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