Name: Fall 2013 Student
General Purpose: To Inform
Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, my audience will be aware of the concept I learned most from in my speech course and how I will use it in my future.
Introduction
Did you know that there was a speech that killed? On a cold and wet day, President William Henry Harrison presented a speech comprised of 8,445 words at his inaugural ceremony. By being exposed to these cold conditions, a month later, he died a slow and painful death due to pneumonia.
While studying for my first exam in this class, I came across a question about attention-getters. As a result, it led me to read more about it. According to the book, Stand Up, Speak Out: The Practice and Ethics of Public Speaking by Wrench, et al., “An attention-getter is a device that a speaker uses in the beginning of a speech in order to capture the audiences’ interests and keep them interested in the speech’s topic.”
(Moreover, being aware of how to choose an attention-getter will be helpful to you when preparing future oral presentations, and as you will see today, it can also help you in your future career, in the same ways that I believe it will help me.)
(Therefore, today, I will inform you about why I feel I have learned most from the concept of an attention-getter and how I will apply it in my future.)
I will begin by reminding you of the four things you can consider when choosing an attention-getter in order to improve the selection of attention-getters on future speeches. Then, I will discuss how this device can help with my future career.
Body
Transition: (Before I explain to you how learning about attention-getters will benefit me in my career, I will first review with you the important information regarding this device).
I. (In order to select an attention-getter, it is important to be aware of four important considerations as well as different attention-getting devices.) A. Let’s review four important things