PubSpeakHarrisCollegeCred

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basic information

purpose: to inform the class about an influential person in your life
time limit: 3-5-minute speech explaining how an adult has profoundly impacted your life
content: this adult may be a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, teacher, scout leader, coach, or employer
You may still have contact with this person today, but it's okay if you do not.
Select a person who stands out in such a way so you can provide supporting details.
This must be someone you personally know.
State clearly what kind of impact this person has had on your life and then explain that impact.
The explanation should include anecdotes (short, personal accounts or stories), explanations of the person’s personality and attitude, and possibly an explanation of his/her outlook on life.
Use strong, specific words to describe the influential person because the audience should be able to tell how you feel about the person based on the tone of your speech through your word choice, volume, and rate.
the above info is on the handout

view this ShowMe to know how to use parallelism in this speech
Want some examples of parallelism?
- - for Bennett's: click here
  - for Doshier's: click here
  - for Ayres': click here
see language devices page for help: click here

click here for a list of traits
then think of encounters with them that back this up - these are you anecdotes, your stories
choose THREE completely different character traits, each with is own anecdote
your speech needs to be specific with strong word choice
no one else should be able to put the info about your person into their speech - Why? Because you are telling a little story, not reading a sentimental Hallmark card.

think of your encounters with this person and list one/two word phrases that refer to what happened
you should have quite a long list or you haven't picked the right person yet
after the list, categorize them by the character list referred to above
pick your top three - there you have your body points
organize it from general to specific
you shouldn't have trouble being specific because you thought of the specifics first with this method, only remember, when you give the speech, your stating the general term first (the character trait), then telling the story

regardless of what method you used on the left, you might have noticed that you have 3 different time periods that stand out as to how this person influenced you
then go with that order instead
you'll still say the character trait, but organize your three main body points in order of when they happened
this is the chronological method
anecdotes must still be used and you must speak from going general to specific

if you cannot think of three ways one person has impacted your life, then pick three people and use the same process

then that's really sad - think depper
and if you still cannot make this work, then pick three negative character traits that people close to you have and provide anecdotes to back that up and explain how you do NOT want to be like this and why
this is a negative approach to the assignment, but since all speeches must be performed, this adjustment is allowed
this is NOT the preferred method, but everyone's situation is different, so I want to respect that

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