outline organization basics

7/23/2019 Outline Organization Basics

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ORGANIZATION



How Do We Organize

We want to avoid making our audience frustrated

or have them stop listening.

We prevent this by organizing our speech in a way

that makes sense to the topic and by having lots of

transitions.



Main Points

The first thing we must do is prepare 3-4 main

points or key ideas. These will become our main

points.

We decide what our main points will be and what

order they go in by picking an organizational

pattern.

This makes up the body of our speech.



Organizational Patterns

1. Chronological: MP organized by time

Could be by dates, by the order things must be done,

etc.

2. Difficulty: MP organized by level of difficulty

3. Spatial: MP organized by space

Could be geographical, physical structure, etc.

4. Causal (logical): MP organized by cause andeffect

5. Topical: main points are organized by topic

This is one of the most common and easiest patterns.



Patterns Cont’d

5. Problem/Solution: MP organized by addressing a

problem and how to solve that problem

Need/Plan: a variation of Problem/Solution

Need/Problem plan that meets the need Plan/Solution how the plan works



Main Points Developed

The heart of your presentation comes in all the

information within the main points.

You organize your speech into 3-4 main points and

then you elaborate with supporting points and sub-points in outline format.



Transitions

The key to letting your audience know when you are

moving from one topic to the next are transitions.

These are statements that indicate the topic change.

I will ask you to use a chronological or directional

transition. Here you summarize your last point and

preview you next point.

Example: Now that we’ve covered the houses inMarshall County, let’s move on and look at the condos

available.



Planning the Introduction

Functions of the Introduction Securing attention – “Attention Getter”

This is a sentence or more that captures the audiences’ attention.

There are many ways to capture your audience including direct questions,shocking or interesting facts/statistics, stories, promises of something

beneficial, humor, and quotes Orientation – “Setting the stage”

Providing any necessary information so the audience will understand thebody of the speech Providing background information, definitions, timeline info

Clarifies your central idea and purpose What exactly will you be talking about

What are you seeking from your audience

At minimum, a preview of your main body



Doing so will ensure you set yourself up for successful delivery of meat (body) ofyour speech!

Include all of these for a “top notch” introduction.

To Recap:

1. Secure Attention

2. Establish goodwill and credibility

3. Assure a fair hearing

4. Orient your audience to the subject5. Make your central idea and

purpose clear

6. Offer a preview



Common Introduction Pitfalls

• False Starts

• Unnecessary

Apologies

• Overstatement

• Overtly shocking, offensive,

emotional language or

examples



Aristotle suggested that the major purpose of

the conclusion is to help the memory.

Planning the Conclusion



Functions of the Conclusion

A good conclusion offers:

Review

Reinforcement

Call to actionSometimes we add:

Visualization

Restatement

Impression

Three Major Functions:1. Review the central idea (tell ‘em what

you told ‘em)

2. Reinforce belief or action

desired (what do you want them to do?)

3. End with impact and impress

when appropriate



Common Conclusion Pitfalls

Deprecation of Effort

Overamplification Prolonged Close

OWN it!

Simple restatement ofpoints already

covered

Short Concise andSweet

Avoid doing this: Instead do this:

outline organization basics

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