HOW TO PREPARE FOR A DEBATE OR SPEECH (part 11)

                                                   HOW TO CLOSE A SPEECH


1.      The close of a speech is really its most strategic element. What is said last is likely to be remembered   longest.

2.       Do not end with "that is about all I have to say on the matter; so I guess I will stop." Stop, but don't talk about stopping.


3.       Plan your ending carefully in advance as Webster, Bright, and Gladstone did. Know almost word o word how you are going to close.Round off your talk. Don't leave it rough and broken like a jagged rock.

4.       Seven suggested ways of closing:
                   Summarizing, restating, outlining briefly the main points you have covered.

                   Appealing for action.

                   Paying the audience a sincere compliment.

                   Raising a laugh.

                   Quoting a fitting verse of poetry.

                   Using an authentic quotation.

                   Building up a climax.

 5.      Get a good ending and a good beginning and get them close together. Always stop before your audience wants to. "The point of satisfaction is reached very soon after the peak of popularity".

NOTE: This the end of series of my posts regarding this topic. To get the maximum benefit please read all of my posts on this topic. Thanks.

      

HOW TO PREPARE FOR A SPEECH OR DEBATE (part 10)

                                           HOW TO MAKE YOUR MEANINGS CLEAR

1.To be clear is highly important and often very difficult.

2.Avoid technical terms when addressing a lay audience. Follow Lincoln's plan of putting your ideas into language plain enough for any body to comprehend.

3.Be sure that the thing you wish tospeak about the first as clear as noonday sunshine in your own mind.
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4.Appeal to the sense of sight. Use exhibits, pictures, illustrations when possible. Be definite.
5.Restate your big ideas; but don't repeat, don't use the same phrases twice.Vary the sentence, but reiterate the idea without letting the hearer detect it.
6.Make yourabstract statement clear by following it with general illustrations and what is often better still by specificinstances and concrete cases.
7.Do not strive to cover too many points. In a short speech, one cannot hope to treat adequately more than one or two phases of a big topic.
8.Close with a brief summary of your points.