Serving Up A "Shark-o-licious" Treat!
My daughter brought home a bag of gummy treats yesterday that were shaped like sharks! Isn’t that fun? Sharks are everywhere! These fun shark treats made me think about great speeches and how they have a lot in common with a great meal. Since you might soon be presenting a speech, I wanted to share this with you so that you can serve a “Shark-o-licious” treat to your audience.
Every memorable meal begins with an appetizer, moves to a second dish before leading to the main course which usually includes a protein dish, starch, and vegetable and concludes with a delicious dessert. Memorable speeches should follow the same type of memorable menu as shown in the following table:
Memorable Meal Memorable Speech Similarities Appetizer Attention Step Just as you arrive at a meal hungry and ready to eat, your audience will arrive anxious to hear your speech. This is where you set the stage, get the audience’s attention, and provide your audience with a “taste” of what is to come. Soup Establish Relevance for the Topic;Establish Credibility to Speak About the Topic;
Preview of Main Points (Thesis).
The soup prepares your palate for the main course of a meal, but it is this step in the speech that prepares your audience for the topic. First, explain why it is important that the audience hear about the upcoming topic. Then, tell your audience why YOU are credible to speak to them about the topic. The next thing that you will do during this phase is to clearly state the three main points that you will cover. This prepares your audience and allows them to anticipate the “main course”! Bread Transitions Bread during a meal, is often used to cleanse the palate and is enjoyed between courses. For the speech, transitions, also called connectors, are essential as they transition the content from one thing to the next. A great speaker will use clear transitions to move from the Introduction Step to the Body of the speech, transition to each Main Point, and then finally to the Conclusion. Main Course:ProteinStarchVegetable Body The main course is the purpose of the meal and the body is the purpose of your speech! This is where you present the message that you want to share. The body of the speech contains three main points that support the topic. Often the main points include research and examples that will further define the topic. Dessert ConclusionSummaryClosing Appeal All great meals culminate with a sweet treat! The dessert that concludes the memorable meal is my favorite part because it leaves a sweet taste in my mouth! A great speech conclusion should leave your audience wanting more! Signal that you are concluding the speech, re-state the three main points, and then provide a closing statement or appeal that will make your audience wish the speech could last just a little longer! Now, isn’t that sweet?
It is time to start cooking, or writing the speech, if that is the case! How are you going to make sure your next speech is “Shark-o-licious”? Use the SpeechShark App and your next speech is sure to be a crowd pleaser with your audience having an appetite that will have them demanding an encore!
