Page 278 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 9 Organizing Messages 245

Cards about 4 by 6 inches in size seem to work best. Larger cards are too
obtrusive; smaller cards require us to strain to see our notes and to constantly
be shuffl ing them. The following are some helpful hints for preparing note cards
should you choose to do so.

Tips and Tactics
Tips for Preparing Speaker’s Notes

• Use bright colors and large, bold lettering. This will make the notes easier to see.
• Use no more than five or six lines per note card if cards are used. If too much is
crammed on one card, it will be confusing.
• Put each part of a speech on a separate card or page. For example, the introduction
might go on one, the body on another, and the conclusion on a third.
• Number the cards or pages. It is easy to lose track of your place while speaking.
One way to help prevent this from happening is to number each card or page.
• Write on only one side of a card or page. Writing on both sides compounds the
chances of losing your place.
• Highlight main ideas. Just like highlighting key passages in books, highlight the
points you wish to emphasize.
• Use notes to make comments to yourself. It is perfectly appropriate, for example,
to write prompts on notes. For example, write “O.H.” to remind yourself to
show an overhead at that point in the speech.
• Don’t try to write out the speech word for word. This only encourages reading the
speech rather than presenting it in a conversational manner. The only excep-
tion to this rule would be exact quotations, facts, or statistics, which obviously
need to be written out.

Speaker’s notes contain all the same ideas as the complete outline, but the
words are designed to cue us to what comes next. Practice is needed to speak
from these notes and still be assured of covering all the ideas in the original
outline. And this is the fi nal point we wish to make: Successful speakers practice
prior to an actual presentation. No matter how good the organization seems, it is
only as good as the speaker’s ability to deliver it. That takes practice. And prac-
tice doesn’t mean running through the speech the night before or, even worse,
the morning of the presentation. It means devoting signifi cant amounts of time
to practicing the speech until we have internalized its basic organization.

Summary

www.mhhe.com/brydon6
To effectively organize a speech:
To evaluate your understand-
• Focus on the audience when organizing the speech.
ing of this chapter, visit our
• Refi ne the specifi c purpose. Online Learning Center Web
site for quizzes and other
• Create a clear thesis statement. chapter study aids.