Page 268 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 9 Organizing Messages 235

Thought-Provoking Question
Sometimes a good question can effectively open a speech. A rhetorical ques-
rhetorical question
tion is one that the audience isn’t expected to answer out loud. For example,
A question that the audi-
one student began a speech on secondhand smoke this way: “How many of you
ence isn’t expected to
have ever returned home smelling as though you were a stand-in for the Marl- answer out loud.
7
boro Man?” The attention-getting language worked well. However, beginning
with a question can be ineffective if the question is not thought provoking. For
example, beginning a speech with “How many of you would like to learn to
snow ski?” isn’t likely to have much impact on an audience. Also, with rhetorical
questions, audiences are sometimes unsure whether the question is meant to be
answered out loud. On the other hand, we have seen speakers who effectively
begin their speeches by asking audience members to respond to a series of ques-
tions with a show of hands. Questions, rhetorical or real, should be used only if
they add impact to the opening of the speech.

Focus on the Thesis Statement

The central idea we want to convey to an audience should be captured by our
thesis statement. Although we have developed a thesis statement before writing
the body of the speech, now is a good time to refl ect on its phrasing. Have we re-
ally focused on the essential theme of the speech? The thesis statement must be
broad enough to incorporate all of our main points. At the same time, the thesis
statement cannot be so broad that our speech seems to leave something out.
As noted earlier, there may be situations, such as with a hostile audience,
when we should not explicitly state our thesis early in the speech. In the in-
troduction in these situations, we indicate the general topic area of the speech,
focusing on an area of common agreement, rather than the thesis. The thesis
would then emerge toward the end of the speech, after the arguments in support
have been explained.

Connect With the Audience

No speech should be constructed without asking, “What’s in it for the audience?
What needs or desires will be fulfi lled by listening to my speech?” The introduc-
tion is an opportunity to make the link between the speech topic and audience
members. If we make this link in the introduction, we are much more likely to
gain the audience’s collective ear.
The introduction is an opportunity to build our credibility. We can stress our
similarity to the audience. The student who spoke on toxic shock syndrome used
her family’s tragedy to stress that the same thing could happen to any woman.
She not only made a connection with her classmates, she established her per-
sonal credibility by virtue of her experience and her subsequent research on the
topic.
We can also use it to stress our expertise. For example, consider a student
who was speaking about how to succeed in television and fi lm. She failed to
connect with her audience by mentioning her own résumé, which included nu-
merous television and fi lm roles, including a fi lm with Clint Eastwood and a
recurring role on a popular sitcom. Finally, we can use this as an opportunity