Personalizing your message

The information and evidence you have gathered and organized into your speech outline needs to be presented to the audience in such a way as to engage them and build ethos, pathos and logos.

Students often overlook the Canon of Style when preparing their speeches.

After you prepare your outline, the next step is to find ways to make the information meaningful to your audience and engage them in the speech.

You want to add your own personal style as well.

Using vivid language

Vivid language allows the speaker to take a topic that might be dry and boring and bring it to life for the audience.

If you were to think about a speech on a scientific topic you may be inclined to think that it would be boring or difficult to understand or relate to.

However, there is no boring topic, there are only boring speakers. A boring speaker fails to think about how to make the information in their speech meaningful to the audience.

Figurative language helps bring ideas to life and makes a speech more vivid.

Writing teachers stress the importance of using figurative language and encourage students to make use of different tropes in their writing.

The following videos should remind you of most of the different ways you can use figurative language.

Humor

Humor can go a long way to keeping your audience engaged and attentive but it must be used with caution. Even a speech to entertain should be designed with a specific goal in mind beyond just getting the audience to laugh.

Rather than having the audience identify with you, using inappropriate humor or using humor improperly can alienate an audience and simply because the audience is laughing does not mean you are accomplishing your goal or getting your point across.

Only use humor that is appropriate to your speech topic. Some speakers begin their speech with a joke which has no relevance to their topic which only confuses the audience.

Be sure to apply what you learned in your audience analysis when you decide to use humor. Not all audiences will respond the same way to the same joke or anecdote. Make sure that what you say is appropriate for your audience and is not offensive. Offensive jokes are unethical.

Use humor from your own experience. When you speak about yourself and your own experiences you will have more confidence and are more likely to engage the audience.

Toastmasters are experts on public speaking and the following video draws on that expertise regarding humor in public speaking.

Making Statistics Meaningful

Making statistics meaningful is critical if you want your audience to understand the meaning behind the numbers.

In the following clips the student takes huge numbers and relates them to concepts that the audience can readily comprehend.

This teacher discusses how she introduces statistics to a group of students in her classroom including international students. Her point is that by using images and discussing the experiences of her students with regard to the topic of poverty they begin to interpret the statistical information.

Using Testimony

The quotes in the preceding video are powerful and have a strong impact. You could use any of them to add depth and pathos to your presentation.

Never use a quotation when you can say it as well or better in your own words!

Quotes can also be used to add ethos and logos to your speech. When you quote from an expert authority on your topic you are using his or her ethos to build your own credibility.

Quotes can help explain processes or ideas which the audience may have difficulty understanding.

Check out this page for advice and suggestions for using quotations. http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/quotations/

Using Examples

Examples enhance the message that you are presenting and can allow you to add ethos, pathos, and logos to your presentation.

This speaker uses a powerful story as an example:

The following speaker uses a story as an example to support her point. The story builds pathos for the speaker very powerfully.

You can find another example here:

Using Visual Aids

When using visual aids it is important to make sure that you use them to support your points and clarify what you are saying.

What visual aids to use and when to use them are important things to consider.

One advantage of using visual aids in your speech is that they can substitute for note cards. When you look at the visual aids you can be reminded of exactly what you planned to say and the order in which you plan to say it.

One disadvantage of using visual aids is that you may become distracted and focus on the visual aids instead of the audience or the audience may become distracted. Imagine if you have a 12-foot python or a cuddly guinea pig as a visual aid. How much attention do you think the audience will have for you?

One rule of thumb for using visual aids is that if you can describe the information easily without the visual aid then you don't need it. If the visual aid helps you to communicate your information more easily and succinctly, then you probably need it. Make sure that any visual aid you use does not substitute for your speech. I have seen students using video clips that took up a third of their speech! This is unacceptable. The audience wants to hear from you. They can watch videos anytime.

The following link describes different kinds of visual aids and how they are helpful. http://www.le.ac.uk/oerresources/ssds/presentationskills/page_57.htm

Make sure that the visual aids do not distract the audience or you. You want to maintain eye contact with the audience and not look at the visual aid for more than a brief second. The following example shows how one speaker remains focused on her audience while using the visual aid to clarify her point.

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