in the immortal words of Hall of Fame baseball player and manager Yogi Berra
if you don't know where you're going you might end up someplace else
nowhere is that more true than in the development and organization of a speech
in this video we'll discuss some of the organizational patterns commonly used in
public speaking
in the most basic sense there are three parts of a speeches organization the
introduction the body and the conclusion
Dale Carnegie summarized speech organization by saying tell the audience
what you're going to say say it and then tell him what you've said the
introduction previews and sets everything up for the audience the body
provides the substance and details and the conclusion brings it all back around
in summary each of these three components is important to the ability
of the audience to follow along with and comprehend your speech that's a great
place to start but obviously there's more work to be done
effective speech organization requires a speaker to consider how they will
organize the main points and information within the body of the speech so that
their message will have the greatest possible impact there are a multitude of
options for speech organization will focus on the most common methods in this
video
one popular organizational pattern is chronological organization in
chronological organization the information in a speech follows a time
sequence some speeches use chronological organization to discuss a process that
spans over a large period of time such as in this graphic in which the period covers
several years the topic could also have a more modest timeframe such as a speech
designed at assisting the millions of people around the world who struggle
with making a proper peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich by
breaking down that process step-by-step chronological organization is used
commonly in informative speeches like those explaining historical events like
the Battle of Gettysburg and for demonstration speeches like how
tornadoes form what other speech topics can you think of that might use
chronological organization another organizational pattern used frequently
for informative speeches is spatial in spatial organization the main points of
the speech follow a directional pattern like north-to-south top to bottom front
to back or left to right the graphic you see here uses a spatial pattern to
divide the United States into
quadrants with each area comprising a different main point some speeches break down
information using a cause-and-effect pattern as you might imagine speeches
using cause-and-effect organization typically have two main points one
discussing the cause of an event and another discussing the effect depending
on the topic in question cause and effect can be used effectively in either
informative or persuasive speeches if the cause and effect are both known and
agreed upon such as the connection between prolonged tobacco use and an
increased risk of cancer this pattern could be used in an informative speech
if either is debatable however like the curse of the goat being responsible for
the long drought between World Series championships for the Chicago Cubs the
speech would have to be seen as a persuasive effort speeches using
problem-solution organization are also typically broken down into two main
points one presenting the problem and another offering a solution problem
solution is used almost exclusively in persuasive speeches even if the problem
is readily evident to everyone in the audience for example the need for a
change in the social security system there are likely to be multiple possible
solutions to the problem which opens the solution presented by the speaker to
debate topical organization allows the speaker to arrange the main points of
their speech in a logical way that doesn't fit neatly into one of the other
patterns of organization main points are simply broken down in a way that is
effective and makes sense for the speaker's overall goals this graphic
might represent a topical organization of a speech on the federal spending in
the United States it's not arranged chronologically for a historical
perspective or broken-down regionally across the country or examined as a
problem to be fixed it simply categorizes the various items in a
logical way for further discussion topical organization is flexible enough
to be used for both informative and persuasive speeches if your objective is
to present both the good and bad aspects of a singular topic then you might
consider using the pro/con organizational pattern procon uses two
broad main points the
pros and the cons and then provides items in support of each of these as
sub-points an example might be a speech outlining the positives and negatives of
homeschooling in educating children comparative organization is somewhat
similar to procon but it usually stresses the relative advantages of one
idea over another for example a comparative speech might emphasize the
benefits of home schooling over sending children to public schools or the
relative strength of samsung phones vs iphones because comparative organization
typically favors one item over another is most useful for persuasive speeches
two other commonly used organizational patterns are need plan and mnemonic or
acronym organization in need plan a speaker first establishes the need for a
change in action or policy and then lays out their plan for addressing that need
mnemonic or acronym organization is sort of a gimmicky method of organization
that uses an acrostic to help the audience follow and retain the main
points of a speech one classic example of a mnemonic device is using ROYGBIV to
remember that the colors of the rainbow are red orange yellow green blue indigo
and violet another illustration would be a speech on stroke symptoms awareness
that uses the acronym F-A-S-T or fast to help the audience remember the main
points of face arm speech and time while knowing about the different
organizational patterns is helpful it is important to remember that you have the
freedom to organize the information in the way that best helps you accomplish
your goals as a speaker these organizational methods are intended as
useful tools don't feel like you absolutely have to manipulate your
content to fit neatly into one of these packages however purpose and content
should drive the organization of a speech not the other way around
in this video we discussed some of the organizational patterns commonly used in
public speaking
check out some of our other videos for more
insight into the public speaking process