So once you've done a little bit of reflecting on your rhetorical situation,

then you can dive into the speech preparation.

Now for me, I always go back to the rhetorical canons for my speeches,

invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery.

This is how this course is organized, by the way,

around this process of going through those canons.

So we start off with invention.

So you gotta start by generating the content,

just getting some ideas down on paper.

Now for ceremonial speaking, this means figuring out your core values and stories.

Most ceremonial speeches hinge on a few key values.

So I gotta figure out what those values are, so

I know where I'm taking the speech.

And as part of developing those values,

I'm going to end up illustrating them through stories and evidence.

But ultimately,

this invention stage is just about getting some major pieces down on paper.

Then I go on to arrangement.

So if I've got those big pieces, I need to figure out how to flow the speech in a way

that makes sense and sounds good.

Now I would say this is a challenge for ceremonial speaking,

since we typically don't want to use overt arrangement language, right?

You're not like, so today we bury Andre, he was a good man for three main reasons.

Right, you're not going to do that.

We're looking, in a ceremonial speech, more for an artful artlessness.

A deliberate and powerful set of decisions about arrangement that cover their own

tracks, right.

The speech should feel like it flows,

even if the audience can't see how it's flowing at any given moment.

Now as I'm doing this, up to this point, I have sort of outlines,

I've got a bunch of outlines I've worked through.

I have a sense for where the speech is heading, but

it takes developing an actual draft to get it all figured out.

This is the style stage, this is the hard part.

Since display is such an important part of ceremonial addresses,

I'm writing this draft through style.

Now that's style appropriate to the situation, but style nonetheless.

So then at the end of that, I've got a draft, then I shift into memory.

I've got some decisions to make, now.

Do I deliver my speech from an outline, and extemporize it?

Do I use a manuscript, or do I just memorize the whole dad-gum thing?

Now all of those options, outline, manuscript, and memorization,

they all involve memory, just at different levels of precision.

So even if I'm working from an outline, I need to remember all the large moves.

If I'm working from a manuscript, I need to know the speech deeply enough,

that I can look at the manuscript and look at the audience.

So as I'm working through this,

this memory work usually merges with the delivery.

So when I'm in delivery, I start performing the draft with an eye to

emotional levels I want the audience to experience.

I find places where humor is needed, or where it's appropriate.

But all of this, invention, arrangements, style, memory and delivery,

all of that is an iterative process.

So I'll probably run through a few outlines before I start writing it out,

I might revise that draft multiple times.

And as I'm writing, I'm actually standing up and trying to perform the sections,

to see if they sound good.

All of that writing and rewriting, practicing,

is helping me remember the speech, as well.

But in general, I want to get the ideas out, invention.

Figure out the flow, that's arrangement.

Write the speech, that's style.

Get it in my memory, to the point that it can support good delivery.

[MUSIC]

A process for preparing speeches

Speaking to Inspire: Ceremonial and Motivational Speeches

Meet the Instructors