does a speech look like a house?

“Now, i have been asked to give a speech , but I  dont know what to say!!”

Well, my friend, I have been there! too I have said that! When I used to be asked to give a speech, I always say “ what am I going to say?” How am I going to start and how will I end?!!
Until I have discovered the missing SECRET!  the secret is called “Structure”

Speech structure is everything, yes,it is everything.

Just like in any house, the structure is the most important part of the house. It keeps it together. So speech structure is very important to keep the speech together, and keep your ideas together.

If a house has a good and solid structure it can keep the house firm and strong and if you have a good and solid speech structure, it  will keep the audience engaged and follow your speech easily. Also, it makes the message clear. You don’t want to keep the audience wondering what the heck are you talking about!

On the other hand, when you have a weak structure, you will loose the audience and you never want to do that. Why? Because you are speaking to the audience! If you don’t have an audience, so why are you there talking ? And when you loose the audience, you will easily notice that they are crossing their hands, leaving the room, yawning, looking at their watch or running out!

When you loose an audience, they will never pay attention to you  and to your speech, and if you were thinking to persuade them, then simply FORGET IT !

On the other hand, when your structure is clear and to the point, your audience will enjoy your speech and they will end up enjoying you.You will see them smiling, paying attention to what you say and cannot wait to finish ,so they can come talk to you and ask you questions.

But the most important part in the speech structure is that it can help keeping you on track. yes, lets say that you forgot a point, you can always go back to the structure and see what was the point.

So what is a structure?
it is a way of organizing your speech into points so you can see the entire speech as a road map.

There are many ways to structure a speech, but I like using three.
The first way is the logical way, which is simply 1,2,3. lets take your story of going grocery shopping. The logical way looks like this: 1- left the house, 2- drove the car 3- got to the grocery store. This is very logical. It talks about the process that you went through to get to the store.

The second way is starting in the middle. It is very simple, you just start at the middle of your speech. You can start by saying I was in the car, I had just left home to get to the grocery store.

This way actually adds more fun to the story, and to your speech.

The third way is starting at the end and flashing back to the story.I love using this kind of structure in my speeches. I love it because it adds more interest to the audience to know what happened when you start at the end. The audience will be eager to know what happened at the beginning. This style of structure is used a lot by Hollywood. I am not sure if you have seen “mission impossible 3” movie. They did use this style of structure in making the movie.

Every speech has three parts, and without them, your speech is a waste.
So what are they?

Introduction
Points of speech
Conclusion

The introduction is basically a way of introducing your speech. I will be having a special post on introductions. The intro should grab the audience attention and make them say “This is good, I want to see where is he taking us!” When you introduce the speech, you should clearly state the main message of the speech; otherwise, you will loose the audience.

The points of speech are the main points of the your speech. Do you remember your english teacher when she said “ write your main points?” It is the same here. The points of speech is what makes the Intro (the main message) make sense to the audience. I would highly recommend you keeping your points to three. Why three?I will have something about it in future posts.

Finally, the conclusion! It serves as the summery of the entire speech. there is a small secret here: conclusions are usually my main message.What do I mean by that? When I want to talk about my dad, the conclusion is my dad. I start with the conclusion. Then I write the entire speech. Another example, the famous speech by Martin Luther King “ I have a dream!” , this speech came from the conclusion, although the speech started with I have a dream, but it is the conclusion which is what he wanted to say at the first place.

Therefore, choose what kind of structure you want to  use. Do you want to  structure your speech logically like 1,2,3 or you want to structure your speech to start at the middle or you want to add more interest and start at the end. It is your choice, do what you feel comfortable with. I highly recommend you to use the logical structure if you are a new speaker.

However, it is your choice.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I would love it if you sign-up for my blog by inserting your name and email address on the right hand side.

Meanwhile, have a great day.

Baraa Ali, Baraa, Baraa Safaa, Baraasafaa, Baraa Safaa Ali, baraaali, baraasafaaali

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