Adventure of Public Speaking: Ch. 8 - Introductions, Conclusions, and Connective Statements

thesis statement

a carefully worded one-sentence encapsulation of exactly what you will cover in your speech

characteristics of a conclusion

signal the conclusion (signposts like "to summarize" or "let's wrap up"), summarize (revisit main points and central argument), memorable closer (clincher)

internal summary

statement summarizing what you already have covered, precedes transitions

examples of attention getters

statistic, personal story/anecdote, rhetorical question, quote, question the audience has to answer, joke

introduction and conclusion

the "____ and ____" are the two most important moments of any speech

clincher

the final statement of your speech

main points

the most central and important ideas of your topic

characteristics of an introduction

attention getter, establish relevance of topic, establish your credibility, state your argument (thesis), preview main points, transition to body

transition

connective statement that signals you are finished with one point and moving on to another

examples of clinchers

finish an anecdote from the beginning of the speech, famous quotation, personal reflection, call to action, can be the same or different as your attention getter from the introduction

transitions between main points

internal summaries, signposts, and internal previews are examples of ____ ____ ____ ____

signpost

keyword that signals to the audience that you are moving from one part of the speech to another ("next," "additionally," "secondly," "third," "finally")

3 ways to develop main points

logical division of central idea (often used in informative speeches), reasons the central idea is true (often used in persuasive speeches), series of steps (often used in informative speeches)

internal preview

serves as an outline of what is to come next in a speech and is often combined with transition statements