3 types of information to support your speech

1. SupportingYour
Ideas

2. Three types
of support
Examples
Statistics
Testimony

3. Examples
An example is a specific case used to illustrate or
represent a group of people, ideas, conditions, and
experiences.

4. Brief
examples
Also called specific
instances
May be referred to in
passing
May be piled one upon
the other for effect

5. Extended
examples
A story, narrative or
anecdote developed at
some length to illustrate
a point.

6. Hypothetical
examples
An example that
describes an imaginary
or fictitious situation.
Usually are brief stories
that relate a general
principle.

7. Tips for
using
examples
To clarify your ideas
To reinforce your
ideas
To personalize your
ideas

8. More tips
Make your examples vivid
and richly textured.
Practice delivery to enhance
your examples.

9. Statistics
 “When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in
numbers, you know something about it. But when you cannot measure it,
when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is . . . Meager and
unsatisfactory.”
Lord Kelvin
19th-century physicist

10. Statistics
Often cited in passing
like brief examples
Can show the
magnitude or
seriousness of an issue

11. Understanding
statistics
 Numbers don’t lie – but they can
be distorted and manipulated.
 The cheetah, clocked at 70
miles per hour, is the fastest
animal in the world.
 The pronghorn antelope,
clocked at 61 miles per hours, is
the fastest animal in the world.

12. Understanding
statistics
While both statistics in the slide
you just read are accurate,
neither animal is the fastest.
The Peregrine Falcon is the
fastest bird, and also the fastest
animal in the world, capable of
reaching speeds of 200 miles per
hour.

13. Money
matters
1940
In 1940, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
earned a salary of
$75,000.
1972
In 1972, President
Richard Nixon earned a
salary of $200,000
2014
In 2014, President
BarackObama earned
a salary of $400,000
• Which president was paid
the most money?

14. Consumer
Price Index
 In order to compare dollars, the
Consumer Price Index lets us
gauge the value of the dollar in any
given year versus the purchasing
power in 1972.

15. Consumer
Price Index
applied
 In 1940, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt earned a salary of
$192,000
 In 1972, President Richard Nixon
earned a salary of $200,000
 In 2014, President Barack Obama
earned a salary of $78,000.

16. Are the
statistics
representative
 The bigger the same size, the
more representative the statistic.
 Make sure your statistics are
representative of what they claim
to measure.

17. Statistical
measures
Mean: the average value of a group
of numbers.
Median:The middle number in a
group of numbers arranged from
highest to lowest.
Mode:The number that occurs
most frequently in a group of
numbers.

18. Tips for
using
statistics
To quantify your ideas
Use them sparingly – they can
put an audience to sleep
Identify the sources of your
statistics
Explain your statistics

19. Visual aids
 To clarify your statistics, use visual
aids
 Consider whether a visual aid
will enhance the clarity and
impact of the statistics.
 Charts and graphs are the most
common visual aids for
presenting statistics.

20. Testimony
 Quotations of paraphrases used to support an idea.
 Expert testimony – recognized experts in their
fields.
 Peer testimony – ordinary people with firsthand
experience on insight on a topic.

21. Expert
testimony
In most cases, you will rely on
expert testimony.
It’s even more important if the
subject of the speech is
controversial.
Used when the audience is
skeptical of the speaker’s point
of view.

22. Peer
testimony
 Using ordinary people with
firsthand experience gives a more
personal viewpoint on issues than
can be gained from expert
testimony.

23. Quoting vs.
paraphrasing
Direct quotation –
testimony that is
presented word for word.
Paraphrase – to relate or
summarize a source’s
ideas in one’s own words.

24. Quotations
Most effective when brief
and they convey your
meaning better than you can.
When they are particularly
eloquent, witty or
compelling.

25. Paraphrasing
 Better than quotations in two
instances:
 1.When the wording of a
quotation is obscure or
cumbersome.
 2.When a quotation is longer
than two or three sentences.

26. Tips for
using
testimony
Quote or
paraphrase
accurately
1
Use testimony
from qualified
sources
2
Use testimony
from unbiased
sources
3
Identify the people
you quote or
paraphrase
4

27. Citing
sources
orally
While your bibliography in your
speech outline will list your sources,
you audience doesn’t have your
bibliography in front of them.
Unlike written bibliographies, oral
source citations do not follow a
standard format.

28. What to
identify?
The book, magazine, newspaper
orWeb document you are citing.
The author or sponsoring
organization of the document.
The authors qualifications with
regard to the topic.
The date on which the document
was published, posted or updated.