12 Chapter 12: Organization and Outlines
“Speech is power; speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Opening Case Study: The Majestic Frequency
At 11:47 a.m. on a Tuesday in March, Saoirse Hennessy-Adewale sat in the production booth above Studio A at the Majestic Theater in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, staring at four different speech outlines on her laptop screen and hating every one of them.
She had thirteen minutes to decide which one to use. Thirteen minutes before she had to walk the three blocks from the Majestic to the federal building on Linden Street, go through the metal detector, find Hearing Room 3B, and take the seat reserved for the applicant at the FCC’s community license renewal hearing. Thirteen minutes to decide how to organize the argument that would determine whether WRVR 94.7 FM—the nonprofit community radio station she had co-founded eight years ago with her late husband Declan—still existed at 5:00 p.m. that afternoon.
Hartwell Broadcasting had filed a competing application for the 94.7 frequency fourteen months ago. Hartwell already owned six stations in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre market. Their lawyer, Vance Hartwell-Dijkstra, had sent Saoirse three letters in the past six months, each one progressively friendlier, each one ending with the same sentence about “the efficient allocation of spectrum resources.” She had the letters in her folder. She did not plan to mention them.
What she did plan to mention was the 2024 ice storm. Forty-one hours of continuous emergency broadcasting. Three hundred and twelve welfare-check requests relayed from listeners to the Lackawanna County sheriff’s office. The transmitter running on the backup generator Zeke had installed in 2022 after he’d spent a weekend watching YouTube videos and reading the FEMA manual. The eighty-nine community testimonial letters currently sitting in a three-ring binder on the edge of the console. The three Edward R. Murrow awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association. The 2,847 volunteer hours logged last year alone. The fact that WRVR was the only Scranton radio station still carrying the Polish-language program that had run every Sunday morning since 1989.
She had all the material. That was not the problem. The problem was that the hearing chair, the Hon. Thaddeus Okonkwo-Fernandez, had set the applicant opening statement at exactly twelve minutes. Twelve minutes. She had timed her first attempt at nineteen minutes, her second at twenty-two, her third at fourteen and a half, and her fourth at nine minutes—which had sounded, when she’d read it aloud to the coffee pot at 6:00 a.m., like someone apologizing for existing.
The production booth door opened. Ezekiel “Zeke” Obiora-Kowalczyk, WRVR’s chief engineer and the person who had signed the co-founder paperwork with Saoirse at the county clerk’s office in 2018, stepped in with two cups of coffee and a face that said he had opinions.
“You’re going with the timeline,” Zeke said. It was not a question.
“I haven’t decided.”
“You’re going with the timeline. Start in 2018 when we signed the lease for this booth. End with the ice storm. Everything in between is the story.”
Philomena Vashchenko-Tyner, WRVR’s programming director, walked in behind him with her laptop open. “No. Problem and solution. That’s what commissioners respond to. You name the problem—news deserts, loss of local coverage, non-English programming getting dropped by every corporate station in the market—and then you show how the station solved it. Chronological is a trap. Commissioners will drift.”
“Chronological is a story,” Zeke said. “Stories don’t drift. Bullet points drift.”
“Stories take twenty minutes. She has twelve.”
Saoirse held up one hand. Her other hand was on the coffee cup Zeke had set in front of her. She had not yet taken a sip. “What if I did comparison? Community radio versus corporate media. Side by side. Reach, cost per listener, local-hiring percentages, Polish-language programming, ice-storm response—”
“Too defensive,” Philomena said. “You’re handing Hartwell the framing. Don’t compare yourself to them. Make them compare themselves to you.”
“Monroe’s motivated sequence,” Zeke said. “Attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action. That’s four minutes to establish need alone. You can do this.”
“Ayres and Miller,” Philomena said, not looking up from her laptop. “Persuasive speech structure. I just pulled the chapter.”
“I know who Ayres and Miller are, Phil.”
The booth door opened again. Ophelia Bhattacharya-Quinn, seventy-two years old, WRVR’s longest-running volunteer and the host of the Sunday morning Polish program, stepped in holding a Tupperware container of pierogi. She set the container on the edge of the console without speaking and looked at Saoirse for a long moment.
“What did you say to them when you called me in 2018?” Ophelia asked. “When you asked me to come host the Sunday show after Pan Kowalski passed?”
Saoirse looked up. “I said—I don’t remember exactly. I said the Polish community in Scranton needed to hear itself on the radio.”
“Yes.”
“And I said if we didn’t do it, nobody else would.”
“Yes.”
“And I said I couldn’t pay you anything.”
“And I said yes anyway.” Ophelia tapped the Tupperware lid twice with one finger. “Remember why. That’s all I came to tell you.” She left the booth without waiting for a reply.
Zeke and Philomena had both stopped talking. Mateus Coelho-Nakamura, the college intern who had been sitting silently at the back of the booth watching the conversation and refreshing his phone, looked up. “Uh. Saoirse. You have a text.”
“From who?”
“Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez’s aide. Through the station’s public contact form. It’s flagged urgent.”
He handed her the phone. The message was three sentences long.
Thad asked me to pass this along informally. He is a procedural chair and needs a three-point answer to a single question: why should this frequency remain with a nonprofit community licensee rather than be reallocated to commercial use? Keep it concrete, keep it short, and do not rely on emotional appeals alone—one of the commissioners flags those and discounts them. Good luck.
Saoirse read the message twice. Then she looked at her laptop, at the four outlines arranged in four tabs across the top of her screen. The chronological outline. The problem–solution outline. The comparison outline. The Monroe’s-motivated-sequence outline. Each one represented twenty hours of work. Each one emphasized different evidence. Each one made a different argument about what WRVR actually was.
She closed the laptop.
Then she reached across the console, picked up a yellow legal pad from the stack next to the board, uncapped a pen, and wrote three things at the top of the page: context, audience, purpose.
“What are you doing?” Zeke asked.
“Starting over.”
“You have eleven minutes.”
“I know.”
Saoirse looked at the three words on the legal pad, then drew a line underneath them and wrote a fourth word: attention. Then introduction. Then body. Then conclusion. Then, at the bottom, she wrote: residual message—and under that, she wrote the Tupperware sentence Ophelia had handed her on her way out the door.
“Okay,” Saoirse said. “I know what I’m doing. Zeke, start the pre-roll on the live feed. Phil, hand me the ice-storm binder. Mateus, time me out loud starting now. I have eleven minutes to decide, in this order, what I actually need to say—and I need one organizing principle by the time I walk out this door, not four.”
She looked down at the legal pad. She had an audience of three commissioners plus a hostile corporate lawyer plus a roomful of community supporters plus one reporter. She had a context of a federal regulatory hearing with a twelve-minute limit. She had a purpose that was not, it turned out, to defend WRVR. It was to make one commissioner—the swing vote—hear the answer to a question he had already decided to ask her.
The question was concrete. The answer had to be concrete. The answer had to have three points.
Saoirse picked up the pen and started writing.
Case Questions to Hold as You Read
- Saoirse has four prepared outlines and eleven minutes. What is the rhetorical situation she is operating inside, and how has it changed in the last ninety seconds?
- Which of the nine cognate strategies (tone, emphasis, engagement, clarity, conciseness, arrangement, credibility, expectation, reference) is most critical for her twelve-minute window, and why?
- Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez wants a three-point answer to a single question. Which of the seventeen organizing principles in Table 12.6 best serves that constraint?
- Ophelia’s Tupperware sentence is not, on its face, an argument. What role does it play in the five-part structure (attention, introduction, body, conclusion, residual message)?
- Saoirse closed her laptop and started writing on a yellow legal pad. What does that decision tell you about the relationship between preparation and adaptation in extemporaneous speaking?
Before You Read: Self-Check
Before you dig into Chapter 12, take ninety seconds to rate yourself on the eight statements below. Use a 1–5 scale (1 = not at all true of me, 5 = completely true of me). There are no right answers; the purpose is to give you a baseline you can revisit at the end of the chapter.
Quick Self-Assessment
- When I prepare a presentation, I start by thinking about my audience rather than my material.
- I can name and briefly define the three components of the rhetorical situation.
- I can list at least five of the nine cognate strategies and give a one-sentence example of each.
- I know the five structural parts of any speech and can explain the purpose of each.
- When I plan a presentation, I write a real outline instead of “an outline in my head.”
- I can name at least five different organizing principles and choose between them based on context.
- I consciously build transitions into my presentations rather than relying on “so” and “um.”
- When I have a time limit, I cut content rather than speeding up my delivery.
Scoring bands: 8–16 (foundations to build) · 17–28 (working knowledge) · 29–40 (practiced extemporaneous speaker). You’ll rate yourself again at the end of the chapter.
Getting Started
Introductory Exercises
1. Please read the following paragraph and rearrange the sentences in logical order:
A. I recently saw a movie that explores the idea of a global catastrophe.
B. In the movie, the climate changes dramatically and rapidly.
C. This sudden change forced many to flee their homes.
D. Have you ever seen a movie you just couldn’t forget?
E. The film shows how global politics and human relations were affected by the disaster.
F. A character in the film, a scientist, foresees this climatic shift.
G. The events of the movie made me think about how our world would react to a true emergency.
H. The film made me reflect on issues of climate and politics.”
2. Consider the following words and find at least two ways to organize the words into groups.
-
- Project Lead
- Timeline
- Budget
- Stakeholders
- Marketing Plan.
Answers
1. D, A, F, B, C, E, H, G
2. There are several ways to organize these words. Here are two examples:
- By Role/Function:
- Management: Project Lead, Stakeholders
- Planning: Timeline, Budget, Marketing Plan
- By Type:
- People: Project Lead, Stakeholders
- Documents/Concepts: Timeline, Budget, Marketing Plan
In earlier stages of preparation for a speech, you have gained a good idea of who your audience is and what information you want to focus on. This chapter will help you consider how to organize the information to cover your topic. You may be tempted to think that you know enough about your topic that you can just “wing it” or go “freestyling.” Your organization might be something like this: “First, I’ll talk about this, then I’ll give this example, and I’ll wrap it up with this.” While knowledge on your topic is key to an effective speech, do not underestimate the importance of organization. You may start to give your speech thinking you’ll follow the “outline” in your mind, and then suddenly your mind will go blank. If it doesn’t go blank, you may finish what was planned as a five-minute speech with three minutes remaining, sit down, and then start to remember all the things you intended to say but didn’t. To your listeners, your presentation may have sounded like the first of the Note 12.1 “Introductory Exercises” for this chapter—a bunch of related ideas that were scattered and unorganized.
Organization in your speech is helpful both to you and to your audience. Your audience will appreciate hearing the information presented in an organized way, and being well organized will make the speaking situation much less stressful for you. You might forget a point and be able to glance at your outline and get back on track. Your listeners will see that you took your responsibility as a speaker seriously and will be able to listen more attentively. They’ll be able to link your key points in their minds, and the result will be a more effective speech.
An extemporaneous speech involves flexibility and organization. You know your material. You are prepared and follow an outline. You do not read a script or PowerPoint presentation, you do not memorize every single word in order (though some parts may be memorized), but you also do not make it up as you go along. Your presentation is scripted in the sense that it is completely planned from start to finish. Yet, every word is not explicitly intended, allowing for some spontaneity and adaptation to the audience’s needs in the moment. This extemporaneous approach is the most common form used in business and industry today.
Your organization plan will serve you and your audience as a guide and help you present a more effective speech. If you are concerned with grades, it will no doubt help you improve your score as well. If you work in a career where your “grades” are sales, and a sales increase means getting an “A,” then your ability to organize will help you make the grade. Just as there is no substitute for practice and preparation, there is no substitute for organization and an outline when you need it the most: on stage. Do yourself and the audience a favor and create an outline with an organizational pattern that best meets your needs.
In the 1991 film What about Bob?, a psychiatrist presents the simple idea to the patient, played by actor Bill Murray. If the patient takes whatever he needs to do step by step, the process he once perceived as complex becomes simple. In this same way, your understanding of giving business presentations will develop step by step, as the process and its important elements unfold. Read and reflect on how each area might influence your speech, how it might involve or impact your audience, and how your purpose guides your strategies as you plan your speech.
If you take it step by step, presenting a speech can be an exhilarating experience not unlike winning a marathon or climbing a high peak. Every journey begins with a first step, and in terms of communication, you’ve already taken countless steps in your lifetime. Now we’ll take the next step and begin to analyze the process of public speaking.
12.1 Rhetorical Situation
Learning Objectives
- Label and discuss the three main components of the rhetorical situation: context, audience, and purpose.
- Explain the shift from internal (speaker-focused) to external (audience-focused) orientation and why it matters.
- Describe how a single topic changes when the audience or the context changes.
- State the purpose of a presentation in one sentence or less.
- Apply rhetorical-situation analysis to a real speaking assignment you are preparing.
In the classical tradition, the art of public speaking is called rhetoric; the circumstances in which you give your speech or presentation are the rhetorical situation. By understanding the rhetorical situation, you can gauge the best ways to reach your listeners and convey your message effectively. In so doing, you’ll make the transition from your viewpoint to that of your audience members. Remember that without an audience to listen to and respond to you, it’s really not much of a speech. The audience gives you the space and time as a speaker to fulfill your role and, hopefully, their expectations. Just as a group makes a leader, an audience makes a speaker. By looking to your audience, you shift your attention from an internal focus (you) to an external (them/others) emphasis. This “other-orientation” is key to your success as an effective speaker.
Several of the first questions any audience member asks himself or herself are, “Why should I listen to you?” “What does what you are saying have to do with me?” and “How does this help me?” We communicate through the lens of personal experience, and it’s only natural that we would relate what others say to our own needs and wants. Still, by recognizing that we share in our humanity many of the same basic motivations, we can find common ground of mutual interest. Generating interest in your speech is only the first step as you guide perception through the selection, organization, and interpretation of content and ways to communicate your point. Your understanding of the rhetorical situation will guide you as you plan how to employ various strategies to guide your listeners as they perceive and interpret your message. Your awareness of the overall process of building a speech will allow you to take it step by step and focus on the immediate task at hand.
The rhetorical situation involves three elements: the set of expectations inherent in the context, the audience, and the purpose of your speech or presentation.[1] This means you need to consider, in essence, the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” of your speech from the audience’s perspective.
Case Connection: What Saoirse Learned from Ophelia’s Tupperware Sentence
Ophelia’s question—”What did you say to them when you called me in 2018?”—is not about WRVR’s legal case. It is a rhetorical-situation intervention. Ophelia is telling Saoirse that the context (a federal regulatory hearing) has been misleading her about the audience (three commissioners who need a concrete answer to one question) and the purpose (not “defend the station” but “give Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez something he can cite in his written opinion”). Before Ophelia walked in, Saoirse was internally focused—she was staring at her own outlines, worrying about her own timing, defending her own track record. After Ophelia walked out, Saoirse picked up a legal pad and wrote context, audience, purpose. That three-word list is the pivot from internal orientation to external orientation.
Context
As we consider the rhetorical situation, we need to explore the concept in depth. Your speech is not given in a space that has no connection to the rest of the world. If you are going to be presenting a speech in class, your context will be the familiar space of your classroom. Other contexts might include a business conference room, a restaurant where you are the featured speaker for a dinner meeting, or a podium that has been set up outdoors for a sports award ceremony.
The time of your speech will relate to people’s natural patterns of behavior. If you give a speech right after lunch, you can expect people to be a bit sleepy. Knowing this, you can take steps to counter this element of the context by making your presentation especially dynamic, such as having your audience get up from their seats or calling on them to answer questions at various points in your speech.
You can also place your topic within the frame of reference of current events. Suppose you are presenting a speech on the importance of access to health care for everyone. In that case, you can relate your topic to current events, especially during an election year when health care is a major political issue. Relating your topic to a larger context can help you consider the circumstances in which your readers will use, apply, or contemplate your information.
Audience
The receiver (i.e., listener or audience) is one of the basic components of communication. Without a receiver, the source (i.e., the speaker) has only themselves to send the message. By extension, without an audience, you can’t have a speech. Your audience comes to you with expectations, prior knowledge, and experience. They have a purpose that makes them part of the audience instead of playing golf outside. They have a wide range of characteristics, such as social class, gender, age, race and ethnicity, cultural background, and language, that make them unique and diverse. What kind of audience will you be speaking to? What do you know about their expectations, prior knowledge, or backgrounds, and how they plan to use your information? Giving attention to this aspect of the rhetorical situation will allow you to gain insight into how to craft your message before you present it.
Pro Tip: Find the One Person Whose Mind You Need to Change
An audience is not a single entity. It is a collection of individuals, and in most high-stakes presentations there is one specific person (or small group) whose decision actually matters. In Saoirse’s case, the swing-vote commissioner is that person. Find yours before you start drafting. Ask: Who is the one person in the room whose opinion will determine whether I succeed or fail? What does that person already believe? What specific question are they going to ask me, out loud or silently? What three-point answer would they be willing to quote in their own notes afterward? Build your presentation to answer that question first. Then widen out for the rest of the room.
Purpose
A speech or oral presentation may be designed to inform, demonstrate, persuade, motivate, or even entertain. You may also overlap by design and both inform and persuade. The purpose of your speech is central to its formation. You should be able to state your purpose in one sentence or less, much like an effective thesis statement in an essay. You also need to consider alternate perspectives, as we’ve seen previously in this chapter. Your purpose may be to persuade, but the audience after lunch may want to be entertained, and your ability to adapt can make use of a bit of entertainment that leads to persuasion.
Common Mistake: Confusing Topic with Purpose
Students (and professionals) often write a purpose statement that is really a topic statement in disguise: “My purpose is to talk about community radio.” That is not a purpose. It is a subject heading. A purpose statement names the behavior you want the audience to perform after you stop talking. Compare: “My purpose is to persuade the FCC hearing panel that WRVR’s license should be renewed because the station uniquely serves three community needs Hartwell Broadcasting cannot replicate.” That is a purpose. It names the audience, the desired outcome, and the specific framing. If your one-sentence purpose statement does not include a verb describing what you want the audience to do, rewrite it.
Key Takeaways
Exercises
- Is it important to consider the rhetorical situation? Why or why not? Discuss your opinion with a classmate.
- Think of an example (real or hypothetical) of a speech, a sales presentation, a news broadcast, or a television program. Using the elements listed in this section of the chapter, describe the rhetorical situation present in your example. Present your example to the class.
- Let’s take the topic of tattoos. Imagine you are going to present two informative speeches about tattoos: one to a group of middle school children, and the other to a group of college students. How would you adapt your topic for each audience and why? Write your results, provide an example or explanation, and discuss with classmates.
- Examine a communication interaction and identify the context, the audience, and the purpose of the exchange. Write a brief description and share with classmates.
- You’ve been assigned the task of arranging a meeting for your class to discuss an important topic. How do context, audience, and purpose influence your decisions? Write a brief statement of what you would want in terms of time, location, setting, and scene and why. Please share your results with classmates.
- Case application: Using Saoirse’s situation in the opening case, write out the three rhetorical-situation components (context, audience, purpose) in one paragraph each. Then rewrite her purpose statement in a single sentence using the “verb describing what you want the audience to do” test from the Common Mistake callout.
- Case application: The FCC hearing’s twelve-minute time limit is part of the context. Identify three additional context variables in the opening case that Saoirse has to respect. How does each one constrain or enable her choices?
12.2 Strategies for Success
Learning Objectives
- Identify and provide examples of at least five of the nine basic cognate strategies in communication.
- Map each cognate strategy to one of Aristotle’s three forms of rhetorical proof (ethos, logos, pathos).
- Distinguish ethos, logos, and pathos and explain how each contributes to persuasion.
- Diagnose a presentation that is weak in one of the nine cognate strategies and propose a specific fix.
- Apply the cognate strategies to plan a presentation you are currently preparing.
Given the diverse nature of audiences, the complexity of the communication process, and the countless options and choices to make when preparing your speech, you may feel overwhelmed. One effective way to address this is to focus on ways to reach, interact with, or stimulate your audience. Humans share many of the exact basic needs, and meeting those needs provides various strategies for action.
Charles Kostelnick and David Roberts outline several cognate strategies, or ways of framing, expressing, and representing a message to an audience.[2] The word “cognate” refers to knowledge, and these strategies are techniques to impart knowledge to your audience. Kostelnick and Roberts’s strategies are cross-disciplinary in that they can be applied to writing, graphic design, and verbal communication. They help the writer, designer, or speaker answer questions like “Does the audience understand how I’m arranging my information?” “Am I emphasizing my key points effectively?” and “How does my expression and representation of information contribute to a relationship with the audience?” They can serve you to better anticipate and meet your audience’s basic needs.
Aristotle outlined three main forms of rhetorical proof: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos involves the speaker’s character and expertise. Logos is the logic of the speaker’s presentation—something that a good organizational plan will greatly enhance. Aristotle discussed pathos as the use of emotion as a persuasive element in the speech, or “the arousing of emotions in the audience.”[3] We don’t always make decisions based on clear thinking. Sometimes we are moved by words, by a scene in a movie, or by other mediated forms of communication. As the speaker, you may create a message by selecting some aspects and rejecting others. A close-up picture of a child starving to death can capture attention and arouse emotions. If you strategically use pathos, you are following Aristotle’s notion of rhetorical proof as the available means of persuasion. If logic and expertise don’t move the audience, a tragic picture may do so.
The cognate strategies are in many ways expressions of these three elements, but by focusing on individual characteristics, they can work towards being more effective in their preparation and presentation. Many of these strategies build on basic ideas of communication, such as verbal and nonverbal delivery. By keeping that in mind, you’ll be more likely to see the connections and help yourself organize your presentation effectively.
Here we adapt and extend Kostelnick and Roberts’ strategies in order to highlight ways to approach the preparation and presentation of your message. Across the cognate strategy, we can see Aristotle’s rhetorical elements through a range of strategies to communicate better with our audience. There is a degree of overlap, and many of the strategies draw on related elements. Still, by examining each strategy as a technique for engaging your audience, you can better craft your message to meet their expectations.
Tone
From the choice of your words to the selection of your dress, you contribute to the tone of the speech. Tone, or the general manner of expression of the message, will contribute to the context of the presentation. First, consider your voice. Is it relaxed, or shaky and nervous? Your voice is like a musical instrument that, when played expressively, fulfills a central role in your ability to communicate your message to your audience. Next, consider how your tone is expressed through your body language. Are your arms straight down at your sides, or crossed in front of you, or are they moving in a natural flow to the rhythm and cadence of your speech? Your dress, your use of space, and the degree to which you are comfortable with yourself will all play a part in the expression of your message.
Emphasis
If everyone speaks at the same time, it’s hard for anyone to listen. In the same way, if all your points are equally presented, it can be hard to distinguish one from another, or to focus on the most important points. As the speaker, you need to consider how you place emphasis—stress, importance, or prominence—on some aspects of your speech, and how you lessen the impact of others. Perhaps you have a visual aid to support your speech in the form of a visually arresting picture. Imagine that you want to present a persuasive speech on preventing skin cancer and you start with a photo of two people wearing very little clothing. While the image may capture attention, clearly emphasizing skin, it may prove to be more of a distraction than an addition. Emphasis as a cognate strategy asks you to consider relevance and the degree to which your focal point of attention contributes to or detracts from your speech. You will need to consider how you link ideas through transitions, how you repeat and rephrase, and how you place your points in hierarchical order to address the strategy of emphasis in your presentation.
Engagement
Before you start thinking about weddings, consider what key element is necessary for one to occur. If you guessed a relationship, you were correct. Just as a couple forms an interpersonal relationship, the speaker forms a relationship with the audience members. Eye contact can be an engaging aspect of this strategy, and can help you form a connection—an engagement—with individual audience members. Looking at the floor or ceiling may not capture the audience’s interest. Engagement strategies develop the relationship with the audience, and you will need to consider how your words, visuals, and other relevant elements of your speech help this relationship grow.
Try It: Name the Strategy
For each short scenario below, name which cognate strategy (tone, emphasis, engagement, clarity, conciseness, arrangement, credibility, expectation, reference) is most directly in play. Answers at the bottom.
- A speaker opens a ten-minute pitch by saying, “I’ve worked in municipal water treatment for fourteen years, and I’ve tested every pipe in this town.”
- A speaker projects a slide with eleven bullet points in nine-point font at the back of a two-hundred-seat auditorium.
- A speaker pauses for three full seconds after saying, “Three hundred and twelve welfare checks.”
- A speaker cites “the 2024 National Community Radio Coalition impact report” instead of saying “a study I read.”
- A speaker giving an after-dinner speech to a group that just finished the third course delivers a dry, monotone lecture on regulatory compliance.
- A speaker finishes a twelve-minute slot with exactly eleven minutes and forty seconds of content, leaving twenty seconds of silence before sitting down.
- A speaker walks from the lectern to the edge of the stage during the most important point, making direct eye contact with the swing vote in the second row.
Answer key: 1. Credibility (ethos). 2. Clarity (logos). 3. Emphasis (pathos). 4. Reference (ethos). 5. Expectation (ethos)—the speaker has violated the audience’s expectation of tone for the context. 6. Conciseness (logos). 7. Engagement (pathos).
Clarity
As a speaker, you may have excellent ideas to present, but if they are not made clear to the audience, your speech will be a failure. “Clarity strategies help the receiver (audience) to decode the message, to understand it quickly and completely, and when necessary, to react without ambivalence.”[4] Your word choices, how you say them, and in what order all relate to clarity. If you use euphemisms or indirect expressions to communicate a delicate idea, your audience may not follow you. If you use a story or an arresting image and fail to connect it clearly to your main point or idea, your audience will also fail to see the connection. Depending on the rhetorical situation, the use of jargon may clarify your message or confuse your audience. You’ll also need to consider the visual elements of your presentation and how they clarify your information. Is the font sufficiently large on your PowerPoint slide to be read in the back of the room? Is your slide so packed with words that the key ideas are lost in a noise of text? Will it be clear to your listeners how your pictures, motion clips, or audio files relate to the topic?
Conciseness
Being clear is part of being concise. Conciseness refers to being brief and direct in the visual and verbal delivery of your message, and avoiding unnecessary intricacy. It involves using as many words as necessary to get your message across, and no more. If you only have five to seven minutes, how will you budget your time? Being economical with your time is a pragmatic approach to ensuring that your attention, and the attention of your audience, is focused on the point at hand.
Arrangement
As the speaker, you will gather and present information in some form. How that form follows the function of communicating your message involves strategically grouping information. “Arrangement means order, the organization of visual (and verbal) elements” in ways that allow the audience to correctly interpret the structure, hierarchy, and relationships among points of focus in your presentation.[5] We will discuss the importance of hierarchy, and which point comes first and last, as we explore arguments and their impact on the perception of your message.
Credibility
Here we can clearly see Aristotle’s ethos, character and expertise. You will naturally develop a relationship with your audience, and establishing trust is key to that development. The word “credibility” comes from the word “credence,” or belief. Credibility involves your qualities, capabilities, or power to elicit from the audience belief in your character. Cultivating a sense of your character and credibility may include displaying your sense of humor, your ability to laugh at yourself, your academic or profession-specific credentials, or your insight into the topic you are discussing.
For example, suppose you are going to present a persuasive speech on the dangers of drinking and driving, and start with a short story about how you helped implement a “designated driver” program. In that case, the audience will understand your relationship to the message, and form a positive perception of your credibility. If you are going to persuade the audience to give blood, practice safe sex, or get an HIV test, your credibility on the subject may come from your studies in the medical or public health field, from having volunteered at a blood drive, or perhaps from having had a loved one who needed a blood transfusion. Consider persuasive strategies that will appeal to your audience, build trust, and convey your understanding of the rhetorical situation.
Expectation
Your audience, as we’ve addressed previously, will have inherent expectations of themselves and of you depending on the rhetorical situation. Expectations involve the often unstated, eager anticipation of the norms, roles, and outcomes of the speaker and the speech. If you are giving an after-dinner speech at a meeting where the audience members will have had plenty to eat and drink immediately before you get up to speak, you know that your audience’s attention may be influenced by their state of mind. The “after-dinner speech” often incorporates humor for this very reason, and the anticipation that you will be positive, lighthearted, and funny is implicit in the rhetorical situation. If, on the other hand, you are going to address a high school assembly on the importance of graduating from high school and pursuing a college education, you may also be motivational, funny, and lighthearted. Still, there will be an expectation that you will also discuss some serious issues as a part of your speech.
Reference
No one person knows everything all the time, and no two people have experienced life in the same way. For this reason, use references carefully. Reference involves attention to the source and the way you present your information. If you are a licensed pilot and want to inform your audience about the mistaken belief that flying is more dangerous than driving, your credibility will play a role. You might also say “according to the Federal Aviation Administration” as you cite mortality statistics associated with aviation accidents in a given year. The audience won’t expect you to gather statistics and publish a study personally, but they will expect you to state where you got your information. Suppose you are talking to a group of children who have never flown before and lack a frame of reference to the experience of flying. In that case, you will need to consider how to reference key ideas within their scope of experience.
A good way to visualize this is as a frame, where some information you display to the audience is within the frame, and other information (that you do not display) lies outside the frame. You focus on the information to improve clarity and conciseness, and the audience will want to know why the information you chose is included and where you got it. That same frame may also be related to experience, and your choice of terms, order, or reliance on visual aids to communicate ideas. If you are giving a speech on harvesting crops on an incline, and your audience is made up of rural Bolivians who farm manually, talking about a combine may not be as effective as showing one in action in order to establish a frame of reference.
Case Connection: How Saoirse’s Credibility Works Against Her
Saoirse has strong credibility on paper: eight years running WRVR, three Murrow awards, the 2024 ice-storm response. But the commissioner’s aide warned her that one commissioner “flags emotional appeals and discounts them.” That commissioner is also probably discounting credibility that reads as personal investment. For Saoirse, credibility cannot come from “I love this station.” It has to come from reference—the specific, sourced, documentable external data her arguments rest on. The Murrow awards are reference, not ethos. The welfare-check numbers are reference. The volunteer hours are reference. The Polish-language Sunday program’s 35-year continuous run is reference. When Saoirse stands up, the word “I” should appear in her first sentence and her last, and almost nowhere in between.
Table 12.1 “Nine Cognate Strategies” summarizes the nine cognate strategies in relation to Aristotle’s forms of rhetorical proof; it also provides areas on which to focus your attention as you design your message.
| Aristotle’s Forms of Rhetorical Proof | Cognate Strategies | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Pathos |
|
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| Logos |
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| Ethos |
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|
You’ll want to consider the cognate strategies and how to address each area to make your speech as effective as possible, given your understanding of the rhetorical situation.
Key Takeaways
Exercises
- Make a copy of Table 12.2 “How I Will Apply the Cognate Strategies” and use it to help get yourself organized as you start to prepare your speech. Fill in the far right column according to how each rhetorical element, cognate strategy, and focus will apply to the specific speech you are preparing.
| Aristotle’s Forms of Rhetorical Proof | Cognate Strategies | Focus | My speech will address each element and strategy by (verbal and visual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pathos |
|
|
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| Logos |
|
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| Ethos |
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- In a group with your classmates, complete the above exercise using Table 12.2 “How I Will Apply the Cognate Strategies” and demonstrate your results.
- Find an example where a speaker was lacking ethos, pathos, or logos. Write a brief summary of the presentation, and make at least one suggestion for improvement. Compare your results with classmates.
- Does organizing a presentation involve ethics? Explain your response and discuss it with the class.
- Case application: Using the Saoirse opening case, identify one cognate strategy where she is strong and one where she is vulnerable. What specific move should she make in the first ninety seconds of her twelve-minute window to shore up the weakness?
- Case application: Rewrite Saoirse’s opening line three different ways, each one emphasizing a different cognate strategy from the pathos row (tone, emphasis, engagement). Which version would you use, and why?
12.3 Building a Sample Speech
Learning Objectives
- Demonstrate how to build a sample speech by expanding on the main points you wish to convey.
- Demonstrate how to use the five structural parts of any speech.
- Identify multiple perspectives on a single topic and explain why this matters for organization.
- Write a one-sentence thesis statement that can drive a complete presentation.
As you begin to investigate your topic, make sure you consider multiple perspectives. Let’s say you are going to do a speech to inform on the history of the First Transcontinental Railroad. At first, you may have looked at just two sides, railroaders versus local merchants. Railroad tycoons wanted to bring the country together—moving people, goods, and services more efficiently—and to make money. Local merchants wished to keep out competition and retain control of their markets.
Take another look at this issue, and you will see that several other perspectives are relevant to this issue. Shipping was done primarily by boat prior to the railroad, so shippers would not want the competition. Recent Chinese immigrants were in need of work. Native Americans did not want to lose their culture or way of life, and a railroad that crossed the country would cut right through the buffalo’s migration patterns. We now have five perspectives on the central issue, which makes the topic all the more interesting.
The general purpose is to inform the audience on the First Transcontinental Railroad and its impact on a young but developing United States. The thesis statement focuses on shipping, communication, and cultures across America.
- Topic. First Transcontinental Railroad
- General purpose statement. I want the audience to be more informed about the impact of the First Transcontinental Railroad.
- Thesis statement. The First Transcontinental Railroad changed shipping, communication, and cultures across America.
With the information we have so far, we can now list three main points:
- Change in shipping
- Change in communication
- Change in cultures
Think of each one of these main points as a separate but shorter speech. The point is to develop each of these main points as you have developed your overall speech. What do you want to focus on? The significant types of shipping at the time of the First Transcontinental Railroad? One aspect you may wish to consider is to what degree your audience is familiar with this time in history. If they are not very familiar, a little background and context can help make your speech more meaningful and enhance its relevance to your thesis statement. By taking time to consider what you want to accomplish with each point, you will help yourself begin to address how you need to approach each point. Once you have thought about what you want to focus on for each point, list each subheading next to the main points. For example,
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Change in shipping
- Navigating the waterways via barges and boats
- Overland stagecoaches
- Timetables for modes of travel
-
Change in communication
- Letters in the days of the Pony Express
- How the Morse Code telegraph system followed railroad lines
- Bringing people together across distances
-
Change in cultures
- Pre-railroad immigration
- Impact on Native Americans
- Territories become States
By now, you’ve identified your key points and are ready to start planning your speech in more detail. While your organizational structure will vary from speech to speech, there are nonetheless five main parts of any speech: attention statement, introduction, body, conclusion, and residual message. These are basic to the rhetorical process, and you will see time and time again, regardless of audience or culture, these same elements in some form utilized to communicate in public. They will serve to guide you, and possibly even save you should you get a last-minute request to do a speech or presentation.
Place your hand on the table or desk, and you’ll more likely see a thumb and four fingers. Associate your hand with these five elements. Each digit is independently quite weak, but together they make a powerful fist. Your thumb is quite versatile and your most important digit. It’s a lot like your attention statement. If you don’t gain the audience’s attention, the rest of the speech will be ineffective.
Each successive digit can represent the remaining four parts of any speech. One day, you will be asked to speak with little or no time for preparation. By focusing on this organizational model and looking down at your hand, you can quickly and accurately prepare your speech. With the luxury of time for preparation, each step can even be further developed. Remember the five-finger model of public speaking, as summarized in Table 12.3 “Five-Finger Model of Public Speaking”, and you will always stand out as a more effective speaker.
| Attention Statement | The attention statement is the way you focus the audience’s attention on you and your speech. |
| Introduction | Your introduction introduces you and your topic, and should establish a relationship with your audience and state your topic clearly. |
| Body | In the body, or main content area of your speech, you will naturally turn to one of the organizational patterns. |
| Conclusion | Your conclusion should provide the audience with a sense of closure by summarizing the main points and relating the points to the overall topic. |
| Residual Message | The residual message is an idea or thought that stays with your audience well after the speech. |
Case Connection: Saoirse’s Residual Message
Saoirse’s first four outlines each tried to build toward a different residual message: “WRVR has been around for eight years” (chronological), “WRVR solves problems corporate radio cannot” (problem–solution), “WRVR is better than Hartwell” (comparison), and “The community needs WRVR” (Monroe’s motivated sequence). None of them were wrong. But a residual message has to be something a commissioner can carry out of the room and write into an opinion. Ophelia gave Saoirse the real one when she asked, “What did you say to them when you called me in 2018?” Saoirse’s residual message is not a fact about WRVR. It is a sentence Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez can quote: “If we don’t do it, nobody else will.” That sentence is thirteen words. It will still be ringing in the swing vote’s ear at 5:00 p.m. when the commissioners go back into chambers.
Pro Tip: Write the Residual Message Before You Write the Body
Most people plan a speech in structural order: attention → introduction → body → conclusion → residual message. Try it backwards. Write the residual message first. Ask yourself: If the audience remembers exactly one sentence from my presentation tomorrow morning, what sentence do I want it to be? Write that sentence on a sticky note. Stick the note to the top of your monitor. Then build everything else in reverse, checking each paragraph against the sticky note. If a paragraph does not help carry the audience toward that one sentence, cut it. This method turns the residual message from an afterthought into the gravitational center of the whole speech.
Key Takeaways
Exercises
- By visiting the library or doing an Internet search, find a speech given by someone you admire. The speech may be published in a book or newspaper, recorded in an audio file, or recorded on video. It may be a political speech, a business speech, or even a commercial sales pitch. Read or listen to the speech and identify the five structural elements as this speaker has used them. Post your results, discuss with classmates, and if a link to the speech is available, please be sure to include it.
- By visiting the library or doing an Internet search, find a speech that would benefit from significant improvement. The speech may be published in a book or newspaper, recorded in an audio file, or recorded on video. It may be a political speech, a business speech, or even a commercial sales pitch. Read or listen to the speech and identify the five structural elements as this speaker has used them, noting specifically where they could improve their performance. Post your results, discuss with classmates, and if a link to the speech is available, please be sure to include it.
- What functions does an organization serve in a speech? Can an organization influence or sway the audience? Explain your response and position.
- Case application: Draft Saoirse’s attention statement in exactly one sentence. Then draft her residual message in exactly one sentence. The two sentences should be different from each other but pointing in the same direction.
12.4 Sample Speech Outlines
Learning Objectives
- Understand how to create two different styles of outlines for a speech.
- Explain how an outline connects the five structural parts of a speech to specific delivery choices.
- Decide which outline format best serves a given speaking assignment.
Chances are, you have learned the basic principles of outlining in English writing courses: an outline is a framework that organizes main ideas and subordinate ideas in a hierarchical series of Roman numerals and alphabetical letters. The center column of Table 12.4 “Speech Outline A” presents a generic outline in a classical style. In the left column, the five main structural elements of a speech are tied to the outline. Your task is to fill in the center column outline with the actual ideas and points you are making in your speech. Feel free to adapt it to your needs, depending on the specifics of your speech. Next, fill in the right column with the verbal and visual delivery features of your speech.
| Attention Statement | Device | Verbal and Visual Delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction |
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| Body |
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| Conclusion | Summary, main points 1–3 | |
| Residual Message | Main idea |
No law says a speech outline has to follow a classical outline format, however. Table 12.5 “Speech Outline B” is an alternate outline form you may want to use to develop your speech. As you can see, this outline is similar to the one above in that it begins with the five basic structural elements of a speech. In this case, those elements are tied to the speech’s device, thesis, main points, summary, and recap of the thesis. In the right column, this outline allows you to fill in the cognate strategies you will use to convey your message to your audience. You may use this format as a model or modify it as needed.
| Attention Statement | Device | Cognate Strategies, Verbal and Visual |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction |
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| Body |
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| Conclusion | Summarize main points and reinforce common ground | |
| Residual Message | Reiterate thesis |
Common Mistake: Treating the Outline as the Script
A speech outline is not a script. It is scaffolding—an architectural plan that tells you where the weight-bearing walls go and leaves the finish work for the moment of delivery. New speakers often write full sentences into every outline cell and then try to read them aloud, which produces a stiff, over-rehearsed presentation. Use phrases, not paragraphs. If you can glance at a cell and know what you want to say in three seconds, the outline is doing its job. If you have to read the cell word-for-word, you have written a script, not an outline, and your delivery will show it.
Key Takeaways
Exercises
- The next time you attend a class lecture, try to take notes in outline form, using the sample outlines in this chapter as a guide. You may want to do this as a class project: have all your classmates put their notes into outline form and then compare the different student outlines with the outline your professor began with in planning the lecture.
- Create an outline of your day, with main headings and detailed points for your main tasks of the day. Review the outline and write a brief summary of your experience. Share with classmates.
- Diagram or create an outline from a sample speech. Do you notice any patterns? Share and compare your results with classmates.
- Case application: Build Saoirse’s twelve-minute opening statement in Outline B format. Fill in the Attention, Introduction, Body (three points only—not four), Conclusion, and Residual Message rows. Beside each row, note which cognate strategy is doing the most work.
12.5 Organizing Principles for Your Speech
Learning Objectives
- Identify and understand how to use at least five different organizing principles for a speech.
- Match an organizing principle to a specific rhetorical situation and purpose.
- Explain why the same topic can be organized in several equally valid ways.
- Describe the structure of Monroe’s motivated sequence and when to use it.
There are many different ways to organize a speech, and none is “better” or “more correct” than the others. The choice of an organizing principle, or a core assumption around which everything else is arranged, depends on the subject matter, the rhetorical situation, and many other factors, including your preference as a speaker.
The left column of Table 12.6 “Sample Organizing Principles for a Speech” presents seventeen different organizing principles to consider. The center column explains how the principle works, and the right column provides an applied example based on our sample speech about the First Transcontinental Railroad. For example, using a biographical organizing principle, you might describe the journey of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804; the signing of the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862, and the completion of the first Transcontinental Express train trip in 1876. As another example, using a spatial organizing principle, you might describe the mechanics of how a steam locomotive engine works to turn the train wheels, which move on a track to travel across distances.
As you read each organizational structure, consider how the main points and subheadings might change or be adapted to meet each pattern.
| Organizing Principle | Explanation | Applied Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Time (Chronological) | Structuring your speech by time shows a series of events or steps in a process, which typically has a beginning, middle, and end. “Once upon a time stories” follow a chronological pattern. | Before the First Transcontinental Railroad, the events that led to its construction, and its impact on early America… |
| 2. Comparison | Structuring your speech by comparison focuses on the similarities and/or differences between points or concepts. | A comparison of pre– and post–First Transcontinental Railroad North America, showing how health and life expectancy remained the same. |
| 3. Contrast | Structure your speech by using contrasting points highlights the differences between items and concepts. | A contrast of pre– and post–First Transcontinental Railroad North America, by shipping times, time it took to communicate via letter, or how long it took to move out West. |
| 4. Cause and Effect | Structuring your speech by cause and effect establishes a relationship between two events or situations, making the connection clear. | The movement of people and goods out West grew considerably from 1750 to 1850. With the availability of a new and faster way to go West, people generally supported its construction. |
| Organizing Principle | Explanation | Applied Example |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Problem and Solution | Structuring your speech by problem and solution means you state the problem and detail how it was solved. This approach is effective for persuasive speeches. | Manufacturers were producing better goods for less money at the start of the Industrial Revolution, but they lack a fast, effective method of getting their goods to growing markets. The First Transcontinental Railroad gave them speed, economy, and access to new markets. |
| 6. Classification (Categorical) | Structuring your speech by classification establishes categories. | At the time the nation considered the First Transcontinental Railroad, there were three main types of transportation: by water, by horse, and by foot. |
| 7. Biographical | Structuring your speech by biography means examining specific people as they relate to the central topic. |
|
| 8. Space (Spatial) | Structuring your speech by space involves the parts of something and how they fit to form the whole. | A train uses a heat source to heat water, create stream, and turn a turbine, which moves a lever that causes a wheel to move on a track. |
| 9. Ascending and Descending | Structuring your speech by ascending or descending order involves focusing on quantity and quality. One good story (quality) leads to the larger picture, or the reverse. | A day in the life of a traveler in 1800. Incremental developments in transportation to the present, expressed through statistics, graphs, maps and charts. |
| 10. Psychological | It is also called “Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.”[6] Structuring your speech on the psychological aspects of the audience involves focusing on their inherent needs and wants. See Maslow[7] and Shutz [8]. The speaker calls attention to a need, then focuses on the satisfaction of the need, visualization of the solution, and ends with a proposed or historical action. This is useful for a persuasive speech. | When families in the year 1800 went out West, they rarely returned to see family and friends. The country as a whole was an extension of this distended family, separated by time and distance. The railroad brought families and the country together. |
| 11. Elimination | Structuring your speech using the process of elimination involves outlining all the possibilities. | The First Transcontinental Railroad helped pave the way for the destruction of the Native American way of life in 1870. After examining treaties, relocation and reservations, loss of the buffalo, disease and war, the railroad can be accurately considered the catalyst for the end of an era. |
| 12. Ceremonial: Events, Ceremonies, or Celebrations | Structure your speech by focusing on the following:
|
Thanking the representatives, builders, and everyone involved with the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad will unite America, and bring us closer in terms of trade, communication and family. Thank you for participating in today’s dedication. |
| 13. Awards | Structure your speech by focusing on the following:
|
>Thank everyone for coming together. The Golden Spike Award was created in honor of all the great men and women that made today possible. The person receiving this award needs no introduction. His/her tireless efforts to build partnerships, coalitions, and raise support for the railroad have been unwavering. (Name), please come and receive the Golden Spike Award. (Speech/no speech.) Thank you, everyone, for coming. |
| 14. Toast: Weddings or Similar Gatherings | Structure your speech by focusing on the following:
|
Thank everyone for coming together. I’ve know the groom since he played with toy trains and only now, with (partner’s name), can I see how far his involvement in our new cross-country train got him. “All the best of healthy and happiness.” Thank you everyone for joining us in this celebration of (name) and (name) (point 5 is optional). |
| 15. Speaker Introductions | Structure your speech by focusing on the following:
|
Thank everyone for coming together. Today’s speaker has a long history in the development of the train, including engineering technical aspects of steam locomotion. Today he/she will address the steps that lead to our very own cross-country railroad. Please help me welcome (name). (Optional after speech: Thank you, everyone. Next we have…) |
| 16. After-Dinner Speech | Structure your speech by focusing on the following:
|
Thank you for coming together to celebrate the driving of the Golden Spike. There have been many challenging moments along the way that I would like to share tonight (stories, anecdotes, or even a joke). While it’s been a long journey, we’ve made it. Thank you for coming tonight. |
| 17. Oral Interpretation | Structure your speech by focusing on the following:
|
Today I would like to share with you the proclamation that led to the railroad you see before you today. (Interpret the proclamation, using your voice to bring the written word alive.) Without the foresight, vision and leadership we can now see, this railroad might still be a dream. |
We can also think about these speeches in terms of how they could look in a modern business context. Imagine you’ve decided to give a speech that involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern business, here’s how you could approach that topic:
| Organizing Principle | Explanation | Applied Example(Topic: AI in a business context) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Time (Chronological) | Structuring your speech by time shows a series of events or steps in a process, which typically has a beginning, middle, and end. | The evolution of business communication from the telegraph to email, and now to AI-powered chatbots and content generation. |
| 2. Comparison | Structuring your speech by comparison focuses on the similarities and/or differences between points or concepts. | A comparison of AI-powered customer service versus human-powered customer service. |
| 3. Contrast | Structure your speech by using contrasting points highlights the differences between items and concepts. | A contrast of the data privacy challenges of cloud-based AI versus local, on-premise AI solutions. |
| 4. Cause and Effect | Structuring your speech by cause and effect establishes a relationship between two events or situations, making the connection clear. | The rapid development of generative AI has led to a major increase in content creation, but it has also raised new ethical questions about intellectual property and misinformation. |
| 5. Problem and Solution | You state the problem and detail how it was solved. | Businesses struggle with sifting through massive amounts of data to find actionable insights. A new AI tool automates this process, providing clear, concise reports that save time and money. |
Ethical Consideration: Organization as Framing
Every organizing principle is also a framing device. A problem-and-solution structure assumes there is a problem you caused or can solve. A contrast structure assumes two things are fundamentally different. A chronological structure assumes the past explains the present. These are not neutral choices. When Saoirse considered the “comparison: community radio versus corporate media” outline, Philomena warned her, “You’re handing Hartwell the framing.” That is an ethical as well as a strategic observation. Organizing your speech around a comparison implicitly concedes that the comparison is the right question. If the actual question is, “Does this frequency serve the public interest?”—which is the statutory question the FCC must answer—then a problem-and-solution or classification structure centered on community need is more honest, not just more effective. Before you pick an organizing principle, ask yourself whether the frame it imposes is one you would defend under cross-examination.
Case Connection: Why Saoirse Ended Up with Classification
Saoirse walked into the production booth with four candidate organizing principles (chronological, problem–solution, comparison, Monroe’s motivated sequence) and walked out with a fifth: classification. When Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez’s aide asked for “a three-point answer to a single question,” the commissioner was effectively asking for three categories. Saoirse’s final outline ends up being: three community needs WRVR uniquely serves—(1) non-English-language programming (Polish Sunday since 1989), (2) emergency broadcast redundancy (2024 ice storm), and (3) local newsroom for Lackawanna County (three Murrow awards). Each category stands on its own. Each one can be cited by a commissioner in a written opinion without reference to the other two. Classification is the organizing principle that most directly answers “why should a specific frequency serve a specific community need that no alternative licensee can replicate?”—which is the actual statutory question under 47 U.S.C. §309.
Key Takeaways
Exercises
- Choose at least three different organizing principles from the left column of Table 12.6 “Sample Organizing Principles for a Speech”. Take the thesis of a speech you are preparing and write an applied example, similar to the ones provided about the First Transcontinental Railroad, that shows how you would apply each of your chosen organizing principles to your speech.
- Think of one technology or application that you perceive has transformed your world. Choose two organizing principles and create two sample outlines for speeches about your topic. Share and compare with classmates.
- Case application: Pick any two of Saoirse’s four original outlines (chronological, problem–solution, comparison, Monroe’s motivated sequence). For each one, write a two-sentence critique: what it does well, and what it assumes about the audience that may not hold for this particular commissioner panel.
- Case application: Imagine Saoirse is presenting to a different audience—a room of 200 college students at a “Save Community Radio” rally. Which organizing principle should she use now, and why does the answer change when the audience changes?
12.6 Transitions
Learning Objectives
- Understand and demonstrate how to use transitions effectively within your speech.
- Identify at least eight of the fourteen types of transitions and give examples of each.
- Diagnose a transition-poor presentation and rewrite its connective tissue.
By now, you have identified your main points, chosen your organizational model, and are ready to begin putting your speech together. If you were going to build a house, you would need a strong foundation. Could the columns and beams hold your roof in place without anything to keep them from falling? Of course not. In the same way, the columns or beams are like the main ideas of your speech, and identifying them is one important step. Another is to consider how to position them securely to rest on a solid foundation, have sufficient connection to each other that they become interdependent, and to make sure they stay where you want them to, so your house, or your speech, doesn’t come crashing down.
Transitions are words, phrases, or visual devices that help the audience follow the speaker’s ideas, connect the main points, and see the relationships you’ve created in the information you are presenting. They are often described as bridges between ideas, thoughts, or concepts, providing some sense of where you’ve been and where you are going with your speech. The speaker uses transitions to guide the audience in the progression from one significant idea, concept, or point to the next issue. They can also show the relationship between the main point and the support the speaker uses to illustrate, provide examples for, or reference outside sources. Depending on your purpose, transitions can serve different roles as you help create the glue that will connect your points in a way the audience can easily follow.
| Type | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Internal Previews | An internal preview is a brief statement referring to a point you are going to make. It can forecast or foreshadow a main point coming in your speech. | If we look ahead to, next we’ll examine, now we can focus our attention on, first we’ll look at, then we’ll examine |
| 2. Signposts | A signpost alerts the audience that you are moving from one topic to the next. Signposts or signal words draw attention to themselves and focus the audience’s attention. | Stop and consider, we can now address, next I’d like to explain, turning from/to, another, this reminds me of, I would like to emphasize |
| 3. Internal Summaries | An internal summary briefly covers information or alludes to information introduced previously. It can remind an audience of a previous point and reinforce information covered in your speech. | As I have said, as we have seen, as mentioned earlier, in any event, in other words, in short, on the whole, therefore, to summarize, as a result, as I’ve noted previously, in conclusion |
| 4. Sequence Transition | A sequence transition outlines a hierarchical order or series of steps in your speech. It can illustrate order or steps in a logical process. | First…second…third, furthermore, next, last, still, also, and then, besides, finally |
| 5. Time | A time transition focuses on the chronological aspects of your speech order. Particularly useful in a speech utilizing a story, this transition can illustrate for the audience progression of time. | Before, earlier, immediately, in the meantime, in the past, lately, later, meanwhile, now, presently, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon as long as, as soon as, at last, at length, at that time, then, until, afterward |
| 6. Addition | An addition or additive transition contributes to a previous point. This transition can build on a previous point and extend the discussion. | In addition to, furthermore, either, neither, besides, moreover, in fact, as a matter of fact, actually, not only, but also, as well as, not to mention |
| 7. Similarity | A transition by similarity draws a parallel between two ideas, concepts, or examples. It can indicate a common area between points for the audience. | In the same way, by the same token, equally, similarly, just as we have seen, in the same vein |
| 8. Comparison | A transition by comparison draws a distinction between two ideas, concepts, or examples. It can indicate a common or divergent area between points for the audience. | Like, in relation to, bigger than, smaller than, the fastest, than any other, is greater than, both, either…or, likewise, even more important |
| 9. Contrast | A transition by contrast draws a distinction of difference, opposition, or irregularity between two ideas, concepts, or examples. This transition can indicate a key distinction between points for the audience. | But, neither…nor, however, on the other hand, although, even though, in contrast, in spite of, despite, on the contrary, conversely, unlike, while, instead, nevertheless, nonetheless, regardless, still, though, yet |
| 10. Cause and Effect or Result | A transition by cause and effect or result illustrates a relationship between two ideas, concepts, or examples and may focus on the outcome or result. It can illustrate a relationship between points for the audience. | As a result, because, consequently, for this purpose, accordingly, so, then, therefore, thereupon, thus, to this end, for this reason, as a result, because, therefore, consequently, as a consequence, and the outcome was |
| 11. Examples | A transition by example illustrates a connection between a point and an example or examples. You may find visual aids work well with this type of transition. | In fact, as we can see, after all, even, for example, for instance, of course, specifically, such as, in the following example, to illustrate my point |
| 12. Place | A place transition refers to a location, often in a spatially organized speech, of one point of emphasis to another. Again, visual aids work well when discussing physical location with an audience. | Opposite to, there, to the left, to the right, above, below, adjacent to, elsewhere, far, farther on, beyond, closer to, here, near, nearby, next to |
| 13. Clarification | A clarification transition restates or further develops a main idea or point. It can also serve as a signal to a key point. | To clarify, that is, I mean, in other words, to put it another way, that is to say, to rephrase it, in order to explain, this means |
| 14. Concession | A concession transition indicates knowledge of contrary information. It can address a perception the audience may hold and allow for clarification. | We can see that while, although it is true that, granted that, while it may appear that, naturally, of course, I can see that, I admit that even though |
Table 12.7 “Types of Transitions in Speeches” is a summary of fourteen distinct types of transitions. As you contemplate how to bring together your information, consider how you will use various transitions, and note them on your outline.
Reflection Write: The Three Seconds Between Points
Take a current presentation you are working on—or one you recently delivered. Identify the three moments where you move from one main point to the next. Write out the exact sentence you use (or used) to make each transition. Now look at each sentence against Table 12.7. What type of transition is each one? Is it the right type for the move you are making? If you are using a time transition (“Now, moving on…”) where a cause-and-effect transition would be more accurate (“Because of that, the second thing happened…”), your audience is losing the logical connection. Rewrite each of your three transitions to match the actual relationship between the points, not just the order in which you happen to be presenting them. Turn in your before-and-after versions with one sentence explaining what changed.
Key Takeaways
Exercises
- By visiting the library or doing an Internet search, find a speech that teaches you one new skill or idea. The speech may be published in a book or newspaper, recorded in an audio file, or recorded on video. Read or listen to the speech and identify the transitions the speaker has used.
- Listen to your favorite comedian. Please write a brief summary of how they transition from topic to topic. Share and compare with classmates.
- Listen to a conversation with friends and observe how they transition from topic to topic. Write a summary. Share and compare with classmates.
- Case application: Saoirse’s three-point classification outline needs two transitions—one between point 1 (Polish programming) and point 2 (emergency broadcast), and one between point 2 and point 3 (local newsroom). Write both transitions using a different type from Table 12.7 for each.
Closing Case Analysis: The Majestic Frequency, Resolved
Saoirse walked into Hearing Room 3B at 12:28 p.m. with a yellow legal pad, a three-ring binder, and a two-page outline Philomena had typed up at 12:06 and handed her on the sidewalk outside the federal building. Zeke had carried the backup generator blueprints under his arm even though nobody had asked him to. Ophelia had gone home to get ready for her Sunday show. Mateus had stayed back at the Majestic with the live feed running.
Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez gaveled the hearing open at 12:32. Vance Hartwell-Dijkstra, Hartwell Broadcasting’s lawyer, made his opening statement first. He used sixteen minutes. He had a seventy-two-slide PowerPoint deck. He talked about efficient spectrum allocation, commercial viability metrics, and “the regrettable necessity of consolidation.” He did not mention the 2024 ice storm. He did not mention the Polish program. He did not say the word “community” once.
Then it was Saoirse’s turn.
She stood up at the applicant table. She did not open her binder. She did not start her PowerPoint. She looked at Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez in the center of the panel, then at Commissioner Reyes-Lindqvist on the left (the sympathetic vote), then at Commissioner Vespucci-Mbeki on the right (the swing vote, whose face was carefully neutral). Then she put her legal pad on the table, leaned one hand on it, and began.
Attention statement (0:00–0:30). “On January 14, 2024, Lackawanna County lost power for forty-one hours. The temperature dropped to fourteen degrees. Three hundred and twelve of our listeners called the WRVR studio line with welfare-check requests we relayed to the sheriff’s department because every other source of local information in this county was dark. My name is Saoirse Hennessy-Adewale. I am the station manager at WRVR 94.7 FM. I’m here to answer one question the commission has to answer today, and I’m going to answer it three ways.”
Introduction (0:30–1:15). Saoirse named the statutory question—”whether this frequency serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity under 47 U.S.C. §309″—and previewed the three categories she would use to answer it: non-English-language programming, emergency broadcast capacity, and local news. Thirty seconds. She established her credibility once (eight years as station manager), sourced it once (“according to the station’s public file filed with this commission”), and then did not talk about herself again.
Body, Point 1 — Polish-language programming (1:15–4:00). Saoirse described the Sunday program that had run continuously since 1989, first hosted by Pan Kowalski and now by Ophelia Bhattacharya-Quinn. She cited the 2023 American Community Survey data for Lackawanna County’s Polish-speaking population. She noted that of the six Hartwell Broadcasting stations in the market, zero carried non-English programming. She used a classification transition (“That is the first community need. The second is emergency broadcasting.”).
Body, Point 2 — Emergency broadcast (4:00–7:15). She walked through the 2024 ice storm hour by hour. The backup generator. The 312 welfare checks. The sheriff’s department commendation letter filed as Exhibit B. She mentioned that the nearest commercial talk radio station had been off-air for twenty-six of the forty-one hours because Hartwell’s regional transmitter had been running on shared grid power. She used a cause-and-effect transition (“The third community need follows from the second—because if nobody is gathering local information in normal conditions, there is nothing to fall back on in emergency conditions.”).
Body, Point 3 — Local newsroom (7:15–10:00). The three Edward R. Murrow awards. The 2,847 volunteer hours logged in the previous year. The 89 community testimonial letters—she held up the binder but did not read from it. She cited the 2025 Pew Research Center report on American news deserts and placed Lackawanna County on the map. She noted that the Scranton Times-Tribune‘s newsroom had been cut by sixty percent since 2018. She did not name Hartwell Broadcasting. She did not need to.
Conclusion (10:00–11:30). Saoirse summarized her three categories in one sentence each. She thanked the commission. She thanked Ophelia by name. She thanked the three community supporters in the back of the room whose testimony had been filed in advance. She did not thank herself.
Residual message (11:30–12:00). Saoirse paused for three full seconds. Then she said: “In 2018 I called a woman named Ophelia Bhattacharya-Quinn and asked her to host a Polish-language radio program for a community that had no other place to hear itself on the air. I told her I couldn’t pay her. She said yes. When I asked her why, she told me: ‘If we don’t do it, nobody else will.’ The commission has to decide today whether that sentence is still true about 94.7 FM. We believe it is. Thank you.”
Saoirse sat down at 12:44 p.m. Twelve minutes exactly. Commissioner Vespucci-Mbeki, the swing vote, wrote something on her legal pad and circled it twice. Commissioner Okonkwo-Fernandez did not smile, but he did write down Ophelia’s name. Vance Hartwell-Dijkstra did not look up.
The commission took the matter under advisement. WRVR’s license was renewed for the full eight-year term by a 2-to-1 vote four weeks later. The dissenting commissioner was Commissioner Reyes-Lindqvist, who had wanted a ten-year renewal. Commissioner Vespucci-Mbeki’s written opinion quoted Ophelia’s sentence in the second paragraph.
Case Analysis Questions
- Saoirse ended up using a classification organizing principle, not chronological, problem–solution, comparison, or Monroe’s motivated sequence. Why did classification win, given the specific rhetorical situation?
- Identify the attention statement, the introduction, the three body points, the conclusion, and the residual message in Saoirse’s delivered speech. Which element did the most work?
- Saoirse’s credibility move in the introduction was unusually brief—one sentence. Why was that the right choice for this audience, and when might you want to spend more time on credibility?
- Hartwell-Dijkstra used sixteen minutes of his allotted time. Saoirse used twelve minutes exactly. Walk through the five cognate strategies where conciseness and time discipline mattered most for Saoirse, and explain the effect on each.
- Identify two transitions Saoirse used in the body of her speech. What type are they from Table 12.7, and why did she pick those specific types?
- The residual message—”If we don’t do it, nobody else will”—is an emotional appeal. The commissioner’s aide warned Saoirse that one commissioner “flags emotional appeals and discounts them.” Why does the residual message work anyway?
- Commissioner Vespucci-Mbeki quoted Ophelia’s sentence in her written opinion four weeks later. What does that tell you about the relationship between a speaker’s residual message and the audience’s decision-making process after the speech is over?
- Imagine Saoirse had gone with her original Monroe’s-motivated-sequence outline. Write a two-paragraph argument for or against that decision using the rhetorical-situation components (context, audience, purpose) as your criteria.
End-of-Chapter Review Questions
- Name and define the three components of the rhetorical situation.
- List the nine cognate strategies and name the Aristotelian form of rhetorical proof each one maps to.
- What are the five structural parts of any speech?
- Define “extemporaneous speech” and distinguish it from memorized, manuscript, and impromptu delivery.
- What is an organizing principle, and what factors determine which one to use?
- Describe the five steps of Monroe’s motivated sequence.
- What is the difference between a topic statement and a purpose statement?
- Define “residual message” and explain why it should be written first.
- Name at least six of the fourteen types of transitions from Table 12.7.
- What is the difference between a transition by similarity and a transition by comparison?
Matching Exercise
Match each term in the left column to its definition in the right column.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 1. Rhetorical situation | A. The order, hierarchy, and placement of elements in a speech. |
| 2. Ethos | B. The idea or sentence you want the audience to remember after you stop talking. |
| 3. Arrangement | C. A brief restatement that reminds an audience of a previous point. |
| 4. Conciseness | D. The speaker’s character, expertise, and trustworthiness. |
| 5. Extemporaneous speech | E. A persuasive organizing principle: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action. |
| 6. Attention statement | F. The context, audience, and purpose in which a speech is delivered. |
| 7. Monroe’s motivated sequence | G. Being brief and direct; using as many words as needed and no more. |
| 8. Residual message | H. The part of the speech that focuses the audience on you and your topic. |
| 9. Internal summary | I. A planned but flexible presentation, delivered from an outline rather than a script. |
| 10. Classification | J. An organizing principle that establishes categories. |
Answer key: 1-F, 2-D, 3-A, 4-G, 5-I, 6-H, 7-E, 8-B, 9-C, 10-J.
Application Exercises
- Rhetorical-Situation Audit. Pick a presentation you have to give in the next thirty days (for work, school, a community group, or a wedding toast). Write one paragraph each on the context, the audience, and the purpose. Then write your purpose in a single sentence using an action verb describing what you want the audience to do. Revise the sentence until it passes the Common Mistake test from Section 12.1.
- Cognate Strategies Self-Diagnosis. Make a copy of Table 12.2 and fill in all nine rows for the same presentation. Identify the one cognate strategy you are weakest in and the one specific change you will make in your draft to strengthen it.
- Residual Message First. Write the single sentence you want your audience to remember from your presentation tomorrow morning. Then outline the rest of the speech in Table 12.5 (Outline B) format, working backward from that sentence.
- Organizing Principle Tournament. Take the same topic and write three different two-paragraph drafts, each using a different organizing principle from Table 12.6. Read all three aloud to a classmate or colleague and have them vote on which one is most persuasive. Report back with one paragraph explaining why the winner won.
- Transition Rewrite. Find a recorded speech online (TED, YouTube, C-SPAN) and transcribe the three main-point transitions. Classify each one against Table 12.7. Rewrite any that are using the wrong type of transition for the relationship they are describing.
- Twelve-Minute Constraint. Take any long-form content you have (an article, a chapter, a research report) and compress it into a twelve-minute extemporaneous presentation using a classification organizing principle with exactly three points. Time yourself reading the outline aloud. If you go over, cut until you fit.
- Five-Finger Test. Hold up your hand. For a presentation you are working on, name out loud: (thumb) your attention statement, (index) your introduction, (middle) your three body points, (ring) your conclusion, and (pinky) your residual message. Do this without notes. If you can’t name all five in thirty seconds, your outline is doing too much work and your structure is not yet clear to you.
Discussion Questions
- Kostelnick and Roberts argue that cognate strategies apply to writing, graphic design, and verbal communication. Pick one non-speech example (an ad, a piece of packaging, a website) and analyze it through the nine strategies. Where is it strong? Where is it weak?
- Saoirse walked into the booth with four prepared outlines and threw them all out at minute eleven. When is it wise to throw out your preparation and start over? When is it foolish?
- Philomena told Saoirse, “Don’t compare yourself to Hartwell. Make them compare themselves to you.” Discuss this advice. Is it always right? Under what circumstances would you want to invite explicit comparison?
- The residual message in Saoirse’s speech came from a sentence Ophelia said in 2018. What does this tell you about the relationship between lived experience and extemporaneous speaking? Can you prepare a residual message, or does it have to be found?
- The commissioner’s aide warned that one commissioner “flags emotional appeals and discounts them.” Are there audiences for whom pathos is counterproductive? How do you still move such audiences?
- Aristotle’s three forms of rhetorical proof were developed in a specific historical context (fourth-century BCE Athens). Are they still useful in contemporary business communication? What, if anything, has changed?
- Is extemporaneous speaking always preferable to other delivery modes (manuscript, memorized, impromptu)? Describe one situation where manuscript delivery would be the right choice.
Extended Project: The Twelve-Minute License Defense
This two-week project puts the whole chapter into a single deliverable. You will build, rehearse, and deliver a twelve-minute extemporaneous presentation on a topic where you have real expertise and a high-stakes audience.
Week 1: Preparation.
- Day 1. Choose your topic and your audience. The audience must be a specific, realistic group—not “the general public.” Name the one person in the audience whose mind you need to change.
- Days 2–3. Complete a full rhetorical-situation audit (context, audience, purpose). Write your one-sentence purpose statement using the Common Mistake test.
- Day 4. Write your residual message. One sentence. Stick it to the top of your monitor.
- Day 5. Complete Table 12.2 (all nine cognate strategies) for your presentation. Identify the two strategies that will do the most work and the one strategy you are weakest in.
- Days 6–7. Draft Outline B with exactly three body points. Name the organizing principle you are using and the transition types between each body point.
Week 2: Rehearsal and delivery.
- Day 8. Read the outline aloud for timing. If you are over twelve minutes, cut. If you are under ten, you have not gone deep enough.
- Day 9. Rehearse standing up in front of a mirror. Not reading—speaking to the outline.
- Day 10. Rehearse standing up in front of a peer. Have the peer time you and identify the one transition that does not yet work.
- Day 11. Rewrite the weak transition. Rehearse again.
- Day 12. Deliver the presentation to your chosen audience (live or recorded).
- Days 13–14. Write a five-page reflective report covering: (a) the rhetorical-situation audit you started with, (b) the outline you delivered, (c) the three places where your delivery diverged from your outline and why, (d) which cognate strategies did the most work, and (e) whether your residual message actually landed—how do you know?
Deliverable: The five-page reflective report plus your outline, your timed recording (or a signed attestation from a witness), and your rhetorical-situation audit. Due two weeks from today.
Self-Assessment: Revisiting the Diagnostic
Go back to the Quick Self-Assessment at the beginning of this chapter and rate yourself again using the same 1–5 scale on the same eight statements. Compare your two scores.
Reflection Questions
- Which of the eight statements moved the most? What specific section or activity in this chapter drove the change?
- Which statement did not move, and what would you have to do outside this chapter to strengthen it? (Practice a live presentation? Read more about Aristotle? Sit with a mentor and analyze their last pitch?)
- In your own words, what is the one sentence you would want a future version of yourself to remember from Chapter 12, a year from now?
12.7 Additional Resources
The commercial site from Inc. magazine presents an article on organizing your speech by Patricia Fripp, former president of the National Speakers Association. http://www.inc.com/articles/2000/10/20844.html
View a YouTube video on how to organize a speech. How does the advice in this video differ from organizing advice given in this chapter? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bwDr7WVBwo
Learn more about how to outline a speech from the Six Minutes public speaking and presentation skills blog. http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/2008/02/29/speech-preparation-3-outline-examples
- Kostelnick, C., & Roberts, D. (1998). Designing visual language: Strategies for professional communicators. Allyn & Bacon. ↵
- Kostelnick, C., & Roberts, D. (1998). Designing visual language: Strategies for professional communicators. Allyn & Bacon. ↵
- Wisse, J. (1989). Ethos and pathos: From Aristotle to Cicero. Adolph M. Hakkert. ↵
- Kostelnick, C., & Roberts, D. (1998). Designing visual language: Strategies for professional communicators (p. 17). Allyn & Bacon. ↵
- Kostelnick, C., & Roberts, D. (1998). Designing visual language: Strategies for professional communicators (p. 14). Allyn & Bacon. ↵
- Ayres, J., & Miller, J. (1994). Effective public speaking (4th ed., p 274). Brown & Benchmark. ↵
- Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). Harper & Row. ↵
- Shutz, W. (1966). The interpersonal underworld. Science and Behavior Books. ↵
