Public Speaking

The materials used to support a speaker’s ideas. The skillful use of Supporting Materials often makes the difference between a poor speech and a good one. It is also closely related to Critical Thinking. Using supporting materials is not a matter of haphazardly tossing facts and figures into your speech. You must decide which ideas need to be supported, give your audience, topics and specific purpose. You must to research to find materials that will being your ideas across clearly and creatively. And you must evaluate your supporting materials to make sure they really do back up your ideas. As you put your speeches together, you will need to make sure your supporting materials are accurate, relevant, and reliable. You will find yourself asking questions such as “Are my example representative?” “Am I using statistical measures correctly?” “Am I quoting reputable, qualified sources?” Assessing the supporting materials in your speech – as well as in your speech of your classmates—is...

A specific case used to illustrate or represent a group of people, ideas, conditions, experiences, or the like. Across from a small, grassy park dedicated to Greek and Irish immigrants, Joe Cogliano, whose grandparents were Italian, sells mangoes to Hispanic customers from the back of his truck. Children play tag while chattering in Spanish on O’Brien Terrace, part of the housing project built in 1939 for Irish laborers. The pungent odor of Vietnamese fish sauce fills a Southeast Asia restaurant where Giavis’ Greek Grocery once thrived for more than 70 years. These were the opening lines of an article in Time Magazine about the interaction of cultures in Lowell , Massachusetts . It illustrates a device well known to magazine writes – and speech makers: get the audience involved. See how skillfully this example accomplishes the goal.It begins by focusing attention on a particular person (Joe Cogliano). It then provides details of time and place that set the scene vivi...

A specific case referred to in passing to illustrate a point. Brief examples-also called specific instances-may be referred to in passing to illustrate a point. The following excerpt uses a brief example to illustrate the miraculous nature of recent advances in creati9ng artificial limbs for accident victims: Changes in technology have made it possible for doctors to work wonders that once seemed impossible. Roger Charter, for example, lost both his feet when they were crushed in a truck accident. Now he has new feet – made of a spring plastic alloy that duplicates a normal arch. Not only can Roger walk normally, but he can run and play sports again! A brief example may also be used to introduce a topic.

Extended examples are often called illustrations, narratives, or anecdotes. They are longer and more detailed then brief example. By telling a story vividly and dramatically, they pull listeners into the speech. Here is such an example, from a speech about the astonishing similarities that sometimes exist between identical twins: After 40 years of separation from his identical twin, James Lewis began his search for his long-lost brother. They had been separated a few weeks after birth and were adopted by different families. Their reunion took place at the home of the other twin—James Springer. Upon meeting, they found that they had more in common then their first names. Both had married a woman named Betty, been divorced, and remarried a woman named Sally. Both had similar jobs as deputy sheriffs, McDonald’s employees, and gas station attendants. Both liked to build wood furniture in their basement workshops. Both put on 10 pound as teenagers and lost it latter. Both had the ...