A process for preparing speeches

Loading...

From the course by University of Washington

Speaking to Inspire: Ceremonial and Motivational Speeches

15 ratings

University of Washington

Speaking to Inspire: Ceremonial and Motivational Speeches

15 ratings

Course 4 of 4 in the Specialization Dynamic Public Speaking

The most memorable speeches inspire, entertain, and praise. By blending stories and eloquence, great speeches highlight the core values motivating an audience. You might need to do this in a keynote address, a eulogy, or simply a business meeting. Inspiring audiences is a common, but difficult writing challenge. You want a speech that elevates the topic and the audience. This course gives you a method for preparing and delivering speeches that inspire and entertain. By the end of this course, you should be able to compose and deliver moving speeches that praise core audience values through evidence, storytelling, and humor. You should be able to write eloquent passages in tones appropriate to the audience and occasion and speak fluidly from either a well-prepared manuscript or from memory. Learners will record speeches, providing and receiving peer feedback.

From the lesson

Week 1. Using values and storytelling to develop a great speech

Welcome! We begin this week with an overview of the course: What it is and what we’ll be doing. With a sense for the topic, we can then get to know each other with an introductory speech. It’s a fun and easy speech that allows you to get to know some of your classmates. From there we can start preparing our speeches. We’ll start by finding the core values that will drive the speech. Values that speak to the topic and inspire your audience. We’ll then explore how to discuss those values through evidence and storytelling. By the end of the week, you’ll have a list of values and stories to write a speech. If you want, you can end the week by telling us a story and getting some feedback on it. This is a longer week. The storytelling material goes better in week one than week two. If you feel a bit overwhelmed, just know that this week will have a bit more content than the other weeks.

What do ceremonial speeches do?4:48

How to find your fit5:54

A process for preparing speeches3:27

Meet the Instructors

Dr. Matt McGarrity
Principal Lecturer
UW Department of Communication

So once you've done a little bit of reflecting on your rhetorical situation,

then you can dive into the speech preparation.

Now for me, I always go back to the rhetorical canons for my speeches,

invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery.

This is how this course is organized, by the way,

around this process of going through those canons.

So we start off with invention.

So you gotta start by generating the content,

just getting some ideas down on paper.

Now for ceremonial speaking, this means figuring out your core values and stories.

Most ceremonial speeches hinge on a few key values.

So I gotta figure out what those values are, so

I know where I'm taking the speech.

And as part of developing those values,

I'm going to end up illustrating them through stories and evidence.

But ultimately,

this invention stage is just about getting some major pieces down on paper.

Then I go on to arrangement.

So if I've got those big pieces, I need to figure out how to flow the speech in a way

that makes sense and sounds good.

Now I would say this is a challenge for ceremonial speaking,

since we typically don't want to use overt arrangement language, right?

You're not like, so today we bury Andre, he was a good man for three main reasons.

Right, you're not going to do that.

We're looking, in a ceremonial speech, more for an artful artlessness.

A deliberate and powerful set of decisions about arrangement that cover their own

tracks, right.

The speech should feel like it flows,

even if the audience can't see how it's flowing at any given moment.

Now as I'm doing this, up to this point, I have sort of outlines,

I've got a bunch of outlines I've worked through.

I have a sense for where the speech is heading, but

it takes developing an actual draft to get it all figured out.

This is the style stage, this is the hard part.

Since display is such an important part of ceremonial addresses,

I'm writing this draft through style.

Now that's style appropriate to the situation, but style nonetheless.

So then at the end of that, I've got a draft, then I shift into memory.

I've got some decisions to make, now.

Do I deliver my speech from an outline, and extemporize it?

Do I use a manuscript, or do I just memorize the whole dad-gum thing?

Now all of those options, outline, manuscript, and memorization,

they all involve memory, just at different levels of precision.

So even if I'm working from an outline, I need to remember all the large moves.

If I'm working from a manuscript, I need to know the speech deeply enough,

that I can look at the manuscript and look at the audience.

So as I'm working through this,

this memory work usually merges with the delivery.

So when I'm in delivery, I start performing the draft with an eye to

emotional levels I want the audience to experience.

I find places where humor is needed, or where it's appropriate.

But all of this, invention, arrangements, style, memory and delivery,

all of that is an iterative process.

So I'll probably run through a few outlines before I start writing it out,

I might revise that draft multiple times.

And as I'm writing, I'm actually standing up and trying to perform the sections,

to see if they sound good.

All of that writing and rewriting, practicing,

is helping me remember the speech, as well.

But in general, I want to get the ideas out, invention.

Figure out the flow, that's arrangement.

Write the speech, that's style.

Get it in my memory, to the point that it can support good delivery.

[MUSIC]

Explore our Catalog

Join for free and get personalized recommendations, updates and offers.

Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education, partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.

© 2018 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play