in 206 BC, Chinese soldiers of the Han Dynasty were play Tsu-chu,  kicking the ball to supplement their training regimen.

 Subpoint: In 1863, the official rules of the game were created in England, called the Football Association. In 1872, the first FA cup was played and by 1888 there were 128   teams in the Association. In 1902 the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), and the first FIFA World Cup was played in 1930.

  Subpoints: The rules of football are fairly symbol, you have 11 players on each team, and only the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with hands. Each position has a   name, but I won’t go into that here. The object of the game is to score a goal while keeping the opposing team from scoring a goal.

Main point 2: Famous Football Clubs

  Subpoint: Manchester United based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England founded in 1878 is one of the oldest football clubs. Nickname: Man   United or Man U.

  Subpoint: Barcelona FC founded in 1899. Nickname: Barca.

  Subpoint: Real Madrid CF of Spain founded in 1902

Main point 3: Famous players

  Subpoint: Pele is a Brazilian legend of the game, whose career spanned the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and is considered “the greatest” by FIFA.

  Subpoint: Neymar is another player from Brazil who is considered one of the best footballers in the world and currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain. He   is known for this football skills and colorful and flamboyant hairstyles.

  Subpoint: Cristiano Ronaldo has played for three of the top FC that I just mentioned, and he one of the highest paid athletes in the world. Now, in his late thirties, he   nearing the end of his career, but he is still an exciting player to watch. And he happens to have the most Instagram followers.

Main point 4: Worldwide Influence

 Subpoint: Almost every country has a national football team, and every four years countries are united to compete in the World Cup, similar to the   Olympics which takes place every four years.

 Subpoint: Football is almost nonstop action for two 45 minute halves. Some people might say how can you watch a game where no one might score. It’s because football is   more than just kicking a ball. Players play with their whole body. It’s not unusual for a player to score a goal by punching the ball in with his head.

 Subpoint: People all over the world unite behind their team. In many countries, there is the culture of football, which often includes whole families watching or going to   games together to cheer for their team. You can play of fun game of learning country flags during the World Cup.

Transition to conclusion and summary of importance: In conclusion, soccer (or football) is an exciting sport that has a long history and global influence.

Review of main points: It’s a sport that is played all over the world. And there are several famous football clubs and star football players to follow.

Closing statement: Cristiano Ronaldo, said “football is unpredictable” (World Cup 2022, FOX) and that is what makes it exciting to watch. Players have to have the stamina and endurance to play for 45 minutes or longer without even a water break. You only need two feet and a ball. We need to stand up and appreciate the beautiful game.”

Sample Persuasive Outline (same topic as Informative Outline above)

The following outline shows the standards for formatting and content and can serve as an example as you construct your own outline. Check with your instructor to see if he or she has specific requirements for speech outlines that may differ from what is shown here.

Title: The USA’s Neglected Sport: Soccer

General purpose: To persuade

Specific purpose: By the end of my speech, the audience will believe that soccer should be more popular in the United States.

Thesis statement: Soccer isn’t as popular in the United States as it is in the rest of the world because people do not know enough about the game; however, there are actions we can take to increase its popularity.

Credibility and relevance: Like many of you, I played soccer on and off as a kid, but I was never really exposed to the culture of the sport. It wasn’t until recently, when I started to watch some of the World Cup games with international students in my dorm, that I realized what I’d been missing out on. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but I bet that, like most US Americans, it only comes on your radar every few years during the World Cup or the Olympics. If, however, you lived anywhere else in the world, soccer (or football, as it is more often called) would likely be a much larger part of your life.

Preview: In order to persuade you that soccer should be more popular in the United States, I’ll explain why soccer isn’t as popular in the United States and describe some of the actions we should take to change our beliefs and attitudes about the game.

Transition: Let us begin with the problem of soccer’s unpopularity in America.

A. Although soccer has a long history as a sport, it hasn’t taken hold in the United States to the extent that it has in other countries.

• Soccer has been around in one form or another for thousands of years. The president of FIFA, which is the international governing body for soccer, was quoted in David Goldblatt’s 2008 book, The Ball is Round , as saying, “Football is as old as the world…People have always played some form of football, from its very basic form of kicking a ball around to the game it is today.”
• Basil Kane, author of the book Soccer for American Spectators , reiterates this fact when he states, “Nearly every society at one time or another claimed its own form of kicking game.”

Transition: Although soccer has many problems that it would need to overcome to be more popular in the United States, I think there are actions we can take now to change our beliefs and attitudes about soccer in order to give it a better chance.

B. Sports fans in the United States already have lots of options when it comes to playing and watching sports.

• Our own “national sports” such as football, basketball, and baseball take up much of our time and attention, which may prevent people from engaging in an additional sport.
• Statistics unmistakably show that soccer viewership is low as indicated by the much-respected Pew Research group, which reported in 2006 that only 4 percent of adult US Americans they surveyed said that soccer was their favorite sport to watch.

a. Comparatively, 34 percent of those surveyed said that football was their favorite sport to watch.

b. In fact, soccer just barely beat out ice skating, with 3 percent of the adults surveyed indicating that as their favorite sport to watch.

C. The attitudes and expectations of sports fans in the United States also prevent soccer’s expansion into the national sports consciousness.

• One reason Americans don’t enjoy soccer as much as other sports is due to our shortened attention span, which has been created by the increasingly fast pace of our more revered sports like football and basketball.

a. According to the 2009 article from BleacherReport.com, “An American Tragedy: Two Reasons Why We Don’t Like Soccer,” the average length of a play in the NFL is six seconds, and there is a scoring chance in the NBA every twenty-four seconds.

b. This stands in stark comparison to soccer matches, which are played in two forty-five-minute periods with only periodic breaks in play.

D. Our lack of attention span isn’t the only obstacle that limits our appreciation for soccer; we are also set in our expectations.

• The BleacherReport article also points out that unlike with football, basketball, and baseball—all sports in which the United States has most if not all the best teams in the world—we know that the best soccer teams in the world aren’t based in the United States.
• We also expect that sports will offer the same chances to compare player stats and obsess over data that we get from other sports, but as Chad Nielsen of ESPN.com states, “There is no quantitative method to compare players from different leagues and continents.”
• Last, as legendary sports writer Frank Deford wrote in a 2012 article on Sports Illustrated ’s website, Americans don’t like ties in sports, and 30 percent of all soccer games end tied, as a draw, deadlocked, or nil-nil.

Transition: As US Americans, we can start to enjoy soccer more if we better understand why the rest of the world loves it so much.

E. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and there have to be some good reasons that account for this status.

• As was mentioned earlier, Chad Nielsen of ESPN.com notes that American sports fans can’t have the same stats obsession with soccer that they do with baseball or football, but fans all over the world obsess about their favorite teams and players.

a. Fans argue every day, in bars and cafés from Baghdad to Bogotá, about statistics for goals and assists, but as Nielsen points out, with the game of soccer, such stats still fail to account for varieties of style and competition.

b. So even though the statistics may be different, bonding over or arguing about a favorite team or player creates communities of fans that are just as involved and invested as even the most loyal team fans in the United States.

2. Additionally, Americans can start to realize that some of the things we might initially find off putting about the sport of soccer are actually some of its strengths.

a. The fact that soccer statistics aren’t poured over and used to make predictions makes the game more interesting.

b. The fact that the segments of play in soccer are longer and the scoring lower allows for the game to have a longer arc, meaning that anticipation can build and that a game might be won or lost by only one goal after a long and even-matched game.

E. We can also begin to enjoy soccer more if we view it as an additional form of entertainment.

• As Americans who like to be entertained, we can seek out soccer games in many different places.

a. There is most likely a minor or even a major league soccer stadium team within driving distance of where you live.

b. You can also go to soccer games at your local high school, college, or university.

2. We can also join the rest of the world in following some of the major soccer celebrities—David Beckham is just the tip of the iceberg.

3. Getting involved in soccer can also help make our society more fit and healthy.

F. Soccer can easily be the most athletic sport available to Americans.

• In just one game, the popular soccer player Gennaro Gattuso was calculated to have run about 6.2 miles, says Carl Bialik, a numbers expert who writes for The Wall Street Journal .
• With the growing trend of obesity in America, getting involved in soccer promotes more running and athletic ability than baseball, for instance, could ever provide.

a. A press release on FIFA’s official website notes that one hour of soccer three times a week has been shown in research to provide significant physical benefits.

b. If that’s not convincing enough, the website ScienceDaily.com reports that the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports published a whole special issue titled Football for Health that contained fourteen articles supporting the health benefits of soccer.

G. Last, soccer has been praised for its ability to transcend language, culture, class, and country.

• The nongovernmental organization Soccer for Peace seeks to use the worldwide popularity of soccer as a peacemaking strategy to bridge the divides of race, religion, and socioeconomic class.
• According to their official website, the organization just celebrated its ten-year anniversary in 2012.

a. Over those ten years the organization has focused on using soccer to bring together people of different religious faiths, particularly people who are Jewish and Muslim.

b. In 2012, three first-year college students, one Christian, one Jew, and one Muslim, dribbled soccer balls for 450 miles across the state of North Carolina to help raise money for Soccer for Peace.

3. A press release on the World Association of Nongovernmental Organizations’s official website states that from the dusty refugee camps of Lebanon to the upscale new neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, “soccer turns heads, stops conversations, causes breath to catch, and stirs hearts like virtually no other activity.”

Transition to conclusion and summary of importance: In conclusion, soccer is a sport that has a long history, can help you get healthy, and can bring people together.

Review of main points: Now that you know some of the obstacles that prevent soccer from becoming more popular in the United States and several actions we can take to change our beliefs and attitudes about soccer, I hope you agree with me that it’s time for the United States to join the rest of the world in welcoming soccer into our society.

Closing statement: The article from BleacherReport.com that I cited earlier closes with the following words that I would like you to take as you leave here today: “We need to learn that just because there is no scoring chance that doesn’t mean it is boring. We need to see that soccer is not for a select few, but for all. We only need two feet and a ball. We need to stand up and appreciate the beautiful game.”

Araos, C. (2009, December 10). An American tragedy: Two reasons why we don’t like soccer. Bleacher Report: World Football . Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/306338-an-american-tragedy-the-two-reasons-why-we-dont-like-soccer

Bialik, C. (2007, May 23). Tracking how far soccer players run. WSJ Blogs: The Numbers Guy . Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/tracking-how-far-soccer-players-run-112

Deford, F. (2012, May 16). Americans don’t like ties in sports. SI.com : Viewpoint. Retrieved from sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201.ies/index.html

FIFA.com (2007, September 6). Study: Playing football provides health benefits for all. Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footballdevelopment/medical/news/newsid=589317/index.html

Goldblatt, D. (2008). The ball is round: A global history of soccer . New York, NY: Penguin.

Kane, B. (1970). Soccer for American spectators: A fundamental guide to modern soccer . South Brunswick, NJ: A. S. Barnes.

Nielsen, C. (2009, May 27). “What I do is play soccer.” ESPN . Retrieved from http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4205057

Pew Research Center. (2006, June 14). Americans to rest of world: Soccer not really our thing. Pew Research Center . Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/315/americans-to-rest-of-world-soccer-not-really-our-thing

ScienceDaily.com. (2010, April 7). Soccer improves health, fitness, and social abilities. ScienceDaily.com: Science news . Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100406093524.htm

Selle, R. R. (n.d.). Soccer for peace. Wango.org: News . Retrieved from http://www.wango.org/news/news/psmp.htm

Soccer For Peace. (2012). Kicking across Carolina. SFP news . Retrieved from http://www.soccerforpeace.com/2012-10-03-17-18-08/sfp-news/44-kicking-across-carolina.html

Examples of APA Formatting for References

The citation style of the American Psychological Association (APA) is most often used in communication studies when formatting research papers and references. The following examples are formatted according to the sixth edition of the APA Style Manual. Links are included to the OWL Purdue website, which is one of the most credible online sources for APA format. Of course, to get the most accurate information, it is always best to consult the style manual directly, which can be found in your college or university’s library.

For more information on citing books in APA style on your references page, visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/08 .

Single Author

Two Authors

Warren, J. T., & Fassett, D. L. (2011). Communication: A critical/cultural introduction . Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Chapter from Edited Book

Mumby, D. K. (2011). Power and ethics. In G. Cheney, S. May, & D. Munshi (Eds.), The handbook of communication ethics (pp. 84–98). New York, NY: Routledge.

Periodicals

For more information on citing articles from periodicals in APA style on your references page, visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/07 .

Huang, L. (2011, August 1). The death of English (LOL). Newsweek, 152 (6), 8.

Kornblum, J. (2007, October 23). Privacy? That’s old-school: Internet generation views openness in a different way. USA Today , 1D–2D.

Journal Article

Bodie, G. D. (2012). A racing heart, rattling knees, and ruminative thoughts: Defining, explaining, and treating public speaking anxiety. Communication Education, 59 (1), 70–105.

Online Sources

For more information on citing articles from online sources in APA style on your references page, visit http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10 .

Online Newspaper Article

Perman, C. (2011, September 8). Bad economy? A good time for a steamy affair. USA Today . Retrieved from www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/2011-09-10/economy-affairs-divorce-marriage/50340948/1

Online News Website

Fraser, C. (2011, September 22). The women defying France’s full-face veil ban. BBC News . Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15023308

Online Magazine

Cullen, L. T. (2007, April 26). Employee diversity training doesn’t work. Time . Retrieved from www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1615183,00.html

Government Document or Report Retrieved Online

Pew Research Center. (2010, November 18). The decline of marriage and rise of new families. Retrieved from pewsocialtrends.org/files/201.0-families.pdf

Kwintessential. (n.d.). Cross cultural business blunders. Retrieved from www.kwintessential.co.uk/cult.-blunders.html

The Speaking Outline

The formal outline is a full-sentence outline that helps as you prepare for your speech, and the speaking outline is a keyword and phrase outline that helps you deliver your speech. While the formal outline is important to ensure that your content is coherent and your ideas are balanced and expressed clearly, the speaking outline helps you get that information out to the audience. Make sure you budget time in your speech preparation to work on the speaking outline. Skimping on the speaking outline will show in your delivery.

You may convert your formal outline into a speaking outline using a computer program. I often resave a file and then reformat the text so it’s more conducive to referencing while actually speaking to an audience. You may also choose, or be asked to, create a speaking outline on note cards. Note cards are a good option when you want to have more freedom to gesture or know you won’t have a lectern on which to place notes printed on full sheets of paper. In either case, this entails converting the full-sentence outline to a keyword or key-phrase outline. Speakers will need to find a balance between having too much or too little content on their speaking outlines. You want to have enough information to prevent fluency hiccups as you stop to mentally retrieve information, but you don’t want to have so much information that you read your speech, which lessens your eye contact and engagement with the audience. Budgeting sufficient time to work on your speaking outline will allow you to practice your speech with different amounts of notes to find what works best for you. Since the introduction and conclusion are so important, it may be useful to include notes to ensure that you remember to accomplish all the objectives of each.

Aside from including important content on your speaking outline, you may want to include speaking cues. Speaking cues are reminders designed to help your delivery. You may write “(PAUSE)” before and after your preview statement to help you remember that important nonverbal signpost. You might also write “(MAKE EYE CONTACT)” as a reminder not to read unnecessarily from your cards. Overall, my advice is to make your speaking outline work for you. It’s your last line of defense when you’re in front of an audience, so you want it to help you, not hurt you.

Writing for Speaking

As you compose your outlines, write in a way that is natural for you to speak but also appropriate for the expectations of the occasion. Since we naturally speak with contractions, write them into your formal and speaking outlines. You should begin to read your speech aloud as you are writing the formal outline. As you read each section aloud, take note of places where you had difficulty saying a word or phrase or had a fluency hiccup, then go back to those places and edit them to make them easier for you to say. This will make you more comfortable with the words in front of you while you are speaking, which will improve your verbal and nonverbal delivery.

Tips for Note Cards

• The 4 × 6 inch index cards provide more space and are easier to hold and move than 3.5 × 5 inch cards.
• Find a balance between having so much information on your cards that you are tempted to read from them and so little information that you have fluency hiccups and verbal fillers while trying to remember what to say.
• Use bullet points on the left-hand side rather than writing in paragraph form, so your eye can easily catch where you need to pick back up after you’ve made eye contact with the audience. Skipping a line between bullet points may also help.
• Include all parts of the introduction/conclusion and signposts for backup.
• Include key supporting material and wording for verbal citations.
• Only write on the front of your cards.
• Do not have a sentence that carries over from one card to the next (can lead to fluency hiccups).
• If you have difficult-to-read handwriting, you may type your speech and tape or glue it to your cards. Use a font that’s large enough for you to see and be neat with the glue or tape so your cards don’t get stuck together.
• Include cues that will help with your delivery. Highlight transitions, verbal citations, or other important information. Include reminders to pause, slow down, breathe, or make eye contact.
• Your cards should be an extension of your body, not something to play with. Don’t wiggle, wring, flip through, or slap your note cards.

Key Takeaways

• The formal outline is a full-sentence outline that helps you prepare for your speech and includes the introduction and conclusion, the main content of the body, citation information written into the sentences of the outline, and a references page.
• The principles of outlining include consistency, unity, coherence, and emphasis.
• Coordinate points in an outline are on the same level of importance in relation to the thesis of the speech or the central idea of a main point. Subordinate points provide evidence for a main idea or thesis.
• The speaking outline is a keyword and phrase outline that helps you deliver your speech and can include speaking cues like “pause,” “make eye contact,” and so on.
• Write your speech in a manner conducive to speaking. Use contractions, familiar words, and phrases that are easy for you to articulate. Reading your speech aloud as you write it can help you identify places that may need revision to help you more effectively deliver your speech.
• What are some practical uses for outlining outside of this class? Which of the principles of outlining do you think would be most important in the workplace and why?
• Identify which pieces of information you may use in your speech are coordinate with each other and subordinate.
• Read aloud what you’ve written of your speech and identify places that can be reworded to make it easier for you to deliver.

DuBois, W. C., Essentials of Public Speaking (New York: Prentice Hall, 1929), 104.

Winans, J. A., Public Speaking (New York: Century, 1917), 407.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

107 Outlining Your Speech

Most speakers and audience members would agree that an organized speech is both easier to present as well as more persuasive. Public speaking teachers especially believe in the power of organizing your speech, which is why they encourage (and often require) that you create an outline for your speech.  Outlines , or textual arrangements of all the various elements of a speech, are a very common way of organizing a speech before it is delivered. Most extemporaneous speakers keep their outlines with them during the speech as a way to ensure that they do not leave out any important elements and to keep them on track. Writing an outline is also important to the speechwriting process since doing so forces the speakers to think about the main points and sub-points, the examples they wish to include, and the ways in which these elements correspond to one another. In short, the outline functions both as an organization tool and as a reference for delivering a speech.

Outline Types

“Alpena Mayor Carol Shafto Speaks at 2011 Michigan Municipal League Convention”  by Michigan Municipal League.  CC-BY-ND .

There are two types of outlines. The first outline you will write is called the  preparation outline . Also called a working, practice, or rough outline, the preparation outline is used to work through the various components of your speech in an inventive format. Stephen E. Lucas [1]  put it simply: “The preparation outline is just what its name implies—an outline that helps you prepare the speech” (p. 248). When writing the preparation outline, you should focus on finalizing the purpose and thesis statements, logically ordering your main points, deciding where supporting material should be included, and refining the overall organizational pattern of your speech. As you write the preparation outline, you may find it necessary to rearrange your points or to add or subtract supporting material. You may also realize that some of your main points are sufficiently supported while others are lacking. The final draft of your preparation outline should include full sentences, making up a complete script of your entire speech. In most cases, however, the preparation outline is reserved for planning purposes only and is translated into a speaking outline before you deliver the speech.

A  speaking outline  is the outline you will prepare for use when delivering the speech. The speaking outline is much more succinct than the preparation outline and includes brief phrases or words that remind the speakers of the points they need to make, plus supporting material and signposts. [2]  The words or phrases used on the speaking outline should briefly encapsulate all of the information needed to prompt the speaker to accurately deliver the speech. Although some cases call for reading a speech verbatim from the full-sentence outline, in most cases speakers will simply refer to their speaking outline for quick reminders and to ensure that they do not omit any important information. Because it uses just words or short phrases, and not full sentences, the speaking outline can easily be transferred to index cards that can be referenced during a speech.

Outline Structure

Because an outline is used to arrange all of the elements of your speech, it makes sense that the outline itself has an organizational hierarchy and a common format. Although there are a variety of outline styles, generally they follow the same pattern. Main ideas are preceded by Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.). Sub-points are preceded by capital letters (A, B, C, etc.), then Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.), and finally lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.). Each level of subordination is also differentiated from its predecessor by indenting a few spaces. Indenting makes it easy to find your main points, sub-points, and the supporting points and examples below them. Since there are three sections to your speech— introduction, body, and conclusion— your outline needs to include all of them. Each of these sections is titled and the main points start with Roman numeral I.

OUTLINE FORMATTING GUIDE

Title:  Organizing Your Public Speech

Topic:  Organizing public speeches

Specific Purpose Statement:  To inform listeners about the various ways in which they can organize their public speeches.

Thesis Statement:  A variety of organizational styles can used to organize public speeches.

Introduction Paragraph that gets the attention of the audience, establishes goodwill with the audience, states the purpose of the speech, and previews the speech and its structure.

(Transition)

I. Main point

A. Sub-point B. Sub-point C. Sub-point

1. Supporting point 2. Supporting point

Conclusion Paragraph that prepares the audience for the end of the speech, presents any final appeals, and summarizes and wraps up the speech.

Bibliography

In addition to these formatting suggestions, there are some additional elements that should be included at the beginning of your outline: the title, topic, specific purpose statement, and thesis statement. These elements are helpful to you, the speechwriter, since they remind you what, specifically, you are trying to accomplish in your speech. They are also helpful to anyone reading and assessing your outline since knowing what you want to accomplish will determine how they perceive the elements included in your outline. Additionally, you should write out the transitional statements that you will use to alert audiences that you are moving from one point to another. These are included in parentheses between main points. At the end of the outlines, you should include bibliographic information for any outside resources you mention during the speech. These should be cited using whatever citations style your professor requires. The textbox entitled “Outline Formatting Guide” provides an example of the appropriate outline format.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. – Lao Tzu

Preparation Outline

This chapter contains the preparation and speaking outlines for a short speech the author of this chapter gave about how small organizations can work on issues related to climate change (see appendices). In this example, the title, specific purpose, thesis, and list of visual aids precedes the speech. Depending on your instructor’s requirements, you may need to include these details plus additional information. It is also a good idea to keep these details at the top of your document as you write the speech since they will help keep you on track to developing an organized speech that is in line with your specific purpose and helps prove your thesis. At the end of the chapter, in Appendix A, you can find a full length example of a Preparation (Full Sentence) Outline.

Speaking Outline

In Appendix B, the Preparation Outline is condensed into just a few short key words or phrases that will remind speakers to include all of their main points and supporting information. The introduction and conclusion are not included since they will simply be inserted from the Preparation Outline. It is easy to forget your catchy attention-getter or final thoughts you have prepared for your audience, so it is best to include the full sentence versions even in your speaking outline.

Using the Speaking Outline

“TAG speaks of others first”  by Texas Military Forces.  CC-BY-ND .

Once you have prepared the outline and are almost ready to give your speech, you should decide how you want to format your outline for presentation. Many speakers like to carry a stack of papers with them when they speak, but others are more comfortable with a smaller stack of index cards with the outline copied onto them. Moreover, speaking instructors often have requirements for how you should format the speaking outline. Whether you decide to use index cards or the printed outline, here are a few tips. First, write large enough so that you do not have to bring the cards or pages close to your eyes to read them. Second, make sure you have the cards/pages in the correct order and bound together in some way so that they do not get out of order. Third, just in case the cards/pages do get out of order (this happens too often!), be sure that you number each in the top right corner so you can quickly and easily get things organized. Fourth, try not to fiddle with the cards/pages when you are speaking. It is best to lay them down if you have a podium or table in front of you. If not, practice reading from them in front of a mirror. You should be able to look down quickly, read the text, and then return to your gaze to the audience.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. – Albert Einstein

• Lucas, Stephen E. (2004).  The art of public speaking  (8th edition). New York: McGraw-Hill.  ↵
• Beebe, S. A. & Beebe, S. J. (2003).  The public speaking handbook  (5th edition). Boston: Pearson.  ↵
• Chapter 8 Outlining Your Speech.  Authored by : Joshua Trey Barnett.  Provided by : University of Indiana, Bloomington, IN.  Located at :  http://publicspeakingproject.org/psvirtualtext.html .  Project : The Public Speaking Project.  License :  CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Alpena Mayor Carol Shafto Speaks at 2011 Michigan Municipal League Convention.  Authored by : Michigan Municipal League.  Located at :  https://flic.kr/p/aunJMR .  License :  CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives
• TAG speaks of others first.  Authored by : Texas Military Forces.  Located at :  https://www.flickr.com/photos/texasmilitaryforces/5560449970/ .  License :  CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives

Outlining Your Speech Copyright © 2020 by Liza Long; Amy Minervini; and Joel Gladd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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My Speech Class

Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

How to Craft a Masterful Outline of Speech

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

I’m sure you have all seen at least one captivating Ted Talk online. One thing you probably noticed is how smoothly it went. I can assure you that every public speaker has done their homework and put together an outline of speech before presenting it in front of an audience. This wouldn’t be possible without some preparation beforehand.

An outline done right can do wonders for organizing your speech, and public speaking teachers often stress the importance of this organization tool. A rough outline can help you come up with more main points and sub-points for your arguments. It will help you brainstorm ideas. Some people use index cards with keywords or brief phrases from their speech outline to help them accurately deliver their speech.

The outline functions as a visual aid, too. Some people with photographic memory can use the outline as supporting material and ensure they do not forget crucial elements of their speech. Logically ordering your speech points can also smoothen your speechwriting process.

The speech outline is one of the most critical elements to have. Simply put, it has two main functions: it’s a point of reference and an organizational tool. Our guide will help you understand how an outline is used, the structure of an outline, and the different types, so you can create the most helpful outline for you.

In this article:

Preparation Outline

Speaking outline, the big picture, type of speech, call to action, speech outline structure, coordination, parallelism, transitions, speech outline types.

The preparation outline is your first draft. It includes the bare bones of your speech, and it’s often referred to as a working/rough/practice outline. You will write the main points of your speech, the supporting points, organized logically, and the other various components, such as attention getter and so on (we expand on the parts of a speech outline further in the article).

The preparation outline is used to help put your thoughts on paper and arrange your material. It is also the place where you should pay attention to your arguments. Are they convincing or lacking evidence? You might need to rearrange some parts to make your speech flows better. Don’t be afraid of removing parts of your preparation outline if they don’t make sense.

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The preparation outline is then transformed into a speaking outline. Even though your preparation outline should include full sentences, don’t forget your it is not an essay. Try not to get carried away with writing, and use it to get your textual arguments in order.

The speaking outline is your reference point. Unlike the preparation outline, this one is more concise includes keywords to serve as quick reminders during your speech. These short phrases should briefly encapsulate your main points, conclusion, introduction, and an attention grabber. Unlike the first outline, which uses long sentences and breakdowns of your textual arguments, the speaking outline could easily fit on cue cards and help prepare for your speech.

You shouldn’t solely rely on index cards, however, as you may come across as unprepared in the eyes of the audience. Most speakers use them to prepare for their speech and simply refer to them when they get stuck. Make sure to check the instructor’s requirements to see if you’re allowed index cards during your speech.

Things to Consider Before Outlining Your Speech

Before you get into arranging your outline, it’s essential to think about the big picture. Before you begin, consider three things: think about the speaker, the subject, and the audience. Here is more detail about each element:

Speaker – Why are you discussing the topic at hand? Why does this subject matter to you? Do you have any significant insights on the topic? Do you have any expertise or qualifications that can help convince the audience of the legitimacy of your words?

Subject – Are you covering a controversial topic? How do you think your audience will react to it? Are you going to make some interesting points? Try to predict the audience’s reaction s you can be more prepared for your speech.

Audience – What do you know about your audience? Are they all from a particular age group? Are they qualified in the same area you are? Are they familiar with your work? Has the audience paid to listen to your speech?

Try to take a step back and look at the big picture. You might find some exciting takeaways when doing that.

Think about the purpose of your speech. Are you there to convince the audience to do something? Or is your goal to inform the audience of some less-known facts? Generally speaking, there are two common categories of speech, and yours most likely falls under one of them:

Informative speech – the primary purpose of the informative speech is to educate the audience on a subject. The goal is to have the audience learn something and leave your speech with a better understanding of a specific subject. We have an in-depth article about informative speech outline with examples here .

Persuasive speech – a persuasive speech aims to convince the audience to do something or change their opinion on a topic. It is similar to a sales pitch and combines credibility, logic, and emotion to help convince the listener. We have in-depth article about persuasive speech outline here .

Before you start outlining your speech, make sure you have chosen your preferred type, as the outlines vary depending on your speech category.

The title is highly underestimated when making a speech outline. Logically we think that we don’t need one. Since we are more or less presenting the speech verbatim, we are not exactly going to stand in front of an audience quoting our speech title. But we might still need one. A title helps summarize your main goal. It holds the central idea behind your speech. You will have no trouble writing a title once you are sure what message you are trying to deliver.

What is the central idea of your speech? Is there e certain question you are aiming to answer? Determine the essential message behind your speech. Try to sum it up in a single sentence. Try to explain your message simply, without overcomplicating it.

Use your central message as a reference point throughout your speech. When you get stuck, write up your main points and supporting arguments, and always ask yourself, do they support the key message? If not, they might be redundant.

In order to make a captivating speech and maintain the audience’s attention, you need to think about the relevance of your message. You should always put the audience first, so now that you have your key message prepared, list the reasons why the audience should care about your message. Is it relevant to them somehow?

Think of at least one reason why the speech should matter to your audience. For example, if you’re writing a persuasive speech about texting and driving, the audience would find it relevant because it concerns their safety. If you can’t think of a relevant reason why the listeners should care about your speech, reconsider your message.

You have probably heard about hooks before when you used this technique to begin your essays. The hook is the attention-getter, and it is paramount to your speech. It’s the first sentence your audience will hear and usually determines whether or not your audience would listen to the rest of your speech. There are many clever ways to start your talk and ensure you’re being heard:

• Ask the audience a rhetorical question.
• Start with a joke.
• Tell a short personal story.
• Recite a quote.
• Prompt the audience members to do something.

Speaking of encouraging the audience to do something, this brings us to our next point.

When presenting a persuasive speech, you’ll most likely need a call to action. The most convincing speeches prompt the audience to make some kind of action. You can ask them to raise a hand if they have done something (drink more than 5 cups of coffee a day). Alternatively, you can ask them to scan a QR code to reveal some useful information on the topic at hand. These small steps will move the audience in the right direction.

Now that you have prepared thoroughly, you can formulate your speech outline. Get familiar with the main points of your speech. You can find examples and references below, explaining each topic. Remember that all the various elements of your speech will make an organizational pattern supporting your central thesis (key message). An organized speech has main points, typically between 2 and 5, and any supporting material is put in your outline as a sub-point.

A Roman numeral numbers every main point, while subpoints are listed with capital letters. The hierarchal order that follows is Arabic numerals and, finally, lowercase letters. For further subordination, speak to your tutor or the person in charge of your public speaking project.

Here is the basic speech outline, including an introduction, body, and conclusion. For planning purposes, each section is explained to understand the textual arrangements best. Examples are given later in the text.

Every basic speech outline includes an introduction. This is your speech opening, and it needs to be robust and captivating. It is critical to prepare a compelling introduction. An introduction has 3-5 parts, depending on the length of your speech.

• Attention getter – Capture the audience’s attention.
• Thesis statement – Your key message is introduced here with a couple of short sentences.
• Motivation – Explain how this speech will be relevant to the audience
• Qualifications – Explain to the audience why you are qualified to discuss this topic
• Transition – Smoothly transition the audience to the next part of your speech

The body is an integral part of any basic speech. Here you can develop your thesis in detail. The body holds the bulk of the information you will be presenting in front of an audience. It is important to do plenty of research on your speech topic. Gather content you might need during your talk. are you going to need any visual aids? Perhaps make some charts of your statistics. Or, if you’re going for a humorous approach, some memes on the topic can get the audience laughing and hungry to hear more on the topic. Aim for a sheet full of ideas. It’s worth noting that too much information doesn’t mean better speech. Once you have gathered all your engaging material, subtract some supporting material that you feel isn’t genuinely helping your presentation. You shouldn’t try to talk about everything. Instead, choose what is most important and focus on making it relevant and believable by adding sub-points:

• First subpoint (Give some support to the reason above)
• Sufficiently supported statements (Provide more factual arguments to support the above statements)
• Sufficiently supported statements
• Second subpoint (Structured like the one above, with its supporting point listed below)
• Sufficiently supported statements (…)
• More points, following the above guidelines
• Transitional statement
• First subpoint (Supporting the main point)
• Continue organizing your outline this way.
• First subpoint (supporting the main point)
• Continue your outline as shown above.

The grand finale of your speech is where you must tie together all previous elements in a clear and solid point.

• Summary – Here, all your main ideas and points will connect together and formulate a convincing conclusion. You can provide short examples of why the listeners should agree with your proposed thesis:
• Call to action – give the audience members a suggestion, something they can do to support what they have learned. Or instead, think of a unique or memorable ending to your speech.
• Closure – Bring the speech to an end by thanking the audience for their time.
• Bibliography – in some cases, you might get asked for your bibliography of references. If you’re using many statements, quotes, or statistics from various sources, remember to collect them throughout your research.

Let’s help you visualize these instructions and see how these elements correspond by looking at an example.

Topic: Hypoalergenic Cats

Specific Purpose: To debunk the myth of hypoallergenic cats.

Thesis: Despite there being breeds of cats known as “hypoallergenic”, no cat breed is guaranteed to relieve you of your allergy symptoms.

Preview: I will talk about the misconceptions behind cat allergies and explain how they work.

Here is an example of the structure of a Body:

• People are allergic to a protein called FEL D1.
• The protein is contained in the cat’s saliva.
• The saliva is being transferred to the cat’s fur during their cleaning process.
• This fur is spread around your house in the form of dander.
• People are not allergic to a cat’s fur, just the protein.
• This means you could be allergic to some cats, not all of them.
• Get a check-up and find out if there are any medications you can take to ease your allergy symptoms.
• Vacuum regularly around your house to reduce cat hair and dander spreading.
• Swap your drapes with blinds and carpets with hardwood floors. That way, less fur will stick to your furniture.
• Buy HEPA air filters for every room.
• Clean out their litterbox more often.
• No cat is hypoallergenic.
• All cats make the protein FEL D1.
• Some breeds are known to produce less FEL D1, but there is no guarantee you won’t be allergic to them.
• Even the “naked” cat breeds such as Sphynx, Donskoy, Bambino, etc., produce FEL D1.
• Buying “hypoallergenic cats” only creates a bigger rehoming problem.
• Many cat breeders like to use the myth of hypoallergenic cats to sell expensive cat breeds.
• Once people realize the cat isn’t hypoallergenic, they can no longer keep it.
• The cat is either thrown out, put in a shelter, or resold, creating tons of stress for the animal or potentially resulting in its death.

Now that you know the structure of a speech, you are almost ready to start writing it. By all means, if this has inspired you, grab a sheet of paper and write down the ideas that come to mind. But before you start putting your outline on paper, double-check you are familiar with the rules of outlining a speech.

Rules in Outlining

Speech outlines follow a specific set of rules. Going by these rules will only help you polish the particular details that make your speech stand out. To double-check that your speech makes sense, go through your outline and give it another read to check for coherence. Here are some characteristics you should pay attention to:

Think of your outline as a staircase – your final draft should have subordinate points diagonally placed beneath your main points. They should all interlink and reference one another.

Looking at the example from the section above, points A. and B. explain what determines a cat allergy and what doesn’t. Points 1-3 give information on why the protein affects people and debunks the myth that people are allergic to cat hair . Points 1-3 are called subordination of point, just like  A., B., and C. are to main point III. Your overall organizational pattern should not only include Roman numerals, points, and thesis statements. It should be cohesive and coordinated. 

Another important part of speech writing is parallelism. It is the concept of beginning sentences similarly whenever possible, using similar grammar. Pay attention to our example once again. Note section II and the subordinate points of main point B. – all points start with a verb: “Get,” “Vacuum”, “Swap,” “Clean.” This type of structure adds clarity to your speaking and shows you have really paid attention to your full-sentence outline. Don’t worry about sounding boring – parallelism helps you sound acute!

Another essential part of your speech outline is division. The concept is simple – when you’re trying to make one point, you should also try to expand it. If your point is convincing enough, it will have plenty of meaningful information that you can lengthen in sections A. and B. Similarly. You can use a supporting point for sub-points A. and B. to help expand them, and so on. Remember you’re doing this only to support your main thesis statement. If your sub-points aren’t doing that, you might be waffling on and confusing your audience.

A clever way to connect your main points is by using transitional statements. In most cases, speakers use these sentences to glue together two distinctive (yet connected) ideas. That way, the audience is prepared that something else is being discussed. You have used transitional sentences in essay writing. Maybe these words will ring a bell: “next”, “also”, “moreover”, “firstly”. These words and phrases will greatly improve your writing skills and, eventually, your entire speech.

There is another way you can integrate a transition into your speech – by using non-verbal transitions. Adding brief pauses or moving around the stage grabs the audience’s attention and helps them understand some other concept is being introduced. Most extemporaneous speakers take it to another level by stepping out of the podium or raising or lowering their voice rate. These can all be signals to your audience that a transition is taking place.

A third way to include transitions into your speech outline is to make internal summaries. To write an internal summary, summarize what has already been said in a brief sentence or two. For example:

So far, we have explored why n cat can be hypoallergenic. But does that mean you can be less allergic to some cats?

We have hinted at the next point in our speech with this question. We could also use  a summary to build on an issue we are currently expanding:

Now that you understand how cat allergies work, let’s see if there is a way to share your life with a cat despite being allergic.

How to Write an Outline for a Persuasive Speech, with Examples

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Chapter 14: Outlining

This chapter is adapted from  Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking ,  CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 .

Why is outlining important for a speech?

Why Outlining Is Important for a Speech

For your presented speech to be as effective as possible, organize your information into logical patterns that your audience can understand. This especially applies if you already know much about your topic. Take careful steps to include pertinent information that your audience might not know and to explain relationships that might not be evident to them. Using a standard outline format helps you to make decisions about your main points, about choosing information to support those points, and about crafting the appropriate language to use. Without an outline, your message is liable to lose logical integrity. It might even deteriorate into a bullet-point list with no apparent cohesiveness,—except for the topic—leaving your audience relieved when your speech is finally over.

In this chapter, we discuss three outline types: a working outline, a full-sentence outline, and a speaking outline. For working outlines and full-sentence outlines, write in complete sentences; for speaking outlines, write in phrases We’ll give detailed outline examples later in the chapter, but for this first section, we’ll discuss general outlining principles.

An Outline Tests Your Specific Purpose’s Clarity

A full-sentence outline lays a strong foundation. It compels you to have one clear and specific purpose and helps to frame a clear, concrete thesis statement. An outline helps you to exclude irrelevant information that does not directly focus on your thesis, and it reduces the research you must do because you will clearly identify the supporting evidence you need. And when presenting, an outline helps you remember your speech’s central message.

Also, a solid full-sentence outline helps your audience understand and remember your message because they will be able to follow your reasoning. Creating an outline is a task too often perceived as busywork, unnecessary, time consuming, and restrictive. However, students who carefully write a full-sentence outline characteristically give powerful presentations with excellent messages.

An Outline Tests Your Content’s Scope

A clear, concrete thesis statement acts as your outline’s compass. Explicate each main point, then, test your content’s scope by comparing each main point to the thesis statement. If you find a poor match, you will know you’ve wandered outside your thesis statement’s scope, as you will see in the example below.

Specific Purpose: To inform property owners about the economics of wind farms generating electrical energy.

• Your first main point: modern windmills require a very small land base, making real estate cost’s low. This is directly related to the economics thesis. Now, supply information to support your claim that only a small land base is needed.
• Your second main point: you might be tempted to claim that windmills don’t pollute in the ways other sources do. However, you will quickly note that this claim is unrelated to the economics thesis, so stay within this scope. A better second main point: once windmills are in place, they require virtually no maintenance. This claim is related to the economics thesis. Now, supply information to support this claim.
• Your third point: windmill-generated electrical energy is more profitable compared to other sources—many audience members will want to know this. This point is clearly related to the economics thesis, and you will easily find information from authoritative sources to support this claim.

When you write in outline form, it is much easier to test your content’s scope because you can visually locate specific information very easily and then check it against your thesis statement.

An Outline Tests Your Main Points’ Logical Patterns

You have many topic choices, therefore, there are many ways to logically organize your content. In the example above, we simply list three main points that are important economics to consider about wind farms. You can also arrange a speech’s main points into a logical pattern. We discuss these patterns in the Organizing the Speech Body section. Whatever logical pattern you use, if you examine your thesis statement and then look at your outline’s three main points, you will see the logical way in which they relate.

An Outline Tests Your Supporting Ideas’ Relevance

When you create an outline, you clearly see that you need supporting evidence for each main point. For instance, your first main point claims that windmills require less land than other utilities. Therefore, provide supporting evidence about the acreage windmills require and the acreage other energy-generating sites require, such as nuclear power plants or hydroelectric generators. Use expert sources in economics, economic development, or engineering to support your claims. You can even include an expert’s opinion, but not an ordinary person’s opinion. The expert opinion provides stronger support for your point.

Similarly, the second point claims that once a windmill is in place, there is virtually no maintenance cost. To support this claim, provide annual windmill-maintenance costs and compare these to the alternative energy-generating sites’ annual maintenance costs. If you compare nuclear power plants to support your first main point, compare nuclear power plants again to be consistent. It becomes very clear, then, that the third main point about windmill-generated energy’s profitability needs authoritative references to compare it to nuclear power-generated energy’s profitability. In this third main point, use just a few well-selected statistics from authoritative sources to support you claims, and compare them to the other energy sources you’ve cited.

An Outline Tests Your Speech’s Balance and Proportion

Writing a full-sentence outline is visually valuable. You immediately see whether each main point’s importance is approximately equal. Does each main point have the same number of supporting points? If you find that your first main point has eight supporting points while the others only have three each, you have two choices: either choose the best three from the eight supporting points or strengthen the authoritative support for your other two main points. Remember, use the best supporting evidence you can find even if it means conducting more research.

An Outline Serves as Your Speaking Notes

In addition to writing a full-sentence outline to prepare your speech, create a shortened outline to use as speaking notes to ensure a strong delivery. If you were to use the full-sentence outline when delivering your speech, you would be reading too much, which limits your ability to give eye contact and use gestures, and it hurts your audience connection. For this reason, write a short-phrase outline on 4 × 6 notecards to use when you deliver your speech.

Within the speech-writing process, there exists commonly agreed upon principles for creating an outline. The following are important factors to consider when creating a logical and coherent outline:

Singularity

For clarity, make sure your thesis statement expresses one single idea. Use this single idea optimally as a guide to build your outline. The same holds true for your three main points: each must express one clear single idea. If many different ideas are required to build a complete message, present them in separate sentences using transitions such as “at the same time,” “alternately,” “in response to that event,” or some other transition that clarifies the relationship between two separate ideas. As a reminder, for your audience’s sake, maintain clarity.

A full-sentence outline readily shows whether you are giving equal time to each three main points. For example, are you providing each three main points with corresponding supporting evidence? Also, are you showing each main point’s direct relationship to the thesis statement?

Consistency

Framing a thesis statement with one clear single idea will help you maintain consistency throughout your speech. Beyond the usual grammatical subject-verb agreement requirements, maintain a consistent approach. For instance, unless your speech has a chronological structure that begins in the past and ends in the future, choose a consistent tense, past or present, to use throughout the speech. Similarly, choose a language and use it consistently, for example, use humanity instead of mankind or humans, and use that term throughout.

To ensure your audience understands your speech, do not assume that what is obvious to you is also obvious to your audience. Pay attention to using adequate language in two ways: how you define terms and how you support your main points. And use concrete language as much as you can. For instance, if you use the word community, you’re using an abstract term that can mean many things. So, define for your audience what you mean by community. And when you use evidence to support your main points, use the right kind and the right weight. For instance, if you make a substantial claim, such as all printed news sources will be obsolete within ten years, you must use expert sources to support that claim.

Parallelism

Parallelism refers to the idea that the three main points follow the same structure or use the same language. Parallelism also allows you to check for inconsistencies and self-contradictory statements. For instance, does anything within your second main point contradict anything in your first main point? Examining your content’s parallelism strengthens your message’s clarity.

What are the three types of outlines?

Outlines are designed to evolve throughout your speech-preparation process, so in this section, we discuss the three types—a working outline, a full-sentence outline, and a speaking outline—and how you progress from each. Also, we discuss how using speaking-outline notecards help you as a speaker.

Working Outline

Use a working outline to develop your speech. This is the outline you use to lay out your speech’s basic structure, so it changes many times before it is complete. A great strategy to begin your working outline is to type out labels for each element. Later, fill in the content. The following are the outline labels that you must have:

Working Outline Labels

General Purpose

Specific Purpose

Introduction/Grabber

Thesis Statement

Main Point I

• supporting point

Main Point II

Main Point III

Also, a working outline allows you to work out your message’s kinks. For instance, let’s say you’ve made the claim that coal mining is a hazardous occupation, but you cannot find authoritative supporting evidence. Now, you must re-examine that main point to assess its validity. You might have to change that main point to be able to support it. If you do so, however, you must make sure that the new main point is a logical part of the thesis statement, the three main points, and the conclusion sequence. Don’t think of your working outline as a rough copy, but as a careful step in developing your message. It will take time to develop, but is well worth it as it lays your speech’s entire foundation. Here is a working outline example:

Name: Anomaly May McGillicuddy

Topic: Smart dust

General Purpose: To inform

Specific Purpose: To inform college science students about smart dust’s potential.

Main Ideas:

• Smart dust is an assembly of microcomputers.
• Smart dust can be used by the military—no. No—smart dust could be an enormous asset in covert military operations. (That’s better because it is clearer and precise).
• Smart dust could also have daily life applications.

Introduction: (Grabber) (fill in later)

Thesis Statement: Thus far, researchers hypothesize that smart dust could be used for everything from tracking hospital patients, to early natural-disaster warnings, to defending against bioterrorism.

Preview: Today, I’m going to explain what smart dust is and the various near-future smart dust applications. To help us understand the small of it all, I will first examine what smart dust is and how it works. I will then examine some smart-dust military applications. And I’ll end by discussing some smart dust-nonmilitary applications.

Transition: (fill in later)

Main Point I: Dr. Kris Pister, a robotics lab professor at the University of California, Berkeley, originally conceived the smart-dust idea in 1998 as part of a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

• (supporting point)

Main Point II: Because smart dust was originally conceptualized under a grant from DARPA, smart-dust military uses have been widely theorized and examined.

Main Point III: According to the smart-dust project website, smart dust could quickly become a common part of our daily lives.

Conclusion: (Bring your message full circle and create a psychologically satisfying closure.)

This working outline stage turns out to be a good place to go back and examine whether all the main points are directly related to the thesis statement and to each other. If so, your message has a strong potential for a unified focus. But if one main-point relationship is weak, this is the time to strengthen it. It will be more difficult to strengthen it later, for two reasons: first, the sheer amount of text on your pages will make the visual task more difficult, and second, it becomes increasingly difficult to change things in which you have invested much time and thought.

You can see that this working outline lays a strong foundation for the rest of your message. Its organization is visually apparent. Once you are confident in your basic message’s internal unity, begin filling in the supporting points in descending detail—that is, from the general main points, to the particular supporting points, and then to greater detail. The outline makes it visually apparent where information fits and allows you to assess your supporting points to be sure they’re authoritative and directly relevant to the main points they must support.

Now, let’s discuss transitions. Sometimes, and not surprisingly, transitions seem troublesome to write because we often omit them in informal conversations. Our conversation partners understand what we mean because of our gestures and vocal strategies. And even when we do include transitions, we don’t generally identify them as transitions. But in a speech, we must use effective transitions as a gateway from one main point to the next. The listener needs to know when a speaker is moving from one main point to the next.

In the next outline type—the full-sentence outline, take a look at the transitions and see how they make the listener aware of when you shift focus to the next main point.

Full-Sentence Outline

Write a full-sentence outline in full sentences only. There are several reasons why a full-sentence outline is important. First, this outline type includes a full plan of everything you intend to say to your audience so that you will not have to struggle with wordings or examples. Second, this outline type provides a clear idea of how much time it will take to present your speech. Third, a full-sentence outline showcases your ethical responsibility to your audience by detailing how fundamentally well-prepared you are. This is how a full-sentence outline looks:

Specific Purpose: To inform college science students about smart-dust’s potential.

• Smart dust could be an enormous asset in covert military operations.

Introduction/Grabber: In 2002, famed science-fiction writer Michael Crichton released his book Prey, which was about a swarm of nanomachines that were feeding off living tissue. The nanomachines were solar powered, self-sufficient, and intelligent. Most disturbingly, the nanomachines could work together as a swarm as it took over and killed its prey in its need for new resources. This nanotechnology-sophistication level is surprisingly more science fact than science fiction. In 2000, Kahn, Katz, and Pister, three electrical engineering and computer science professors at the University of California, Berkeley, hypothesized in the Journal of Communications and Networks that wireless networks of tiny microelectromechanical sensors, or MEMS; robots; or devices could detect phenomena including light, temperature, or vibration. By 2004, Fortune Magazine listed “smart dust” as the first in their “Top 10 Tech Trends to Bet On.”

Thesis Statement: Thus far, researchers hypothesized that smart dust could be used for everything from tracking hospital patients, to early natural-disaster warnings, to bioterrorism defense.

Preview: Today, I’m going to explain what smart dust is and the various near-future smart dust applications. To help us understand the small of it all, I’ll first discuss what smart dust is and how it works. I’ll then discuss some smart-dust military applications. And I’ll end by discussing some smart-dust nonmilitary applications.

Transition: To help us understand smart dust, I’ll begin by first examining what smart dust is.

• According to a 2001 article by Bret Warneke, Matt Last, Brian Liebowitz, and Kris Pister titled “Smart Dust: Communicating with a Cubic-Millimeter Computer” published in Computer , Pister’s goal was to build a device that contained a built-in sensor, a communication device, and a small computer that could be integrated into a one-cubic-millimeter package.
• Each individual dust piece, called a mote, would then have the ability to interact with other motes and supercomputers.
• As Steve Lohr wrote in the January 30, 2010, edition of the New York Times in an article titled “Smart Dust? Not Quite, But We’re Getting There,” smart dust could eventually consist of “Tiny digital sensors, strewn around the globe, gathering all sorts of information and communicating with powerful computer networks to monitor, measure, and understand the physical world in new ways.”

Transition: Now that we know what smart dust is, let’s switch gears and talk about some the smart-dust military applications.

• Major Scott Dickson, in a Blue Horizons paper written for the US Air Force Center for Strategy and Technology’s Air War College, sees smart dust as helping the military in battlespace awareness, homeland security, and identifying weapons of mass destruction.
• Furthermore, Major Dickson also believes it may be possible to create smart dust that has the ability to defeat communications-jamming equipment created by foreign governments, which could help the US military not only communicate among itself, but could also increase communications with civilians in military combat zones.
• According to a 2010 article written by Jessica Griggs in New Scientist , one of the first smart-dust benefits could be an early defense warning for space storms and other debris that could be catastrophic.

Transition: Now that we’ve explored some of smart-dust’s military benefits, let’s switch gears and see how smart dust may be able to impact our daily lives.

• Steve Lohr, in his 2010 New York Times article, wrote, “The applications for sensor-based computing, experts say, include buildings that manage their own energy use, bridges that sense motion and metal fatigue to tell engineers they need repairs, cars that track traffic patterns and report potholes, and fruit and vegetable shipments that tell grocers when they ripen and begin to spoil.”
• Theoretically, we could all be injected with smart dust, which detects adverse body changes instantly and relays information to our physicians.
• Smart dust could detect microscopic center-cell formations or alert us when we’ve been infected by a bacterium or virus, which could speed up treatment and prolong all our lives.

Transition: Today, we’ve explored what smart dust is, how the US military could use smart dust, and how smart dust could impact all our lives in the near future.

Conclusion: While smart dust is quickly transferring from science fiction to science fact, experts agree that smart dust’s full potential will probably not occur until 2025. Smart dust is definitely in our near future, but swarms of smart-dust eating people as was depicted in Michael Crichton’s 2002 novel, Prey, isn’t reality. However, as with any technological advance, there are definite ethical considerations and worries related to smart dust. Even Dr. Kris Pister’s smart-dust project website admits that as smart dust becomes more readily available, one of the trade-offs will be privacy. Pister responds to these critiques by saying, “As an engineer, or a scientist, or a hair stylist, everyone needs to evaluate what they do in terms of its positive and negative effect. If I thought that the negatives of working on this project were greater than or even comparable to the positives, I wouldn’t be working on it. As it turns out, I think that the potential benefits of this technology far outweigh the risks to personal privacy.”

References Crichton, M. (2002). Prey. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Dickson, S. (2007, April). Enabling battlespace persistent surveillance: the firm, function, and future of smart dust (Blue Horizons Paper, Center for Strategy and Technology, USAF Air War College). Retrieved from USAF Air War College website: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bh_dickson.pdf

Griggs, J. (2010, February 6). Smart dust to provide solar early warning defense. New Scientist, 205(2746), 22.

Kahn, J. M., Katz, R. H., & Pister, K. S. J. (2000). Emerging challenges: Mobile networking for “smart dust.” Journal of Communications and Networks , 2, 188–196.

Lohr, S. (2010, January 30). Smart dust? Not quite, but we’re getting there. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Pister, K., Kahn, J., & Boser, B. (n.d.). Smart dust: Autonomous sensing and communication at the cubic millimeter. Retrieved from http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust

Steel, D. (2005, March). Smart dust: UH ISRC technology briefing. Retrieved from http://www.uhisrc.com

Vogelstein, F., Boyle, M., Lewis, P., Kirkpatrick, D., Lashinsky, A.,…Chen, C. (2004, February 23). 10 tech trends to bet on. Fortune, 149(4), 74–88.

Warneke, B., Last, M., Liebowitz, B., & Pister, K. S. J. (2001). Smart dust: Communicating with a cubic millimeter computer. Computer , 31, 44–51.

When you prepare your full-sentence outline carefully, it may take as much as one- and one-half hours to complete the outline’s first part from your name at the top through the introduction. When you’ve completed that part, take a break and do something else. When you return to the outline, complete your draft in another one- and one-half hours. After that, you only need to do a detailed check for completeness, accuracy, relevance, balance, omitted words, and consistency. If you find errors, instead of being frustrated, be glad you can catch these errors before you stand up in front of your audience.

You will notice that the various speech parts, for instance, the transitions and main points, are labeled. There are compelling reasons for these labels. First, as you develop your message, you will sometimes find it necessary to go back and look at your wording in another part of the outline. Your labels help you find particular passages easily. Second, the labels work as a checklist so that you can make sure you’ve included everything you intended. Third, the labels helps you prepare your speaking outline.

You’ll also notice the full references at the outline’s end. They match the citations within the outline. Sometimes, while preparing a speech, a speaker finds it important to go back to an original source to be sure the message will be accurate. If you type in your references as you develop your speech rather than afterward, they will be a convenience to you if they are complete and accurate.

Don’t think of the references as busywork or drudgery. Although they’re more time consuming than text, they are good practice for the more advanced academic work you will do in the immediate future.

Speaking Outline and The Advantages of Using Presentation Notes

Your full-sentence outline prepares you to present a clear and well-organized message, but your speaking outline will include far less detail. Resist the temptation to use your full-sentence outline as your speaking outline. The temptation is real for at least two reasons. First, once you feel that you’ve carefully crafted every word sequence in your speech, you might not want to sacrifice quality when you shift to vocal presentation. Second, if you feel anxious about how well you will do in front of an audience, you may want to use your full-sentence outline as a safety net. In our experience, however, if you have your full-sentence outline with you, you will end up reading rather than speaking to your audience. Remember, do not read, instead, use carefully prepared notecards.

Your speech will probably have five main components: introduction, main point one, main point two, main point three, and the conclusion. Therefore, we recommend using five notecards—one for each component.

How will five notecards suffice in helping you produce a complete, rich delivery? Why can’t you use the full-sentence outline you labored so hard to write? First, your full-sentence outline will make it appear that you don’t know your speech’s content. Second, the temptation to read the speech directly from the full-sentence outline is nearly overwhelming; even if you resist this temptation, you will find yourself struggling to remember the words on the page rather than speaking extemporaneously. Third, paper is noisier and more awkward than cards. Fourth, it’s easier to lose your place using the full outline. Finally, cards just look better. Carefully prepared cards, together with practice, will help you more than you might think.

Use 4 × 6 cards. The smaller 3 × 5 cards are too small to provide space for visually organized notes. Number your cards, and write on one side only. Numbering is helpful if you happen to drop your cards, and writing on one side only means that while you are speaking, the audience is not distracted by your handwritten notes and reminders to yourself. Make sure that each card contains only key words and key phrases, but not full sentences.

Some speeches will include direct or extended quotations from expert sources. These quotations might be highly technical or difficult to memorize, but they must be presented correctly. This is a circumstance in which you include a sixth card in your notecard sequence. This is the one time you may read fully from a card. If your quotation is important, and the exact wording is crucial, your audience will understand that.

How are notecards sufficient? When they are carefully written and then you practice your speech using them, they will reveal that they work. If, during practice, you find that one card doesn’t work well enough, you can rewrite that card. Using carefully prepared, sparingly worded cards help you resist the temptation to rely on overhead transparencies or PowerPoint slides to get you through the presentation as well. Although they will never provide your exact full-sentence outline word sequence, they’ll keep you organized during your speech. The trick to selecting your cards’ phrases and quotations is to identify the labels that will trigger a recall sequence. For instance, if the phrase “more science fact” triggers connections between Crichton’s science fiction events in the novel Prey versus real science developments, that card phrase will support you through a fairly extended part of your introduction.

Ultimately, you must discover what works for you and then select those words that best jog your recall. Having identified what works, make a preliminary five-card set written on one side only, and practice with them. Revise and refine them as you would an outline.

The following is a hypothetical card set for the smart-dust speech:

Notecards Transcript

Creating and using a card set similar to the examples will help you condense and deliver an impressive set of specialized information. But, what if you lose your place during a speech? With a card set, it will take less time to find your place than with a full-sentence outline. You will not be rustling paper, and because your cards are written on one side only, you can keep them in order without flipping them back and forth to check both sides. What if you go blank? Take a few seconds to recall what you’ve said and how it leads to your next points. There may be several seconds of silence in the middle of your speech, and it may seem like minutes to you, but you can regain your footing most easily with a small well-prepared card set. Under no circumstances should you ever attempt to put your entire speech on cards in little tiny writing. You will end up reading word sequences to your audience instead of delivering a memorable message!

University of Minnesota. (2011). Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking . University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://open.lib.umn.edu/publicspeaking/ . CC BY-SA 4.0.

Media References

Imageegaml. (2009, April 29). Hand Holding Blank Index Card stock photo [Image]. iStock Photo. https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/hand-holding-blank-index-card-gm115027533-9233893?utm_source=pixabay&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=SRP_image_sponsored&referrer_url=http%3A//pixabay.com/images/search/index%2520card/&utm_term=index%20card

Powell, B. (2021, July). Notecard 1 [Image]. Instructional Media Services, Salt Lake Community College.

Powell, B. (2021, July). Notecard 2 [Image]. Instructional Media Services, Salt Lake Community College.

Powell, B. (2021, July). Notecard 3 [Image]. Instructional Media Services, Salt Lake Community College.

Powell, B. (2021, July). Notecard 4 [Image]. Instructional Media Services, Salt Lake Community College.

Powell, B. (2021, July). Notecard 5 [Image]. Instructional Media Services, Salt Lake Community College.

Strategicgains. (2011, November 3). Using Outlines to Create a Presentation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DeQRARzwmI

Tom706. (2007, April 4). parallelism [Image]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/quelqu/446195756/

to develop the implications of : analyze logically

Public Speaking Copyright © 2022 by Sarah Billington and Shirene McKay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Preparation: How to write a Speech Outline (with Examples)

You have been chosen to give a speech on a particular topic and you reckon that you’re a good speech writer.

However, without a good speech outline, your speech lacks the proper skeleton to put meat on.

A speech outline is to a speech what a blueprint is to an unconstructed building.

So, how do you develop a good speech outline? First, break it down into small steps as this will make it easier for you to prioritize your ideas and organize them in the right order before you add more details to them.

How to Make an Outline for a Speech

Below are steps that will enable you to write an effective speech outline for your presentation.

You should start by asking yourself:

a) What is the big picture?

Before you begin writing your outline, you should take a step back and think about your speech as a whole.

First, think about the 3 keystones for your presentation or speech, i.e. the audience, your subject matter and of course, you, as the speaker.

Then, write a few notes down about each keystone and how they relate with each other. For instance,

• With regard to your presentation’s subject matter and the audience, what does the audience know about the subject? Do they find the subject interesting or not at all? Is the subject relevant to them?
• What do you as the speaker know about the subject in question? What are the reasons behind your presentation? Do you have any expertise on the matter? What new information will you be sharing with your audience?

A good outline will help you engage with your audience in a way that not only captures their attention but enables them to understand the subject matter.

b) What is your objective?

This refers to the goal of your presentation. Here, you should ask yourself, what do you want your audience to do after your presentation is over?

While the objective for most speakers is for their audience to know something, that may not be enough. The best presentations and speeches are those that move people to act.

If you would prefer to make an impact in such a way, then you should ensure that you are as specific as you can be when deciding on your objective in your speech outline.

c) What is your message?

Your message is what holds your presentation or speech together. This is not to mean that you shouldn’t have different parts in your speech, but it does mean that your speech should have one message that you are trying to put across.

Trying to include several different messages in your speech may confuse your audience, which makes it harder for them to understand the main point you are trying to convey. 

To do this, summarize the message of your presentation in one statement. This will not only allow you to understand the message in its entirety but also allow you to explain the message to your audience in a way that is easy to understand.

You can now use the statement you wrote above to help you develop your speech outline. Using the statement to determine whether a certain point supports your main message will ensure that your speech flows and doesn’t include any information not relevant to your subject topic.

d) How is your presentation relevant?

When it comes to a presentation or speech, the audience should always come first. That is why as a speaker, you should always keep your audience in mind when presenting.

If you have already decided on the message you will be conveying to your audience, you should now ask yourself; how is your message relevant to the audience?

If you can’t come up with a reason why your presentation is relevant, then it’s back to the drawing board for you. This could mean that you will be presenting to the wrong audience or you will be giving the wrong presentation.

You can refer back to step (c) then review steps (a) and (b) for clarity.

e) Your speech structure

This is a very important part of your presentation as without it, your speech will have no impact on the audience. Therefore, you should ensure that you include the speech structure in your speech outline.

A structure has 3 basic parts; the introduction, the body and the conclusion. It should be noted though that when working on your speech outline, a common suggestion is to begin with the body before developing both your introduction and conclusion.

Under your speech structure, the introduction is the opening of your speech/presentation. To make a good first impression on your audience, ensure that your introduction is strong.

This doesn’t have to be the usual, “Good morning, my name is YXZ…” Instead, capture your audience’s attention by either telling a story or an interesting fact, recite a quote, ask your audience to recall or imagine something or even ask a rhetorical question!

Related: How to Start a Speech to Engage Your Audience

The body of your presentation represents the bulk of your speech. You should therefore ensure that your main points can be explained in detail and that they have been organized in a logical order that makes your message easy to comprehend.

Similar to your introduction, you should finish on a strong note when it comes to your conclusion. You can do this by linking your conclusion to your introduction, after which you can then echo and summarize your message’s main points.

Different Speech Outline Examples

Below are a few examples of different speech outlines that you can use as a basis to write your own outline. Choosing the right one that works for you may depend on the type of speech you will be giving .

1. Persuasive Speech Outline

Persuasive presentations and speeches usually have a specific purpose in mind; either to urge the audience to take action on something or persuade them to adopt a certain view or opinion of something.

This type of outline allows you, the speaker, to focus on the subject matter point while arguing your case in the most effective and compelling way to your audience.

A persuasive speech outline is made up of these parts:

• An introduction
• The conclusion
• Source Citation

The first three parts are common in most if not all presentations; please refer to step (e) to familiarize yourself with them once more.

A source citation is simply citing the sources for the research and facts that you presented in your speech. Remember you are trying to persuade your audience, so authoritative sources add weight to your argument.

2. Informative Speech Outline

There are different types of informative outlines. These include:

• The informative speech outline
• The informative presentation outline
• The informative essay outline

These outlines are made up of 3 basic parts; the introduction, body and conclusion. For purposes of this article, we will be discussing the informative speech outline.

The central objective of an informative speech is to offer unique, useful and interesting information to your audience. Before choosing your informative speech topic , you should consider your overall objective.  

Additionally, there are various types of informative speeches , including:

• Concept - These are used to discuss abstract ideas like ideas and theories.
• Process - These are used when describing broad processes.
• Event - These are used to explain things that may happen, are already happening or those that have happened already.
• Object - These are used when talking about products, places or people.

In addition to this, there are patterns that can be used to organize your speech outline. These will be chosen depending on your speech type.

Types of these patterns include:

• Chronological or sequential - This pattern deals with a sequence of events; which could be useful in demonstration speeches or when discussing historical topics
• Spatial or geographic - Use this pattern when discussing topics that deal with physical spaces
• Logical - This pattern is suitable for a broad topic that has been broken down into sub-topics.
• Advantage-disadvantage - This pattern can be used when you will be examining a range of negative and positive aspects of an event or idea

Furthermore, there are 2 possibilities for preparing a speech outline; the speaking and preparation outline.

The speaking outlines make use of phrases and keywords, which helps keep you focused on the subject matter while the preparation outline is used to help you develop your speech and makes use of full sentences.

3. Demonstrative Speech Outline

A demonstrative speech is an instructional speech that teaches the audience something by demonstrating the process.

Here are the basic steps for a demonstrative speech:

• Ask yourself why you choose this topic and why it is important to the audience
• Provide an overview
• Explain the steps involved in your process
• Talk about variations, other options
• Ensure you allot time for Q&A
• Give a brief summary

For a more in-depth guide on writing demonstrative speeches, click here .

Pro-Tip: Write down the specific purpose of your speech and your topic of discussion as you formulate your generic speech outline.

Conclusion: On Speech Outline Formats

As you become better at writing and delivering speeches, you will soon learn that the different outline formats described above aren’t mutually exclusive. Rather, situations often make it necessary to mix different formats.

What are you waiting for? Go out there and grow your confidence as a speech writer and speaker!

Chapter 9 Outlining

Using outlining for success, learning objective.

• Understand five basic principles of outline creation.

As with any part of the speech process, there are some pretty commonly agreed upon principles for creating an outline. Now that we’ve examined the basics of outline creation, there are some important factors to consider when creating a logical and coherent outline: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.

Singularity

For the sake of clarity, make sure your thesis statement expresses one idea only. Only in this way will it be optimally useful to you as you build your outline. If you have narrowed your topic skillfully, you can readily focus the thesis statement as one central point. For instance, if you have a thesis statement that says the Second Amendment protects gun ownership rights but most people are unaware of the responsibility involved, you have a thesis statement focusing on two different issues. Which focus will you follow? It’s crucial to choose just one, saving the other perhaps for a different speech.

The same holds true for your three main points: they should each express one clear idea. For the sake of your audience, maintain clarity. If many different ideas are required in order to build a complete message, you can handle them in separate sentences with the use of such transitions as “at the same time,” “alternately,” “in response to that event,” or some other transition that clarifies the relationship between two separate ideas.

Consistency

The entire point of framing a thesis with one clear focus is to help you maintain consistency throughout your speech. Beyond the grammatical requirements of subject-verb agreement, you will want to maintain a consistent approach. For instance, unless your speech has a chronological structure that begins in the past and ends in the future, you should choose a tense, past or present, to use throughout the speech. Similarly, you should choose language and use it consistently. For instance, use humanity instead of mankind or humans, and use that term throughout.

Similarly, define your terms and use those terms only to designate the meanings in your definition. To do otherwise could result in equivocation and confusion. For instance, if you use the word “right” in two or three different senses, you should change your language. The word “right” can be applicable to your right to a good education; the ethical difference between right and wrong; and the status of a statement as right , or accurate and correct. By the same token, in a health care setting, saying that a medical test had a positive outcome can be confusing. Does the patient test positive for the presence of disease, or does the test reveal some good news? If you find yourself using the same word to mean different things, you will need to spend extra time in your speech explaining these meanings very clearly—or avoid the problem by making other word choices.

To make sure your audience will understand your speech, you must set aside the assumption that what is obvious to you is also obvious to your audience. Therefore, pay attention to adequacy in two ways: definitions of terms and support for your main points.

You should use concrete language as much as you can. For instance, if you use the word “community,” you’re using an abstract term that can mean many things. You might be referring to a suburban neighborhood; to a cultural group, such as the Jewish community; to an institutional setting that includes an academic community; or to a general sense of overarching mainstream community standards for what materials should or should not be broadcast on television, for instance. You may not find any definition of “community” that conveys your meaning. Therefore, you will need to define for your audience what you mean by “community.”

Adequacy is also a concern when you use evidence to support your main points. Evidence of the right kind and the right weight are needed. For instance, if you make a substantial claim, such as a claim that all printed news sources will be obsolete within ten years, you need expert sources. This means you need at least two well-known experts from the institutions that provide news (newspapers, television news, or news radio). They should be credible sources, not sources with extreme views whose contact with reality is questioned. This will give you the right kind of evidence, and a large enough amount of evidence.

A full-sentence outline readily shows whether you are giving “equal time” to each of your three main points. For example, are you providing three pieces of evidence to support each main point? It should also show whether each main point is directly related to the thesis statement.

Parallelism

Parallelism refers to the idea that the three main points follow the same structure or make use of the same kind of language. For instance, in the sample outline we used previously, you see that each of the main points emphasizes the topic, smart dust.

Parallelism also allows you to check for inconsistencies and self-contradictory statements. For instance, does anything within main point two contradict anything in main point one? Examining your text for this purpose can strengthen the clarity of your message. For instance, if in main point one you claim that computer crime leaves an electronic trail, but in main point two you claim that hackers often get away with their crimes, you have some explaining to do. If an electronic trail can readily lead to the discovery of the electronic felon, how or why do they get away with it? The answer might be that cybercrime does not fall within the jurisdiction of any law enforcement agency or that the law lags behind technology. Perhaps there are other reasons as well, and you must make sure you don’t leave your audience confused. If you confuse them, you will sound confused, and you will lose credibility. There is no doubt that a full-sentence outline provides the most useful opportunity to examine your message for the details that either clarify or undermine your message.

Finally, your conclusion should do two things. First, it should come “full circle” in order to show the audience that you have covered all the territory you laid out in your preview. Second, it should provide satisfying, decisive, psychological closure. In other words, your audience should know when your speech is over. You should not trail off. You should not have to say, “That’s it.” Your audience should not have to wait to see whether you’re going to say anything else. At the right time, they should feel certain that the speech is over and that they can clap.

Key Takeaway

• For an outline to be useful, it’s important to follow five basic principles: singularity, consistency, adequacy, uniformity, and parallelism.
• Look at an outline you’ve created for your public speaking course. Did you follow the five basic rules of outlining? How could you have changed your outline to follow those five basic principles?
• Write an outline for your next speech in your course, paying special attention to the structure of the outline to ensure that none of the principles of outlining are violated.
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Public Speaking Success: How to Speak with Clarity

A common obstacle that many people who speak face is being able to speak clearly . This is more of an issue for those who speak infrequently as opposed to those who speak regularly — those in the former category are often unaware of the issue.

You can have a well written speech, practice it until you know it cold and then deliver it with confidence . But if your audience can’t understand what you’re saying, it’ll have minimal impact. You’ve probably seen speakers like this. So what are some of the things that can interfere with the clarity of your speech and what can you do about it? Let’s start with some of the reasons an audience doesn’t understand your talk:

• You’re speaking too softly or too fast.
• You’re using language that the audience doesn’t understand.
• You have a thick or heavy accent.
• English is not your first language .
• Your grammar usage or pronunciation is unusual.
• Your ideas are presented in a confusing or hard to follow manner.

There are many other reasons, but these are the most common. Again, many of us are unaware of these issues so I highly recommend recording one of your presentations so you can get a more realistic view of your presentation abilities. A video recording is best because you can also evaluate the visual aspects of your presentation style, but audio is adequate for improving your speech clarity. If you have friends that will provide you with honest feedback, you can ask them about your clarity when you speak. Another great option is a Toastmasters club – just make sure you don’t choose a club that only gives softball evaluations.

Once you know what the issued you need to work on are, you can start addressing them. So here are some ways that you can improve your clarity.

Watch your voice:

Do you speak too fast or too slow? Are you speaking loud enough or into the microphone so people can hear you? More often than not, people tend to speak faster when presenting to a group — this is often caused by nervous energy. If you catch yourself speaking too fast, practice slowing down. A recorder (again, audio is all you need) can help you see if you’re improving. If you’re one of that rare breed that speaks too slow, practice your talk at varying speeds to see if there’s any improvement. Regardless of your pace, make sure that you sound natural.

Speaking too softly is a common problem as is not speaking directly into the microphone. There’s nothing wrong with asking people in the back of the room if they can hear you — in fact, I recommend this. It allows you to adjust your volume at the beginning. However, many speakers tend to dip their volume in the middle of their talks, so periodically checking with your audience can help you (just don’t ask them every few minutes if they can hear you).

Watch your language:

Are you using words, terms or acronyms that the audience is not familiar with? Are you mispronouncing words? One of the biggest mistakes that people make in all forms of communication is to use language that others many not understand. Some people do it to show off their powerful vocabulary while others are completely oblivious of the issue.

Try to use words that are appropriate for your audience. A college educated audience can tolerate your verbal artistry more so than an audience made up of folks who barely graduated from high school . Likewise, if your audience is made up of people in the same industry, then it’s okay to use technical terms from that industry. Otherwise, you may want to explain acronyms, jargon and technical terms to help those members of the audience that may not be familiar with them.

Mispronunciation and word misuse are common problems that can negatively impact your speech. Some people get really hung up on them and will find you less credible if you mix up affect and effect or pronounce the word “produce” as “per-deuce.” There are several audio programs out there to help you improve your vocabulary. Many of which also will help you with pronunciation and grammar.

Improve your English:

In a prior article , I went into detail about how people can succeed at public speaking when English is not their primary language. In general, you want to get feedback from others who are native English speakers as to what parts of your speaking need attention. Many people have problems with certain sounds such as “b”, “ch” or “k” so practicing these sounds can definitely help. There’s nothing wrong with adults using the same techniques that children use to learn to speak English.

Organize your speech:

When you jump around from idea to idea, it’s difficult for people to follow you. Putting in the effort upfront when you’re creating your speech will improve its overall clarity. Make sure that thoughts and ideas flow neatly and naturally. If a point, thought or fact doesn’t fit in with the rest of your talk, leave it out. Many speakers make the mistake of trying to interject a funny quote or story into their speech that just doesn’t fit and all it does is make the speech less comprehensive.

Take the time to create an outline and only include the things that fit with your topic in your speech. Make sure your transitions are smooth or use pauses to move from one thought to another.

So there are a number of things that you can do to improve the clarity of your speech and improve your audience’s retention. Figure out what you need to improve and experiment with some of these solutions. Read your audience to see whether or not they’re following you. If they’re not, take some of these actions to fix the situation.

James Feudo owns the Boston Web Design Agency JVF Solutions and loves blogging about personal development and communication in his spare time.

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5 thoughts on “ Public Speaking Success: How to Speak with Clarity ”

Great post. I’ve seen my fair share of presenters that have great info but you can’t understand them. I will forward this on.

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Scholarly Voice: Precision, Clarity, and Academic Expression

According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2020), academic writing should be concise and clear, and using words frugally creates a more readable paper. APA states, “Some writers may fear that writing concisely will make their papers too short  However, adding extraneous material or ‘fluff’ to make your paper longer will dilute its focus and meaning and will not improve your chances of publication or of getting a favorable grade” (p. 113). Students should aim to write clearly and concisely (see APA 7, Section 4.4) and eliminate wordiness and redundancy (see APA 7, Section 4.5).

Read the following subpages to master the skills needed to be a precise, clear, smooth, and economic writer.

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Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

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Speech Preparation #5: Six Power Principles for Speech Editing

Conventional wisdom says the best speeches are not written; they are rewritten . Yet, most speakers present content that falls between a first draft and no preparation at all .

Don’t be like most speakers .

Allow yourself the time to edit for focus, clarity, concision, continuity, variety, and impact . If you do, you will give your audience a performance that will dazzle them.

The previous article in the Speech Preparation Series showed you how to write the first draft of your speech .

In this article and the next one , you will develop the skills required to improve your speech through iterative speech editing .

• How to Prepare Your Presentation
• Select Your Speech Topic
• Plan Your Speech Outline
• Writing Your First Draft
• Editing Your Speech
• Add Speech Impact with Rhetorical Devices
• Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety
• Practicing Your Presentation
• Self-Critique: Preparation for Next Time
• Winning a Toastmasters Speech Contest

Editing a Speech — An Iterative Process

Once you have a first draft, you begin to see how the different elements from your outline work together to form your speech.

The next step is a highly iterative one. Just as you cannot expect the first draft to be the final draft, do not pressure yourself to get it perfect after one session of editing. Expect to make many passes through your speech, with each pass leaving the speech a little better than the previous version.

As you proceed, avoid falling in love with any particular component of the speech. Maybe you have the perfect story or a great slide , but be prepared to cut it out if your core message can be conveyed in a better way.

Use Binoculars and a Magnifying Glass

“ Edit mercilessly. All elements of your speech — every point, every statistic, every anecdote, every story, every joke, every visual aid — must support your core message. ”

When you edit your speech, you are doing two things in parallel:

• Ensure that your paragraphs, sections, stories, and transitions combine to produce a well-organized speech that succeeds in delivering your core message.
• You only have one chance to deliver your message to your audience. It needs to be easy to follow to guarantee their attention throughout.
• For this, you need binoculars .
• Edit your words, phrases, and sentences to find the precise combination of words that invoke emotions and create images in a memorable way.
• To make your audience remember your core message, you need to make them remember your words and the images you created in their minds.
• For this, you need a magnifying glass .

Accomplishing both tasks simultaneously is not easy. One approach is to focus primarily on macro-editing in your initial editing passes. Then, when you are happy with how the overall speech is coming together, change your focus and begin micro-editing. This is the basic approach that I apply.

Six Power Principles for Speech Editing

1. edit for focus.

Audience response you want to avoid:

“The presenter was all over the map. It was confusing.”

Edit mercilessly if you have written something in an earlier draft that strays from your core message. All elements of your speech — every point, every statistic, every anecdote, every story, every joke, every visual aid — must support your core message .

2. Edit for Clarity

“The talk was interesting, but I just didn’t get it .”

On a macro-level, an earlier article of this series showed you that points in your outline should be sequenced in a way which mirrors the meaningful relationship. (e.g. chronological, spatial, cause-effect) Ordering your speech logically is one of the best ways to ensure clarity. Start with one point, and build out from there, as if you were adding one lego block to another over time.

On a micro-level, clarity is also important.

• Can the sentences be clearer?
• Have you avoided any tongue-twisters?
• Is technical jargon eliminated? (Your audience analysis will guide you.)

3. Edit for Concision

“ Avoid falling in love with any particular component of the speech. Be prepared to cut if your core message can be conveyed in a better way. ”

“He just went on and on and on…”

Inspiration is provided by Antoine de Saint-Exupery who wrote:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

For each element of your presentation, ask yourself “ Is this essential? ” If the answer is no, cut it.

• Eliminate entire points or stories if the core message is conveyed without them.
• Eliminate sentences if the paragraph reads fine without them.
• Eliminate words which do not add meaning to the sentences.
• Replace long words with short words that convey the same meaning. e.g. use rather than utilize

4. Edit for Continuity

“She lost me after the fourth slide.”

Transition words, phrases, and sentences — bridging — are necessary to make your speech flow. Your aim is to avoid abrupt transitions where you can lose audience members. One point should feed naturally into the next. Sidebars and other diversions are the enemy.

5. Edit for Variety

“ For each element of your presentation, ask if it is essential. If the answer is no, cut it. ”

“It was boring.”

Audiences like variety. It makes the speech more enjoyable, and it also helps you appeal to different types of thinkers.

Here are just a few ways to inject variety into a presentation:

• Move around the stage.
• Use a prop, slides, or other visual aids
• Break up long, serious stretches of a speech with humor.
• Engage the audience with a rhetorical question or an activity.
• Balance theory with practical statistics. Balance stories with logical arguments.

Note: Some of these are delivery techniques rather than writing techniques.

6. Edit for Impact and Beauty

“Nothing really stood out.”

There are many closely related techniques to make a speech memorable, including:

• Surprise the audience.
• Create vivid images.
• Appeal to the senses.
• Craft truly memorable lines.
• Use analogies, similes, and metaphors.
• Employ rhetorical devices throughout.

Several of these techniques are addressed in the next article of the Speech Preparation Series.

Speech Editing Example: Face the Wind

Here is an example of one editing iteration for my 2007 contest speech Face the Wind .

• The original version of the speech is in the left column.
• The revised version of the speech after editing is in the middle column.
• Comments or explanations are in the right column.

Key to Color-Coding

In addition to comments, I have provided color-coding to demonstrate the impact of the editing process.

• Old text removed
• New text added
• Text moved within a section
• Words, phrases, or sentences changed

Next in the Speech Preparation Series

The next article in this series shows you how to edit your speech to bring your speech alive with rhetorical devices . You will also see a much later draft of Face the Wind that will demonstrate this in practice.

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The six principles you highlight are all excellent points. Principle #3 is one I struggle with in my business presentations the most. I try to remember what Einstein said -“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” I really appreciate the before and after example – Great post.

Yes, knowing what can and cannot be cut is not an easy task. You really need to put yourself in the shoes of the audience and “see” the presentation through their eyes to accurately determine this. Another reason that audience analysis is so critical.

What a fun way to illustrate your editing process, Andrew. Very interesting.

As for the tree, I can totally understand why people would ask about it. You’ve almost anthropomorphized the tree by comparing it to a sumo wrestler and then describing your wrestling match. You seal the deal at the end where it takes pity on you and falls over. I would definitely want to know that the tree survived the ordeal after all it went through to get to its new home!

I dig the Russell Crowe joke.

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Speak with Clarity: How to Get Your Message Across

Do you know how to deliver great content effectively? Here's how to speak with clarity to get your message across.

Let's face it: we can be a nation of rattlers.

Now, I don't mean snakes. I mean those of us who give speeches, deliver presentations—even make important pitches—by "rattling off" our content. 

Everyone, this isn't how to influence audiences and get them on our side. If we do it, we're losing sight of the whole reason we talk to listeners: to connect with them so they understand and accept what we're saying. That will never happen if we have a better relationship with our notes than with the people in the seats!

All of this applies just as much to  virtual speaking . Learn how you and your team can speak to win remotely. Take a look at  my new book :  The Online Meetings Handbook . 

Let's assume that the content of your talk is excellent—something your listeners really need to hear. How can you perform  in a way that makes you exceptional at delivering your message? Below are two techniques to use, one mental and the other physical.

Make Sure Your Intention is the Right One

First, the mental technique to help you get through to listeners clearly. I believe that for most speakers, it involves changing one's thinking.

Go beyond mundane information delivery to be dynamic and persuasive! Download my Free resource , "How to Be a Clear, Concise, and Compelling Speaker."

When we present, we tend to obsess over content— data , if you will. It's easy to do so. This is the information we think we need to convey. And boy, do we ever find ways to convey it: spreadsheets, charts, slide decks with endless bullet points, etc., all in addition to what we actually say. This accumulated data becomes the engine of our presentation. We have one thought in mind: to get our information across in the time allotted to us. 

But information isn't why you're speaking, in person or virtually . Your audience could get that in a number of ways. Your value to listeners is that you, uniquely, can interpret  the information and share that interpretation, in a way your audience can understand.

That's why your  intention  needs to change. From delivering information, it needs to become fostering audience perception and understanding . Once you accept that aim, your relationship with listeners transforms dramatically (as well as how you use content). Let the data do its thing. Your focus needs to be on discussing it in terms of your listeners' knowledge, experience, and needs. Your content will now become much more personal and memorable to your audience.   

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Can You Also Breathe for Greater Clarity? Well, Yes!

I admit that all of the above is pretty conceptual. So now let's get as practical as we can. Let's get physical— by talking about how you breathe . 

Here's why it's a good idea to do so. Even if we don't have fear of public speaking, we're all at the mercy of adrenaline and other stress hormones when we face an audience. It's part of "psyching us up for the big game." (And if we do suffer from speech anxiety, our response can range from off-putting to ruinous.)

Nervousness an issue? Get my Free cheat sheet , "How to Calm Your Nerves Before Speaking." Become more relaxed and focused . . . even if you have just 5 minutes to spare!

These "flight or flight" hormones come into play to help us survive dangerous situations. But public speaking isn't actually dangerous. Our minds just trick us into believing that's true, silently shouting "Do something! Do something!" In the rush to get us out of danger, all of our physical reactions speed up. Unfortunately, that often includes our rate of speech. And too rapid speaking is a pretty poor partner of clarity and comprehension.

Conscious and controlled breathing is the antidote—and as it happens, one that works fast. Fortunately, Mother Nature has already designed a way to keep us from becoming motor-mouths when we speak. She's arranged things so we can't inhale and speak at the same time. (It's because the opening between our vocal folds, the glottis, must be open for inhalation, and closed for speaking, when the vocal membranes need to touch each other.)

Developing the habit of slower, deeper breathing, then, is one way to keep from flying through your material. Slower delivery means more time for listeners to absorb and comprehend what you're saying. Result? — Greater opportunities for clarity.

There's your two-pronged approach to becoming a speaker with greater clarity: one mental (intentionality), the other physical (conscious breathing). Combined, they'll help make you an organism primed for some great speaking!

You should follow me on Twitter   here . 

Gary Genard  is an actor, author, and expert in public speaking training and overcoming speaking fear. His company, Boston-based The Genard Method offers  live 1:1 Zoom executive coaching   and  corporate group training  worldwide. In 2020 for the seventh consecutive year, Gary has been ranked by Global Gurus as One of The World's Top 30 Communication Professionals. He is the author of  How to Give a Speech . His second book,  Fearless Speaking ,  was named in 2019 as "One of the 100 Best Confidence Books of All Time." His latest book is  The Online Meetings Handbook ,  now available at The Genard Method  and  on Amazon .  To know more about TGM's services,  Contact Gary here .  

Tags: stage presence public speaking , public speaking training , presentation skills , public speaking , public speaking tips , effective business presentations , presentation skills training , how to deliver a presentation , stage presence , speech coach , speech coaching , presence , leadership , presentations , keynote speaker , CEO , online meetings , fearless speaking , motivational speaker , fearless presentations , confidence , leadership coaching , how to deliver a speech , leadership development , video conference , virtual conferences , public speaking coaching , motivational speakers , virtual training , how to practice diaphragmatic breathing , motivational speeches , effective leadership , online coaching , Zoom , online courses , keynotes , virtual learning , Zoom courses , message , Zoom training , voice coaching , online speech coaching , leadership coach , virtual speaking , fearless leadership , Zoom coaching , virtual speech training , virtual speech coaching , online meetings handbook , online speech training , voice and speech coaching , clarity

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10 Effective Articulation Exercises to Improve Your Speech Clarity

Improving your speech clarity is important. Vocal exercises can help.

By practicing these exercises, you can enhance your pronunciation and speech quality.

Let's explore 10 practical articulation exercises. They can make a big difference in how clearly you communicate.

These exercises are great for students preparing for presentations or professionals aiming to improve speaking skills.

They will help you speak with more clarity and confidence.

Importance of Articulation Exercises

Articulation exercises help improve speech clarity and communication skills . They assist in enunciating words properly. Activities like "lion mouth" exercises and tongue twisters can enhance consonant diction. This is crucial for voice acting or classical work.

Physical warm-ups are also important. They prepare the vocal cords for vocal exercises. Breath control is essential for vocal preparation. It ensures sustained vocal power and clarity.

Voice-over coaches and organizations like stagemilk drama club stress the importance of these exercises. They help develop strong vocal abilities in performers of all levels. By incorporating these techniques into their routine, individuals can boost their communication skills and achieve better articulation in their performances.

Benefits of Improving Speech Clarity

Confidence boost.

Practicing vocal exercises can help improve communication skills and increase confidence. Tongue twisters and lion mouth exercises strengthen the vocal cords and enhance articulation.

These exercises also aid in vocal warm-ups, ensuring optimal performance and clear diction. Physical warm-ups, such as stretching and relaxation techniques, prepare the body for vocal preparation and boost confidence in speech delivery.

For emerging performers, including those interested in voice acting or classical work, incorporating articulation exercises and vocal exercises into their routine can greatly benefit their overall performance.

Voice-over coaches and drama clubs emphasize the importance of consonant diction and vocal exercises in instilling confidence in their students. Combining vocal warm-ups and articulation exercises leads to improved speech clarity and performance confidence.

Enhanced Communication Skills

Practicing lip trills and tongue twisters can enhance communication skills.

By doing these vocal exercises, individuals can:

• Strengthen their vocal cords
• Improve vocal warm-ups
• Boost overall vocal preparation

This helps develop better consonant diction and clearer speech patterns for better performance in different communication settings.

Focusing on articulation exercises can also bring benefits such as:

• Improved speech clarity
• Reduced mumbling
• Enhanced enunciation

Building confidence is important too. Confidence in voice and speech can impact how messages are delivered and received.

This is crucial for emerging performers, voice actors, and those in classical work or voice-over projects.

Getting guidance from voice acting coaches or joining programs like the Stagemilk Drama Club can refine communication skills and elevate performance levels.

Articulation Exercises

Lip trills are helpful for communication skills . They improve articulation and speech clarity.

When done correctly, they engage the vocal cords and help during vocal warm-ups.

Techniques like making a "lion mouth" shape and using tongue twisters can help with lip trills.

These exercises prepare both new performers and experienced professionals in classical work and voice acting.

By focusing on consonant diction and practicing lip trills, individuals can enhance their vocal skills.

Guidance from voice coaches or drama club instructors can be beneficial.

Lip trills are a practical way to improve vocal abilities for performers.

Tongue Twisters

Practicing tongue twisters helps improve speech clarity . These exercises strengthen vocal cords and enhance consonant diction. This is beneficial for vocal warm-ups and exercises.

Tongue twisters are also useful for voice acting and classical work preparation. Emerging performers can improve communication skills and develop a clearer voice by mastering these exercises.

Similar to a lion opening its mouth wide, tongue twisters challenge individuals to enunciate difficult phrases and refine articulation.

Voice-over coaches and organizations like stagemilk drama club use tongue twisters to enhance vocal clarity and communication skills in their training programs.

Jaw Release Exercises

Jaw release exercises can help improve communication skills and vocal performance.

One technique is the "lion mouth" exercise. Another is practicing tongue twisters during vocal warm-ups.

These exercises can enhance diction and pronunciation for emerging performers.

They are especially beneficial for voice acting and classical performances, strengthening consonant diction.

Voice-over coaches and drama clubs often recommend jaw stretches to prepare the voice.

Integrating these vocal exercises can lead to clearer speech and improved communication skills.

Breath Control Techniques

Effective breath control techniques are important for improving speech clarity. They also help enhance communication skills and boost confidence in speaking engagements.

Focusing on vocal warm-ups, like the "lion mouth" exercise, engages the diaphragm. This helps strengthen vocal cords and prepare for optimal performance.

Incorporating tongue twisters and consonant diction exercises can aid in articulation and clarity. This is essential for classical work and voice acting.

Voice-over coaches often emphasize breath control techniques to ensure clear delivery and effective storytelling.

For members of the Stagemilk Drama Club, practicing breath control techniques can significantly enhance vocal preparation and overall performance.

Physical Warm-Ups

Neck and shoulder rolls.

Neck and shoulder rolls are helpful for flexibility and reducing tension in the upper body.

By gently rotating the neck and rolling the shoulders, muscles are stretched and blood flow increases.

This can help alleviate stiffness and promote relaxation.

These movements are great for vocal preparation, loosening up neck and shoulder muscles for optimal performance when using the vocal cords.

In communication skills, neck and shoulder rolls are a simple way to prepare for vocal warm-ups and articulation exercises.

They can enhance consonant diction and voice control for voice acting, performers, or classical work.

From lion mouth exercises to tongue twisters, these are essential for warming up the voice before more complex vocal techniques.

Coaches at StageMilk Drama Club stress the importance of including neck and shoulder rolls in vocal preparation for top vocal performance.

Jaw Stretches

Effective jaw stretches are important for improving articulation and speech clarity. Simple exercises like the "lion mouth" stretch, where you open your jaw wide for a few seconds, can help loosen jaw muscles. Tongue twisters are also useful for working jaw muscles and enhancing consonant pronunciation.

Adding these stretches to vocal warm-ups can greatly benefit communication skills. It's recommended for aspiring performers to include jaw stretches in their daily vocal preparation, especially for voice acting or classical work that require clear articulation.

Voice-over coaches stress the significance of jaw stretches for a strong voice delivery. At Stagemilk Drama Club, we incorporate jaw stretches into our curriculum to help students strengthen their vocal cords and excel in articulation exercises.

Vocal Exercises

Sirens are a vocal exercise. They involve smoothly transitioning from the highest to the lowest pitch. These exercises are helpful for clarity in speech. They engage the vocal cords and allow for a wide range of pitch changes. This, in turn, strengthens the vocal cords and improves communication skills.

Adding Sirens to a speech warm-up routine can make a significant difference in vocal articulation skills. It not only prepares the vocal cords but also helps in transitioning smoothly between different pitches. This practice is beneficial for delivering speeches or performing voice acting effectively.

In addition to Sirens, tongue twisters and lion mouth exercises are also useful. They prepare the vocal cords for clear consonant pronunciation during speech. These vocal exercises are especially valuable for new performers and seasoned professionals working on classical or voice-over projects.

If looking to improve vocal skills further, seeking guidance from voice-over coaches or joining groups like the stagemilk drama club can be beneficial. These resources can enhance vocal preparation and articulation skills for better performance.

Scales are important for singers. These exercises help improve vocal skills and performance. Singing scales covers a wide range of pitches, which enhances clarity and range. Regular practice helps with diction and articulation, essential for voice work.

Performers use techniques like the "lion mouth" exercise to open up their voice. Tongue twisters can also be helpful for articulation.

Voice coaches stress the need for vocal exercises like scales to improve voice control and quality.

Sighs and Relaxation

When preparing your voice for performance, it's easy to forget about using sighs and relaxation techniques.

By doing vocal warm-ups with sighs, you can reduce tension in your vocal cords. This helps you communicate better and speak clearer.

Sighing helps release stress in your vocal muscles and calms your mind before acting or singing. It's a great way to prepare.

In addition to tongue twisters and lion poses, adding sighs to your routine can improve your consonant pronunciation and overall voice quality.

Voice coaches like Stagemilk Drama Club stress the importance of articulation exercises. They recommend using techniques like sighing for a clear and precise voice delivery.

Additional Tips for Effective Articulation

Adjusting speech speed can help improve communication skills. Speaking at a moderate pace allows for clear enunciation.

Proper body posture is key for speech clarity. Sitting or standing up straight opens the vocal cords, aiding pronunciation during warm-ups.

Mindfulness techniques, like the "lion mouth" exercise, promote focus during articulation exercises.

Practicing tongue twisters can help improve consonant diction and vocal preparation.

For emerging performers, voice-over coaches or workshops like Stagemilk Drama Club offer valuable insights into voice acting.

Improve how you speak by doing these 10 articulation exercises:

• These exercises target your tongue, lips, and vocal cords.
• They help you speak more clearly.
• By practicing regularly, you will see better speech clarity.