ORGANISING - BASICS OF COMMUNICATION SKILL

Organise your speech

Has it happened to you that you speak and your audience doesn’t get the idea even though you know that they are quite interested in the topic? Then you must rethink the way you present it. You need to start organise your ideas to promote understanding. Organising your message is the very basics of any communication or leadership skills.

The second Toastmasters speech project addresses this phase of the communication skill - organizing your speech. This article examines the primary goal of the speech and talks about the tips and ideas. There are four aims for this speech:

·       Use an outline which aids understanding.

·       Transition smoothly from one point to the next.

·       Craft an effective speech opening.

·       Craft an effective speech conclusion.

Why Organise??

You may ask: why do I have to organize the information? If I tell the audience everything I know they can do the organizing, right? So, why do you need to organize your speech?

Speech organization is effectively taking the information one wishes to present and arranging it in a logical order. It comes down to two things: credibility and audience understanding.

You want your speech to be organized because it will be more enjoyable, easier to understand and enhance the credibility to both you and your speech itself. Don't forget, people will also understands and remember the information better if it is organized. 

tips of Organising the Speech

Organising the speech is almost the same thing like organising your stuff. You have to deliver it in a systematic manner. Below are few ideas which can help you organising your speech.

#1 - One of the most common ways to organize a speech is chronologically, according to time. Explain what happened first, then second then third and so on. Take your time with each section, pause at the end of each section to signal a transition. This is the same method of organization of storytelling, which always has a beginning, middle, and an end.

#2 - A similar approach is the "Past, Present, Future" approach. While the chronological approach can be used to describe a situation that is completely in the past, or completely in the future, the "Past, Present, Future" way of organizing takes a longer-term view. In your speech, you could describe the situation as it has been in the past or in history. Then you could describe the current situation or present. as it is right now. Finally, you can ask the audience to think of the future and how the situation could improve for the better.

#3 - Another good way to order your message is by logic. One way to do this is to use the "cause and effect" approach. Explain the cause first, giving enough detail for the audience to understand, then describe the result. The similar or alternative way to this is to use the "problem and solution" approach. Describe the problem, especially from the point of view of your audience, followed by your suggested solution. Please make sure there is a continuation, if you are describing one or two more cause and effect.

#4 - An easy method of organizing your presentation is by using the comparison approach. Describe Situation X (which can be problem, example etc.) then show how Situation Y is similar or different. You could describe all of Situation X first, in great detail, before comparing it to Situation Y. Other option is to jump back and forth between X and Y - explain one point about X and compare it to Y, then take a second point about X and so on. Just make sure the comparison has a link in between and the transition is seamless.

#5 - For almost any topic, it is possible to use the approach of particular - general - back to particular. You could start with a very specific story to introduce your topic. After that, you can explain, in general terms, what your message is. When you are done, conclude by reminding the audience of your specific example (or a similar example) to itch your message into their brains.

Note: Do NOT make your organization complex. Keep it simple so that everyone in the audience can follow your speech and remember your message. Whichever way you choose, it will be helpful to have a clear structure to your speech. To further aid in memory, you can hint the audience know about your organization in your introduction.

I used my second speech to participate in the Humorous Speech Competition which was the best in the club level. We will be discussing the about the ways to set up the humorous speech followed by the speech in the next blog.