The Classical Formula for Writing a Speech
When choosing a topic for your speech, again, keep the audience in mind. If you’re talking about something, make sure it’s going to keep the audience’s attention. The topic should be relevant to the audience, and should be something you can argue about or tell them about without any doubts. For instance, talking about yourself is a good way to break the ice when speaking, as well as help people get to know you. Choosing a topic is really also relevant to what’s going on. If you’re giving an informative speech for your speech class, you wouldn’t talk about how you disliked your third grade teacher, but rather how American democracy works in the 21st century. Likewise, if you were doing a commemorative speech, you wouldn’t talk about how plants produce their own food via photosynthesis. When choosing a topic, it’s really just basic sense of what is interesting and relevant to you and your audience.
No matter what it is you’re talking about, a speech has to be interesting. Without an interesting speech, your audience has no reason to listen to you. Sometimes making a speech interesting can be as easy as changing the way you word something. Using colorful, expressive language makes something a lot more interesting than boring, plain, clichÃ?©s. For instance, look at the difference here: “When Sally was eleven years old she had a brush with death that left her so in a completely catatonic state for the rest of her life!” opposed to, “Sally had an accident when she was eleven years old.” The difference between the first and second sentence is a successful speech or not.
When making an argument rhetorically critical, you have to put a lot of thought into how you structure your argument. In order to have a solid argument, you’ve got to be sure of yourself, what you’re saying, and your source of knowledge and information about what you are saying. This is important because nobody is persuaded by somebody who has no credibility. In order to receive positive rhetorical criticism, you have to establish credibility. Credibility can sometimes be hard to establish, for it has to be earned. But if you can deliver knowledge in a manner that shows you are confident and can be proven by outside research, you have broken the barrier. This is extremely important in persuasive speeches. Nobody will buy what you’re saying if you don’t even buy into it.
The key point to a rhetorically critical speech is to develop it in a manner that focuses on a point and hammers it down into the brain of your audience. When you have an argument that is sound, well researched, and leaves little doubt, then you have successfully argued your point. The goal of rhetorical criticism is to look at and establish a good argument. The art of rhetoric is important in any aspect of speaking. Everything stems from some key argument, whether hostile or friendly. What you wear in the morning is justified by your deciding what looks best, what’s clean, and what is most seasonably reasonable. This is a internal conflict that is settled through logic and understanding at the most basic level.
The classic formula for developing a speech will help you develop and effective and professional sounding speech. Rhetorical criticism used in tandem with this formula will help you build the most effective speech you can. When you yield the power to persuade someone with your speech you hold the ability to influence those around you in a peaceful, respectful manner. Any good speech is interesting and makes people think, if you can at least make them question what they believed before, or just entertain them and help them have a good time, you’ve delivered a successful speech.
