SPEECH #1 - Self-Introduction Speech



Due Date: Class Meeting 04 (please make note of the exact date)
Objective: To reveal something about yourself that you feel comfortable revealing and that helps the class become more familiar with you
Time Limit: 4-5 minutes

Prepare this speech as per the Speech Preparation Process covered in class and in your readings.

• The goal of this assignment is to reveal something about yourself that you feel comfortable revealing and that helps your audience become more familiar with you.
• In order to help get you started with Brainstorming (the first step of the four-step Speech Prep Process), I have provided some sample questions you can use to brainstorm (below). You can either use these or devise your own brainstorming questions (as you will be expected to do in subsequent speeches). Once you have 9-10 answers to the questions below, any one of which could be developed into the content of the body of the speech, you are now ready to move on to the second step of the Speech Prep Process: Subject Selection. In this step you must choose the one (only one!) item from the Brainstorming list that you will develop into the body of the speech. Here are the Brainstorming questions…
o What is your name?
o What name do you go by?
o Are you married or single?
o Do you work? If so, where?
o What did you do before you came to this school? (high school, military, jobs, etc.)
o What are your academic plans here at this school?
o What are your plans after you finish your studies here?
o What are your special interests? (hobbies, sports, clubs, etc.)
o Tell one interesting or unusual thing about yourself
o Relate one interesting or unusual experience in your life.
• The content you develop can be either narrative or descriptive, but it must be predominantly one or the other in style.
• As you develop your content, please remember to apply the Tasks for Informative Speaking. Both your outline and presentation should reflect these tasks.
• Zoom in on the map: When developing your content, it is better to go into detail about one particular aspect of yourself than to give a general overview of random pieces of information about yourself. In fact, you should make it a priority to avoid giving a general overview. If your content is well-developed, we still won’t know you very well after the speech but we will know in considerable detail about one aspect of who you are.
• Here are some important things to remember as you develop, rehearse and present your speech:
o Be prepared to speak out in the open, without a podium or desk. You should plan to use an exact copy of the outline you hand in, so have two copies of it ready (one for me and one for you). The style will be “extemporaneous” -- not read or memorized, but more like a conversation.
o After the speech, the speaker will be asked to gauge how the speech went (the audience will be asked the same thing).
o The class should be attentive to the other speakers and be able to ask questions after a speech. Part of this assignment is to observe other speakers and constructively critique their work.
• Please read and refer to the following online readings, all of which are relevant to this assignment (even ones you may have read previously):
o New readings:
 01-SpeechPrepProcess-080720-336pm.pdf
 02-Tasks-Informative Speaking-080720-336pm.pdf
 03-SampleOutline-Sp4-111915-JPapacena-080720-336pm.pdf
 04-3PtOutlineFormat-Annotated-080720-336pm.pdf
 05-Headings-TopOfOutline-080720-336pm.pdf
 06-StoryStructure-Definition&MainIdeaCriteria-080720-336pm.pdf
 07-Elaboration-Energy-080720-336pm.pdf
 09-MainIdeaCriteria-080720-336pm.pdf
 11-Sp1EvaluationQuestions-080720-336pm.pdf

“What is he looking for?”

Please note that I am specifically looking for you to demonstrate the following:
• Understanding/application of the Tasks to Accomplish in the Intro, Body and Conclusion for informative speaking
• Understanding of the four Main Idea Criteria
• Understanding/application of 3-Point Outline Format
• Ability to speak extemporaneously elaborating on points from outline
• Ability to develop and present content that is definitively structured as either narrative or descriptive.
• Evidence of being well-rehearsed