how to outline for public speaking

1. By Prof. Grabowski

2. What’s an outline?
• A listing of the main parts and points of your
speech. Unlike a manuscript, it is not a
complete, word-by-word account of your
speech.

3. Outline

4. Manuscript

5. Why outline?
• Your speech needs structure. Without structure,
your audience will either wonder what your core
message is or they will lose interest in you
entirely. Sadly, this step is often skipped to “save
time.” A planned outline is vital.
• Your grade will suffer. Poor outlines and missing
outlines will lose major points. No excuses will be
accepted for missing outlines.

6. Outline ingredients
• An outline is a blueprint for your presentation.
• It highlights the key logical elements. i.e. what points
are being made to logically support the core message?
• It highlights the key structural elements. e.g.
introduction, body, conclusion, stories, high-level
concepts
• It links these elements together in a sequence,
perhaps allocating very rough timings.
• It can also map out the transitions between elements,
although this may be deferred to a later stage of
preparation.

7. Generic outline
• Introduction — Establish topic and core
message; list supporting points
• Body
– Supporting Point One
– Supporting Point Two
– Supporting Point Three
• Conclusion — Recap main points; summarize
core message; call-to-action

8. Organize your points
When sequencing your outline points, try to avoid
random order. Seek and extract the meaningful
relationship.
•Chronological – e.g. a biographical speech
•Spatial – e.g. an entertaining travel speech
•Cause-effect – e.g. speech relating crime rate to drug
use
•Low to high importance – e.g. reasons to exercise
•Broad vision to specific details – e.g. a management
speech outlining new company direction

9. Use symbols and indents
This is the most common type of outline and
usually instantly recognizable to most people.
The formatting follows these characters, in this
order:
•Roman Numerals (I, II, III, IV, etc.)
•Capitalized Letters (A, B, C, D, etc.)
•Arabic Numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.)
•Lowercase Letters (a, b, c, d, etc.)

10. Include Works Cited
A works cited page or bibliography must appear at the end of
your outline. It is a list of all of the sources you have used
(whether referenced or not) in the process of researching
your work. In general, a bibliography should include:
•the authors' names
•the titles of the works
•the names and locations of the companies that published
your copies of the sources
•the dates your copies were published
•the page numbers of your sources (if they are part of multi-
source volumes)
•Informative speeches must provide at least three credible
sources and the works cited/bibliography must follow APA or
MLA format.

11. Not the same as cue cards
• You will hand in an outline to me before your
speech. When you speak, I recommend using
index cards if you need reminders. Outlines
are not the same as cue cards, but they are
related. An outline contains high-level speech
elements; cue cards might additionally contain
selected speech details e.g. transition phrases,
key words/phrases, key numbers, or punch
lines. They may also note gestures or cues on
visual aids.