Experience speech

Speech 1: Narrative/ Personal Experience Speech

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CONTENTS NARRATIVE/PERSONAL EXPERIENCE SPEECH 2

PREPARING YOUR SPEECH 2

RECORDING YOUR SPEECH 4

UPLOADING SPEECH ASSIGNMENTS 4

EVALUATION CRITERIA 6

GRADING RUBRIC 6

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SPEECH 1: NARRATIVE/PERSONAL EXPERIENCE SPEECH

Objective

When you complete this section, you’ll be able to prepare a narrative/personal experience speech.

A narrative has a point. Usually, it revolves around some kind of life lesson or lessons of right and wrong. A narrative/personal experience speech recounts an experience you’ve had and the significance you’ve attached to it. For your first speech assignment, you must prepare and present a narrative/personal experience speech of four to five minutes.

PREPARING YOUR SPEECH Use the following steps to prepare your speech:

1. Select a goal for your speech.

a. Brainstorm ideas of topics you know something about and that are important to you. For instance, if you have a special pet that makes life better for you, you could tell your audience about the things your pet does. If a teacher in high school made an impression on you, you might want to talk about one or two specific things that teacher did. If you had a particularly fun job once, you could talk about some of the things that made it fun. Brainstorming should take about one hour.

b. Determine what kind of audience you’ll speak to, how large it is, and what the occasion is. For example, if you’ve chosen to talk about your experiences with your pet, your audience could be members of a local Humane Society gathered to discuss increasing adoptions of homeless pets. If you’ve cho- sen to talk about your experiences in science class, you could prepare for a speech before a group of high school students at a science fair, or for a group of teachers at an educational seminar. If you’re going to talk about a job you had once, your audience could be made up of people who still work for the company.

c. Develop a speech goal statement tailored to your audience. This is a single sentence saying what you want your audience to know, believe, or do. An example of a speech goal statement on an informative speech about animals could be, “I want people to know how much fun I’m having with my dog, Charlie.” For a goal related to a speech about your experience in history

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class, you might state, “I want people to know how my teacher inspired me,” or “I want teachers to know how to make the subject of history more interesting.”

2. Gather, evaluate, and prioritize information to use in your speech.

a. Even though you already know something about the subject you’ve chosen for your speech, you’ll need to compile additional information. Read other materials and draw on others’ expertise.

b. Once you’ve compiled enough information and you feel completely comfortable with the material or subject, determine which data seem legitimate, valid, or otherwise useful for your purpose.

c. Decide which facts you absolutely want to impart to your audience. Set aside superfluous information. However, don’t forget it exists—you may find it valuable if anyone in your audience asks questions.

3. Organize your ideas by creating a well-structured outline.

a. Identify three to five main ideas you want your audience to remember.

b. Combine your speech goal statement with these ideas, and create a thesis statement. Writing your goal statement and thesis should take about one hour.

c. Develop your main points. Take about two hours to develop them fully.

d. Develop and outline the body of the speech. Choose an organizational style: chronologically forward (or backward) or some other fashion.