The concept of “Determining your general purpose” especially resonated with me. I can recall listening to countless speeches where the speaker seemed unable to clue his audience in on his purpose until midway through his speech. Whether you are giving an informative, persuasive or entertaining speech, identifying a clear purpose from the beginning is essential. The general purpose of a speech answers the question, “what I want my speech to do” (Coopmen 62)? Once you have identified the purpose of your speech, it is important, as you develop your speech, that you keep your general purpose in mind. It is ok to include humor in an informative speech. Similarly, offering explanations in a persuasive speech. However, you do not want to stray to far from your general purpose. For example, if your general purpose is to inform you do not want to include so much humor that your speech will be recalled by the jokes you included and not the purpose to inform.
I agree, having a clear purpose is extremely important in delivering a speech. It will help to keep the speaker on track. If a speaker focuses on the purpose of the speech and the delivery, they will likely ramble less and have a more satisfied audience. It is very frustrating to have to listen to someone who is all over the place when they are speaking. The listener should leave with a clear interpretation of what the purpose of the speech was about. Also, I think joking is a great way to break the ice or lighten the mood of a crowd, however sometimes speakers can go over board and turn a speech into stand up comedy, which can detract from the intended message of the speech.
ReplyDelete