This document discusses strategies for organizing the main points of informative and persuasive speeches. It describes common patterns such as chronological order, categories/topics, geographical order, cause and effect, problem and solution, claims, refutation, and the motivated sequence. The key difference between informative and persuasive speeches is that persuasive speeches call the audience to take some kind of action.

2. Organizing the Main Points
 You MUST organize your main points
 The biggest difference between an Informative speech
and a Persuasive speech is the ORGANIZATION of the
points.
 Don’t just let your points “happen”…plan them!

3. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Informative Patterns
 Time
 Chronological organization
 Example:
Speech Topic: Airline Food
I. Early airline food: a gourmet treat
II. The middle period: institutional food at thirty
thousand feet
III. Today’s airline food: the passenger starves

4. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Time
 Topic
 Organization according to speaker’s discretion,
types or categories
 Example:
Speech Topic: College Students
I. Freshmen
II. Sophomores
III. Juniors
IV. Seniors

5. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of the
speech
 Time
 Topic
 Space/Geographical
 Organization by area
 Example:
Speech Topic: Great Lakes
I. Superior
II. Michigan
III. Huron
IV. Erie
V. Ontario

6. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of a
persuasive speech
 Cause and Effect
 Organization by discussing a situation and its
causes or a situation and its effects.
 Persuasive speeches have a third point:
Cause-Effect-Action or Cause-Effect-Solution

7. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Time
 Topic
 Space/Geographical
 Cause and Effect
 Organization by discussing a situation and its
causes or a situation and its effects.
 Informative OR Persuasive*
 *Persuasive speeches have a third point:
Cause-Effect-Action or Cause-Effect-Solution

8. Cause and Effect Formats
 Informative
 I. Congested cities with more and more commuters are
causing the air pollution levels to rise.
 II. More and more children are succumbing to lung problems
like asthma.
 (You don’t ask your audience to DO anything about it in the
Informative example.)
 Persuasive
 I. Congested cities with more and more commuters are
causing the air pollution levels to rise.
 II. More and more children are succumbing to lung problems
like asthma.
 III. We need to convince our city to start utilizing buses and
sub- and railways more.

9. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Cause/Effect
 Problem/Solution
 Organization by first discussing a problem and
then various solutions
 Persuasive pattern – has two different 3rd point
options
 Problem-Solution-Action
 Problem-Solution-Benefit

10. Problem Solution Formats
 Problem-Solution-Action
 I. Poisonous chemicals are in our foods every day!
 II. Organic foods are the solution to this problem.
 III. Everyone in this classroom should make an effort to
buy organic foods.
 Problem-Solution-Benefit
 I. Poisonous chemicals are in our foods every day!
 II. Organic foods are the solution to this problem.
 III. Health problems related to ingestion of toxins will
slowly disappear, saving our bodies and reducing our
healthcare expenses.

11. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Cause/Effect
 Problem/Solution
 Claim
 Making assertions or points about a controversial
topic

12. Claim Pattern
 Abolish the Death Penalty
 I. It’s cruel and unusual
 II. It’s not a deterrent
 III. It’s too expensive

13. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Cause/Effect
 Problem/Solution
 Claim
 Refutation
 Identifying objections to your topic and refuting
them

14. Organizing Main Points
 Strategies for organizing the main points of
the speech
 Cause/Effect
 Problem/Solution
 Claim
 Refutation
 Motivated Sequence

15. Motivated Sequence Pattern
 Attention (Introduction)
 Need (1st body paragraph, problem)
 Satisfaction (2nd, solution)
 Visualization (3rd, what it would look like)
 Call to action (Conclusion)

16. Motivated Sequence Example
 Attention (Introduction): Within 50 years, we’ll all be
stumbling through piles of trash!
 Need: We must address the growing problem of waste
disposal in our communities.
 Satisfaction: Creating more recycling facilities is the
answer!
 Visualization: Can you picture what our streets will
look like if we don’t address this problem now?
 Call to Action: Call or email the Dallas City Manager
today!