Informative Speech Outline Worksheet

INFORMATION SPEECH OUTLINE WORKSHEET(adapted from: Osborn & Osborn, 1997)
*** To be used to help you organize your outline, NOT to be turned in as your actual outline!!!
Speech Title:

____________________________________________________________________________
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about

_____________________________________________
I. Introduction (Your goal here is to draw us into your speech...)

Attention Material (This step helps us focus our attention on you and your message. It is suggested that you begin with a story, quote, statistic, definition, use of suspense, etc. Never begin with, "Hi I am ___ and today I am going to talk about ___."):



Tie to Audience (This step informs the audience how your speech topic will relate to them. Be specific about how we can USE this information in our everyday lives. Here you will be more specific than in your introduction speech.):




Credibility Material (Here the speaker tells the audience why he or she is credible, can be trusted, knows the materials, etc. How do you know about this? Why are you interested, etc.?):



Thesis & Preview: (Here summarize your speech in one sentence and continue by previewing the main points of the speech).:
Thesis: ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________


Preview: Today I will tell you first ______________, second _____________ and third ______________.

(Transition into Body of Speech -- Now that we've covered _______, let's go to ____________ OR SOMETHING MORE CREATIVE WOULD BE WONDERFUL!)


Body

Main Point #1 (Your main points are the main ideas of your speech. They are the ideas necessary in supporting/proving/explaining your thesis. They are "reasons why," "primary types," "steps," etc. Speeches are organized into 2-5 main points. I included a space for three main points in this worksheet. However, feel free to modify this format as you see necessary.):



1. Subpoint #1 (The subpoints are the breakdown of the main point into smaller units. They usually are your examples, narratives, statistics, testimony, etc. In other words, the subpoints explain the main points. You may have 2-5 subpoints. I have listed three here. Feel free to modify this as you see necessary. Do use the golden rule: one hard piece of "fact" or "statistics," one piece of "softer" evidence such as an example or story and then a piece of testimony to give it credibility).





2. Subpoint #2:



3. Subpoint #3:
(Transition into Main Point 2 -- Now that we have covered __________, let's move to __________. Again, use a more creative approach if you'd like! Just remember that your transitions need to review your last point AND preview your next point. They show a connection and are a good time to remind the audience why this information is important.)
B. Main Point #2
1. Subpoint #1:

2. Subpoint #2:



3. Subpoint #2:
(Transition into Main Point 3 Now that we covered _________, finally we will _______________. Or again something more creative would work too!)
C. Main Point Three:
1. Subpoint #1:
2. Subpoint #2:
3. Subpoint #3:

(REMEMBER I LISTED 3 SPACES FOR MAIN POINTS IN THE WORKSHEET, BUT YOU MAY HAVE 2-5 MAIN POINTS….)
(Transition to the end... begins with the brakelight as indicated below…)
III. Conclusion
A. Brakelight (signals the end such as, "To sum things up…" or something more creative.)

B. Summary (reviews the main points of the speech in the order covered):

C. Tie Back to Audience (tells us again how we benefit from knowing this, show the connection between you and the audience):

D. Concluding Memorable Remarks (gives you a way to end; never, ever end on "that's it" -- plan out the end, better yet, tie back to the introduction's attention device):