Sample Speech Assignment

This 5-7 minute speech requires you to select a topic of interest to you and your audience, and conduct research of the topic, and present the information you gather to an audience.  The goal of this assignment is to learn to use research skills in selecting relevant and reliable information, organize your research into a coherent outline and to present it using the skills we are working on.  

When merely presenting information, you may or may not have an agenda.  But you are trying to make the audience aware of something.  You are promoting something: understanding.  You are creating a need to know.  This is advertising in a milder form.

These speeches need to be organized. Here are some ways to do that:

• Cause and effect
• Chronologically
• Numerically
• Problem/Solution
• Spatial
• Topical (subject)
  

Guidelines

Presenting An Information Speech

• Explain something the audience is unfamiliar with but would find interesting.  What's in it for them?  What reward will they get if they listen to you?
• Excite the audience with a hook, something that will grab their attention (a question, story, strong statement, etc).
• Identify your central theme.
• Concentrate on why the audience may be interested in what you are saying.
• Give information and support it with examples.
• Summarize your message.  If it is too long, you will lose your audience.
• Research your topic well to sound credible.  Cite your sources!  Example:  "Dr. Ahman Farsi, the chair of the environmental science department of the University of Delaware, says litter is bad". 
• Be familiar with your speech outline.  Be confident in the use of your visual aids so you will sound and look poised.  Accomplish this by practicing a lot!
• Refer to the beginning of your speech and other important points during your closing.

Rules for the speech

• This speech will be an "Informative Voice-over PowerPoint."  You will create a PowerPoint of your speech with all your points.  Then you will record your voice into the PowerPoint. Here's a video on how to do that:
  https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c.
• Speeches should runs 5-7 minutes. Timing is very important.
• Keep it interesting.
• Cite all sources.  Make sure you turn in your bibliography (APA or MLA style, depending on your major) at the end of the PowerPoint. Most of them should be peer-reviewed academic journals or publications on the subject.