Get to the Point

Every speech must have a general an a specific purpose. A general purpose is

to inform, to persuade, to entertain, or to inspire. A specific purpose is what

you want the audience to do after listening to your speech. Once you have

established your general and specific purposes, you’ll find it easy to organize

your speech. You’ll also have more confidence, which makes you more

convincing, enthusiastic, and sincere. Of course, the better organized the

speech is, the more likely it is to achieve your purpose.

Purpose

The general purpose is the broad point of your speech. Most speeches fall into one of four general purposes:

To inform. You present a speech to inform when you want it audience to learn about a subject, develop a new skill or learnn more about a subject they already know something about. Lectures, briefings and demonstrations are all informative talks.

To persuade. A persuasive speech strives to change the audie's attitudes or behaviors, or :onvince the audience to accept ipprove your point of view. Requests for donations

and campaign speeches are examples of persuasive speeches.

To entertain. An entertaining speech strives to amuse or provide enjoyment for the audience. Humorous speeches are the most obvious kind of entertaining speech. However, any speech may be entertaining without being laugh-out-loud funny simply by including anecdotes, such as a speech about some unusual experiences you had while on a business trip.

To inspire. Inspirational speeches ask people to achieve noble goals or ideals or reach their highest potential. They draw on emotions and sentiment. A commencement speech is a typical example of a speech intended to inspire.

Perhaps you've heard a speech that seemed to have two purposes — for example, an informative speech that also was entertaining because the speaker told some funny stories. Using humor doesn't mean the speech had two general purposes. The speech's purpose was to inform, but the speaker used humor to help convey his message. Although it's possible for a speech to have two general purposes, it's not recommended. Your speaking time is limited, making it difficult to effectively achieve two purposes. Also, your audience can be

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 843