This is to be a workshop for interested 4th and 5th grade Sunday schoolers
The point story is to use an outline that can be applied to any speech
Organization is important to any speech. A personal story is important to any speech. Combine these two elements and you have the Point Story!
There are two speeches below that make a point or points with a story or stories: the first is a personal story that makes a point; the second introduces a speaker with three points. The rest of the material gives rubrics of techniques for making content and delivery of any speech especially effective.
(Title) “Loss and Redemption”
(Attention-grabber) Have you ever lost something you were desperate to find?
(Thesis) I once was accused of losing something by my two teenagers, but what I found was redemption.
(Point One, I.) My wife and I were going off to a Toastmasters’ meeting in the evening and I’d been careful to leave the movie of The Lion King for my two kids to watch.
(Extender A) We were discussing the meeting over our dinner at a restaurant when DING-DING I got a text from our kids: “You forgot to leave us the movie.” “Check the sunroom table” I text back. “Not there. You lost it,” one texted back.
(Extender B) I did not rush off from that restaurant in a desperate search for The Lion King . But I did look in the car before heading home. I did look all around the sunroom table when I got home. No Lion King.
(Point Two, II.) At home I retraced my steps. All of them. No Lion King on the sunroom table. in the trash can, no Lion King. In the bathroom, still no Lion King.
(Extender A) Then I remembered telling Daughter Chloe to change Ollie’s pad. Ollie’s the miniature maltese whose pen and pad is in the sunroom. Maybe Chloe had mistakenly gotten the strapping tape on the pad attached to the movie case?
(Extender B) Sure enough, I reached under the pad and there was the Lion King.
(Clincher) I was old, yes, or at least getting older, having just retired from a 30-year career teaching school. But my mind and memory were intact, and finding the Lion King my daughter had lost was my redemption.
This is the "Loss and Redemption" story as video appears at the bottom of the "Storytelling" page.
The outline or organization for a one point story, after the opening, usually builds with a plot of an inciting moment, a rise in action, a climax, and a resolution.
T. (The title may be announced as part of the intro) “Loss and Redemption”
AG. (The attention grabber) Ever lost what you were desperate to find?
I. My wife and I go out for a meeting and dinner.
A. The kids are left with the movie case.
B. Text messages send the alert.
II. I retrace my steps.
A. I remember Ollie's pad.
B. Discovery is made.
CL. I was redeemed in my final year as a public school teacher.
The Ice-Breaker Depends on an Outline Applied to all Public Speaking
The ice-breaker speech is the first one a new Toastmaster gives. It normally reveals three aspects or interests of a person, like hobbies, family, work, life-defining experiences, etc. These could be in stories or descriptions. Three points are made in many speeches, but a speech could be focused on just one point, maybe in one story.
Title: Sometimes a title is the only introduction given to a speaker. If there is the opportunity to have an introduction by someone else, build up the anticipation briefly without giving away too much.
AG (Attention-grabber)
Thesis (the main message or idea of the speech)
Preview (this breaks into three parts or points to back the thesis; these may be in three separate sentences or detailed phrases.)
I. First point or feature
A. Example or story
Transition (this gives a link between two points)
II. Second point or feature
A. Example or story
Transition
III. Third point or feature
A. Example or story
Review (this sums up the three parts or points made in separate sentences or phrases)
Clincher (This wraps up the message in attention-grabbing way, as the AG was to do at the opening)
Ice-Breaker for Toastmasters' Zoom Speech
This ice-breaker makes three points about the speaker by way of an extended introduction. This is the first speech for every Toastmaster. The Zoom recording is one innovation the pandemic has provided to widespread audiences.
If permission is given, a student speaker may be recorded for future viewing. This allows speakers to see for themselves just how things went. This would not have to be on Youtube, for public or unlisted or private. It could just be for class use. Students in a workshop, can review their speeches and try to objectively observe how well their intentions were executed.
We may perceive how a delivery was done in our memory, but a recording gives undeniable evidence in instant replay.
So, How EXACTLY Is a Speech's Content and Delivery rated?
Very carefully: with empathy and compassion at the forefront, constructive comments are offered. I have a passion for public speaking, but I know from experience that not all speakers have the skills to speak confidently and effectively.
Glows, sincerely given, are compliments that begin every evaluation, be it student-driven or teacher-led. Immediate feedback is helpful and an encouragement. What was said and how was it said that was worth repeating in future speaking.
Grows, constructively offered, not as SHOULD'S but as suggestions: these are the meaty, middle part of an evaluation. What specific details would a listener have the speaker consider as an alternative. Was the organization easy to follow? Were the opening and ending attention-getting. Was credibility established? Were personal connections made? Was phrasing catchy and memorable? What was the takeaway? Were concrete details well-visualized?
Glows, again conclude the evaluation, so the speaking experience is a positive one the speaker wishes to try again. This sandwich method is recommended in every Toastmaster meeting.
“Dealing with the Shyness Dis-ease”
(AG) When I was introduced as a three to five-year-old, my mom said I would cower and hide behind her skirt.
(Theme) Over the years I found three ways to turn my shyness of strangers into more personal expressiveness.
(Preview) My three favorite mediums for expression evolved from the visual arts, to writing and reading aloud a story, to giving stories in speeches to Toastmasters.
(I.) A pencil and paper was an early cure-all. Because my childhood home had no TV, I had plenty of quiet time to draw. I did take in a few episodes of Diver Dan. I would draw Diver Dan with his big, round metal helmet with iron bars across his face. I’d draw him with his bulky body suit walking across the ocean floor. I’d also draw cowboys and Indians dodging bullets on one sheet of paper, and dinosaurs munching on jungles in another.
(Transition) To these imaginary worlds the biggest exploration came with the speaking voice. That came in Ms. Jones’s fourth grade class
(II.) Ms. Jones invites me to come to the front and read a story to my classmates. Everyone loves a story, right? I start my story, and Ms. Jones leaves on break time. Imagine a little fourth-grade boy, me, in a chair at the head of the class. I’m telling a story , and then the teacher leaves: no adult in a classroom full of fourth-graders.
Some little bodies are on the edge of their seats, but most are soon out of them, rolling in the aisles and elsewhere until there’s the turning of the knob on the big wooden door and Ms. Jones returns. On multiple days she does this until she discovers, finally, what really goes on.
(Transition) I returned to the classroom many years later as a teacher, but I rarely shared my stories aloud with my students. Maybe I was afraid my stories still wouldn’t keep their attention without Mrs. Jones in the classroom.
(III.) That all changed when I tried out Toastmasters. This is a speaking club where adults give speeches to each other. And I had an audience of real listeners. At 8:00 to 9:00 each Friday morning we take roles as time keepers , ah counters, grammarians, and evaluators. It gives us a chance to craft our words into stories in speeches that have points to make.
Review: This spoken story became my new art form, better than drawing Diver Dan and certainly better than depending on Mrs. Jones. I learned to relate stories from my personal life, not from the ocean floor, and addressed an audience that really wanted to listen.
(CL) It all comes down to this: the more expressive you can be without hiding behind a skirt, the better off you are.
Here are rubrics or guidelines or stated expectations
A Point Story out of 100%
Grab Attention _________ out of 10
Statement of Theme/Message _______ of 10
Eye Contact __________ out of 10 x 2
This is to have 50+% meaningful contact (continues with same description as for ice-breaker except with very limited notecard).
Gestures ______out of 10. Try using the hands just to give special emphasis (continues the same as for ice-breaker except without required body movement).
Expressiveness _____ out of 10. Try with the voice to have variety and some excitement on the 4 P's.
Story Development and Clarity _____
of 10 x 3
Be sure this has some real-time, play-by-play action and no more than half as summary.
Clincher, the wrap-up of the conclusion ____ of 10
Opening:
Grab us
to tell us
what you'll be
telling us
Engage us
with the eyes
& with gestures
used only
to emphasize
Transition well between parts
Visualize!
If multiple parts, tell us what you told us
& Close with impact
Ice-Breaker out of 100%
Grab Attention _________ of 10
Preview and theme _____ of 10
Eye Contact ___________ out of 20. This is to have 50+% meaningful contact with the audience or in visualizing what is talked about (as with offstage focus). Try having no peering at the floor, wall, or over our heads. Try engaging the audience members with looking into their eyes, one member at a time, one thought or phrase at a time. Use notecards effectively.
Gestures ______ of 10. Try using the hands just to give special emphasis. No hands in pockets or behind your back or clasping. Rest your arm to your side or bent at the elbow, poised at your center when not gesturing.
Remember to have body movement, as between points.
Expressiveness _____ of 10. Try with the voice to have variety and some excitement on the 4 P's (pacing, power, pitch, pronunciation). Avoid “ah, um, and other fillers and run-ons with “and , so, but”……..
Story Development and Clarity _____ There should be just three points about yourself. This can be on your family, friend, job, career hopes, traits, etc. At least one story will be told about yourself with real-time detail. It could be the revised, earlier point story. Some dialogue could be used. Use specific details. A second and third point can be narrative, but they still should visualize.
Remember to use transitions well between points.
______ of 10 x 3
Review clearly stating the three or points about yourself. ___ of 5
Have a Clincher, a concluding statement that wraps it up with a parting impression. ____ of 5 pts.
In a workshop, I'd not expect to "grade" or rate on such a scale, as this above was for a college class for credit. In a workshop the three areas below could be used by me and the audience members.
Critique:
What I Saw: in clothing, background, facial expressions, gestures, body movement, in painting a picture (what is visualized)
What I Heard: in content, with introduction by TM, opening, organization, conclusion, phrases and wording (as repetition);
in the story’s characters and dialogue and plot
in vocalizing, with enthusiasm and other emotions, variety of pitch, power, and pacing (and power of the pause)
What I Felt: in what was driving the story and giving it purpose; in what was interesting and especially appealing,
in how this was adapted to audience needs,
in what emotions it aroused in you, in what especially touched you
Here's a rubric I used at BRCC* for a speech course that transfers as college credit throughout the N.C. College System.
The 5-7 minute persuasive speech rubric featured here seems quite complex, but it all hinges on four parts working well together:
-
Opening
-
Body
-
Delivery
-
Closing
From the
Simplest
to the
Complex
One of the easiest exercises to do on Day Two of a workshop would be to bring in and handle an appropriate object as a visual aid. Its purpose will be to show something of importance about a speaker, a simple way to introduce one's self and be able to gesture naturally. I normally would bring in one of these two objects that relate to my childhood and my career in video production (Gumby) and my passion in a hobby (the gavel for Toastmasters).
One of the more complex exercises is to research a topic and organize your points in a crafted speech. There are several examples of this on Ukraine, gun control, and even Dr. Seuss on the home page.
