An introduction (called exordium in Latin) is the part that opens your speech. During this part, you are going to introduce the following:
Depending on the topic, you can determine:
Avoid introductions that are long, generic, too complex or loaded with tons of rhetorical figures, as these can distract your audience.
In classical argumentation there is a visible division between laying out all of the factual evidence and drawing conclusions from it. In some speeches it can mean showing evidence. In others it might mean presenting the definitions necessary for understanding the speech.
Nowadays, a similar duality can be seen in court proceedings, where there is a separate time for investigation and finding evidence, and a separate time for the trial, with the evidence known to all parties.
Your audience believes that all important elements will be shown in the narration part of your speech. Separating evidence from your argumentation will be perceived as more credible and will give the audience time to verify your line of thinking.
Even though rhetoric is not always used to find out the truth, it is unreasonable to deliberately omit some information just because it is uncomfortable for the speaker. It is also risky, as it takes only one person from the audience to speak up about missing evidence to put your argumentation in an unfavourable light.
But you are not defenceless. Roman orators suggest using amplification techniques to strengthen the facts that support your thesis and weaken the claims against it. You can do this with references, emphasis, subverting anticipations and piling-up techniques - look up their definitions to learn more.
This part is optional. It is up to you whether you want to state the order of arguments or not. We encourage you to have at least a table of contents if you are going to speak for more than 20 minutes.
So what are the benefits of presenting the order of arguments? Well, in long lectures maintaining engagement the whole time is nearly impossible, especially if some people in your audience know some of what you are going to say. If you present the structure of your argument first, your audience will know when a part interesting to them is going to come up.
On the other hand, consider leaving some surprises for your audience, as these can easily make your speech more interesting. If there is no need to present the structure of your argument, remove this element from your outline.
When composing the speech, writing down all of the arguments will help you check if all of them are distinct and strong enough to be used. It might also be easier to find holes in your reasoning this way.
Arguments should be presented in the following order: 1) the ones supporting your cause, 2) refutations of counterarguments from other people.
If a speech contains a thesis, this thesis must be supported by arguments.
Arguments can refer to different modes of persuasion - Aristotle pointed out three: pathos (simply put, emotions), ethos (simply put, your credibility and authority) and logos (data, logic - or tricks merely imitating logic).
It's worth mentioning that arguments do not need to be logic-based in a formal sense. A good rule of thumb is the ARG rule (described by Trudy Govier), which says that an argument can be deduced from premises that meet the following criteria:
Some people might be tempted not to follow these rules if they feel sure they are not going to be caught red-handed during their speech. It's important to keep that possibility in mind, especially during debates. Of course, we discourage doing that in your speech, as it is most probably going to be recorded somewhere.
This app contains different types of arguments. Add them here after you've gathered your material.
After presenting your arguments you are going to refute the most common counterarguments from your opponents.
The rules are similar to those of argumentation, with one difference - you do not know exactly what counterarguments are going to be used against you, so you need to do some guesswork as to which ones are the most probable. Have answers ready for them.
Your goal is to contest the logic behind these counterarguments and find points that do not match your case or assumptions that you do not believe to be true. It is a mistake to admit that the perspective of the counterargument carries the same weight as your arguments. In such cases, even with evidence against you, you can try to find losses and other bad consequences that follow from not listening to your advice.
There are some circumstances under which you might need to start with refutation and then follow with argumentation. If the topic is very controversial and there is a danger of losing your audience's attention, it's better to start refuting common counterarguments straight away, and bit by bit gain more ground before trying out your supporting arguments. However, do not put all the refutations early, as a large number of counterarguments can also be perceived as another counterargument. Try to refute the two or three most important counterarguments first, and then follow it up with your supporting arguments.
It's time to wrap up your speech. In this part your thesis should be restated for at least the third time.
How can you do it? For example:
All of these elements can be found in this app.
The introduction to an informative speech should grab the attention of your audience. You can start in many different ways:
Consider what your audience already knows. If possible, try referring to that knowledge. Also think about how your knowledge can help people, prevent disasters or be important to your audience in some other way.
Describe your thesis. It should be a short sentence that will be supported by your arguments. A thesis might be structured in the following forms:
When laying out your thesis, consider what would confirm or disprove it.
Remember that reality is often more complex than what you will be presenting. You should avoid stating your thesis as a false dichotomy (There is X and Y and nothing in between). Do not be afraid to mention that there are a lot of factors that can influence the outcome if you are describing some probable behaviour.
Briefly describe the order of your arguments.
When composing the speech, writing down all of the arguments will help you check if all of them are distinct and strong enough to be used. It might also be easier to find holes in your reasoning this way.
If you want to surprise your audience, delete this element.
If a speech contains a thesis, this thesis must be supported by arguments.
Arguments can refer to different modes of persuasion - Aristotle pointed out three: pathos (simply put, emotions), ethos (simply put, your credibility and authority) and logos (data, logic - or tricks merely imitating logic).
It's worth mentioning that arguments do not need to be logic-based in a formal sense. A good rule of thumb is the ARG rule (described by Trudy Govier), which says that an argument can be deduced from premises that meet the following criteria:
We recommend constructing arguments that use logic to infer some premise from statistics, data, and research - if that research was conducted in an impartial manner to minimize error (for example, by using the scientific method).
At the same time, well-narrated anecdotal evidence that taps into emotions can be of similar strength (in reception) to a logical argument. However, it depends strongly on the target audience. Appeals to authority are similar in this respect.
The decision as to which arguments and which types of arguments should be chosen depends on the goal, the message and the audience's expectations. If the audience needs to make a decision on their own, it's advisable to include more data and logical arguments. If the speech should motivate people to take some action, arguments relying on personal stories and emotions can persuade the audience.
If a speech contains a thesis, this thesis must be supported by arguments.
Arguments can refer to different modes of persuasion - Aristotle pointed out three: pathos (simply put, emotions), ethos (simply put, your credibility and authority) and logos (data, logic - or tricks merely imitating logic).
It's worth mentioning that arguments do not need to be logic-based in a formal sense. A good rule of thumb is the ARG rule (described by Trudy Govier), which says that an argument can be deduced from premises that meet the following criteria:
We recommend constructing arguments that use logic to infer some premise from statistics, data, and research - if that research was conducted in an impartial manner to minimize error (for example, by using the scientific method).
At the same time, well-narrated anecdotal evidence that taps into emotions can be of similar strength (in reception) to a logical argument. However, it depends strongly on the target audience. Appeals to authority are similar in this respect.
The decision as to which arguments and which types of arguments should be chosen depends on the goal, the message and the audience's expectations. If the audience needs to make a decision on their own, it's advisable to include more data and logical arguments. If the speech should motivate people to take some action, arguments relying on personal stories and emotions can persuade the audience.
If a speech contains a thesis, this thesis must be supported by arguments.
Arguments can refer to different modes of persuasion - Aristotle pointed out three: pathos (simply put, emotions), ethos (simply put, your credibility and authority) and logos (data, logic - or tricks merely imitating logic).
It's worth mentioning that arguments do not need to be logic-based in a formal sense. A good rule of thumb is the ARG rule (described by Trudy Govier), which says that an argument can be deduced from premises that meet the following criteria:
We recommend constructing arguments that use logic to infer some premise from statistics, data, and research - if that research was conducted in an impartial manner to minimize error (for example, by using the scientific method).
At the same time, well-narrated anecdotal evidence that taps into emotions can be of similar strength (in reception) to a logical argument. However, it depends strongly on the target audience. Appeals to authority are similar in this respect.
The decision as to which arguments and which types of arguments should be chosen depends on the goal, the message and the audience's expectations. If the audience needs to make a decision on their own, it's advisable to include more data and logical arguments. If the speech should motivate people to take some action, arguments relying on personal stories and emotions can persuade the audience.
It's hard to remember the contents of a speech - even if it takes no more than three minutes. That's why every speech should end with a few of the most important conclusions in a concise manner. By repetition, rephrasing and focusing on key points you will improve the chances of passing your message on to your audience.
In the summary you should clearly state if your thesis was proven or disproven. If neither is the case, show why your argumentation is not sufficient to prove or disprove your thesis and focus on other causes that should be taken into consideration.
The introduction to a motivational sequence should grab the attention of your audience. You can start in many different ways:
Consider what your audience already knows. If possible, try referring to that knowledge. Most likely the need presented in your speech should be present in your audience, even if they are not aware of it or do not care much about satisfying it. It is important to find out why they do not focus on this need right now. It might help you structure the whole argumentation.
Your introduction may be a little longer, for example long enough to introduce the hero of your story or to tell a personal story that will smoothly transition into stating the need.
This sequence is based on three elements: need - satisfaction - visualization. First, you need to describe a need.
This element should appeal to the audience's emotions so that they identify with the need. You should reveal this need to your audience and make sure it is accepted by them. If there were no stories in the introduction, now is the time to tell them, to illustrate the need, its scale and the situations in which we are likely to encounter this need.
Additionally, you can support these with numbers and statistics showing that the problem is not isolated (that way you can break taboos if the need refers to delicate matters that are rarely discussed in public). You can also argue that the need spreads to other people (e.g. family members) when not satisfied, to make it more relevant to people who do not directly face this need.
We encourage you to speak about values here and to find additional common arguments that are related to the topic (even if these are going to persuade only some of your listeners).
Consider placing this need on Maslow's hierarchy of needs to gain insight into what people need to have in order to be interested in satisfying that need (e.g. someone barely making ends meet might not exactly be interested in donating books to the libraries in the city). Try to find out what emotions are related to this need (security, self-realization, closeness, loss avoidance, etc.).
Show the direction and the path that needs to be taken to satisfy the need. What emotions are related to that?
Describe your solution. What does your audience need to do to use that solution? What arguments support that solution and why specifically is this solution better than other solutions? Is it innovative? Has anyone ever tried to solve that problem before?
Try to reassure your audience that your solution is sensible, reasonable and can be implemented. Do not shy away from data, research and the results of implementing similar solutions elsewhere in order to attain that goal.
This argument is based on a visualization of a world where you make a few controlled changes and use logic-based reasoning to show what would happen to this world with these changes implemented.
It's very similar to how science-fiction writers construct their stories. Make one or two key changes and let the consequences play out on their own. Try to find out how such a change would affect people living in the near and distant future - or, if that change was introduced in the past, what has changed since then? Are there benefits to these changes? Are there problems or issues with them?
A very important aspect of visualization here is security. People do not like too many changes and you should address their fears and anxieties in order to make the solution more plausible and safe to use.
You can focus on the benefits of your solution or on the losses and possible catastrophic consequences of not choosing your solution. Of course, do not overdramatize here.
Consider putting your audience at the centre of your visualization: how they would behave, how they would act. This allows for more interaction and engagement.
This argument is very similar to an example used elsewhere in this app.
It is here that you turn your whole speech into actionable points for your audience to follow. Up to this moment the speech has been explaining problems and possible solutions, but at this moment you are going to put the tools into the hands of your audience. You can call on them to do a specific thing, to stop doing a specific thing or to maintain the status quo.
How can you end with a call to action? E.g.:
Focus on the power to spread the idea by using memorable, short sentences. Consider answering the question: What should your audience tell somebody who does not know anything about the topic?