tragedy. Whenever possible, therefore, it is to find out ahead of time what sort of gathering a speaker is to address.
A speaker should make a point of finding out what kind of people will make up the audience, what brings them together, what their age and social position are,
who else is going to speak to them, and what will be their probable attitude toward the speaker and his purpose. Sometimes, of course, a speaker will not be able to
learn all these things in advance, and a speaker will have to adapt himself to conditions as he finds them; but the more accurately he can picture the audience
and occasion beforehand, the easier this adaptation will be when the time comes to speak.
c. Selecting and Narrowing the Subject
As was pointed earlier, the choice of subject will sometimes be made for a speaker. But whether he is given a subject or choose it himself, he must narrow it
down to fit the time limits of his speech and the interest and capacity of his audience. Moreover, his own interest and knowledge must be considered,
whenever possible, he shall try to talk about something with which he can find out more than his audience already knows. A speaker should try to speak on a subject
in which he is vitally interested and on which he can make a real contribution.
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d. Gathering the Material
Having completed the survey of the problem by considering the purpose, audience, and subject, a speaker is now read to begin building a speech. Almost
always, however, he will find that what he already knows is not enough
A speaker will want to gather additional information facts, illustrations, stories, and examples with which a speaker can develop his speech. It is very
often necessary to inquire from those who know more about the subject and to investigate the written sources. Newspapers, magazines, books, report - these
form a valuable storehouse of information, which is readily available in library. Gradually, what a speaker already knows and the new material he finds can be
brought together, sifted, and made ready for the detailed building of the speech.
e. Making An Outline of the Speech
As implied in the last paragraph, a speaker will make a rough sketch of the points in his speech even before he makes a search for material to develop it; but
the detailed outline cannot be drawn up until he has most of the information at his disposal. With the material at hand, a speaker set down the main points he expects
to make in the order he expects to make them. This outline should be worked out in considerable detail at first in order to insure unity and coherence in his speech;
later a skeleton outline can be made to fix the points in his memory
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f. Wording the Speech
