2.  Make sure you have a PURPOSE for the speech!

3. Make sure you ask what your partner would like to change (in his/her life, in the world, in the neighborhood, in Ultimate, in politics, etc).  This might be the purpose of the speech!

Here is the information we handed out:

UPDATE: There is one thing I forgot to mention tonight.  One question that is ESSENTIAL for these speeches is, “What do you want to CHANGE?” The change can be about anything.  Let Hannah or Polly know if you have any questions!

While asking the questions to the people you’re writing the speech for, keep these simple guidelines in mind:

• What is the main topic he or she wants to convey? (make sure that you create one whole sentence that explains in detail that topic.)
• How can you incorporate side-topics in to the speech, still making them relevant?
• You only have 1-2 minutes for the speech.  This means to you need to keep an orderly and organized speech.  Have a beginning, middle and end. 

Below are more guidelines for speeches and speech writing.  Read these later, and just start asking questions now.

1. The secret of successful public speaking and speech writing is using one central idea or message. You can talk about many speech topics, but always refer back to – reinforce – that theme or a thesis. It’s the only way the audience will remember your message. So, what is the central idea of your speech?

2. Capture that speech idea in one full sentence. It should be a single and – very important – declarative sentence. Make sure that you make a specific statement. What do you want the audience to do, know, or remember in the first place?

3. Develop your central speech idea in a clear public speaking speech outline that contains your supporting points. There are different kinds of public speaking outlines. Here are the ones who are used by students and members of Toastmasters International:

Chronological – The main points are arranged in a process or an expository central idea in speech sequence.

Topical – The central idea of speech is categorized in a pattern the audience will recognize.

Spatial – You relate the main points in a logical way, helpful for developing extemporaneous speech topics.

Cause and Effect – State the cause and effects of your speech topics.

Problem Solution – State and prove there is a problem and offer a solution.

4. In the introduction you:

Grab the attention with a smashing one-liner.

State the central idea of speech.

Preview your perspectives – the main points.

5. Now check out your main points. I recommend you to develop at least three main points while speech writing, but not more than five.

Does each point have one single and clear speech idea?

Does each point reiterate your statement?

Does each point remind the audience of the central idea of the speech?

Does each point forecast the next main point?

6. Your sub points have to contain details or new information to prove, to describe or to explain your main points that support the central idea in speech. For instance think about these supporting material and data:

Examples, testimonies, statistics or cases

New information or views

Practical and personal experiences

Common grounds the audience will recognize

7. Use your conclusion to reinforce the central idea again. Only now you:

Summarize the speech topic ideas in the main points in other words.

Circle back to your introduction.

Connect the needs and interests of the audience with the central idea in speech.

Notice how the dishwasher example makes an abstract talk about development be meaningful and easy to understand.

(You might post links to the speeches and talks you watched, in the comments.)

1. Your recital piece, ready to be recited!

2. Your ability to discuss 1-2 speeches that you have read, seen, or heard.

3. Any questions you have about the final formatting, printing, and presentation of your book.

See you soon!

• April 21 class
• April 28 class
• May 5 class
• May 12 class
• May 19 recital

Books

We worked on layout together on April 14. Your assignment is to keep working on that. To help you organize your work, try following this checklist:

• Finish the title page (title, author, date…maybe some cover artwork or a photograph?)
• Finish the back cover (more art? something about the author? a fake quote from a famous endorser? etc.)
• Settle on a page layout (what margins? where are the page numbers? do you repeat the chapter title at the top of the page? etc.)

Recital

We do not have a definite agenda for the recital, but we will definitely have you each read something. That has been our tradition; why break it now?

• Prepare something to read out loud at the recital.
• Aim for a piece that is not more than three minutes when read aloud (3 minutes x 9 presenters = 27 minutes)
• Choose any genre: poetry, letter to the editor, travelogue, short story, or any of the other forms we have learned about

Reading

• Read the friend’s book you were assigned to read.

If you already did that, contact someone else and offer to read their book.

We’re working on layout for the next few weeks. To help that along,

• make a complete mockup of your book in your wordprocessor of choice.

It’s a mockup, so you are not locked in to this, but try to make the book look like you want it to when you’re done.

We will be working together to improve the formats in the next few weeks.

Reading

It has been too long since we’ve read anything inspirational. To fix that,

• Read Austin Kleon’s post How to steal like an artist.
• Read Anne Fadiman’s “Nothing new under the sun“, In Ex Libris, pages 103–111. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1998. (The link points to a pdf hidden in our discussion site. You have to be logged in to see it.)

(I stole the Kleon post idea from a friend of mine and the Fadiman idea from Adria.)

Writing

Speaking of stealing, did you notice the Kleon has published a book called Newspaper Blackout? In it, he shares poems that he made by blacking out words in newspapers. The remaining words are the poem.

How to make a Newspaper Blackout Poem:
Grab a newspaper.
Grab a marker.
Find an article.
Cross out words, leaving behind the ones you like.
Pretty soon you’ll have a poem.

Let’s steal that idea ourselves.

• Make at least five Newspaper Blackout Poems
• Bring them with you on the 14th.
• Optionally, share them on our discussion site (take a picture and upload it).

You do not have to use newspaper. A magazine, catalog, or even old book page would work too.

We started learning about word processing this week. Your book assignment is to:

• Apply some formatting options to your book.
• Include things like margins, footers, paragraph spacing, font, etc.
• Apply some paragraph styles too.

Reading

• Read Stephen King’s story Word Processor of the Gods.

Do not worry, it is not a horror story, but it is bizarre.

(The link is to a Scribd account and the text is hard to read. Sorry. I could not find a better source for the story.)

Writing

As I’ve said many times before, stealing other people’s ideas is a time-honored tradition in writing, especially for beginners. Your writing assignment is to steal Stephen King’s idea of a magic word processor.

• Write a story in which a word processor (or typewriter, or personal computer, or similar machine) has magic powers.
• Write at least 300 words.
• Post your story on our discussion site.

(Other people have used the same idea, some before Stephen King, some after. A partial list is in this Wikipedia article on the story.)

You have all received feedback on you books, I hope. Your assignment for next week is to:

• Incorporate this feedback into a revised version of your book.

(Starting next week, we will shift to formatting and copyediting the books.)

Reading

As I mentioned Thursday, my main goal for the rest of the year is to help you all feel comfortable using “word processing” programs. I freely admit that I do not know how to do this. When I do not know what to do, I find stuff to read. So, just as your mother makes you put on a sweater when she is cold, I am going to make you read when I am confused. Your reading assignment has three parts:

• Read at least one of these sources (I recommend #1, but it is long.)
  1. Remembering the Office of the Future: The Origins of Word Processing and Office Automation, Thomas Haigh, 2006.
  2. Word Processing (History Of), Daniel Eisenberg, in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, vol. 49, pp. 268-78, 1992.
  3. History of Word Processing, Brian Kunde, 2002.
  4. Word Processor, Wikipedia.
• Answer as many of the following questions as you can:
  1. What was a “word processor” in the 1970s?
  2. What are “styles” and why do modern word processors use them?
  3. What was an “editing electronic typewriter”?
  4. Who was Harold Koplow and what did he do?
  5. When people stopped buying dedicated word processors, what did they start buying instead?
  6. What does WYSIWYG mean and how would you use a word processor that was not WYSIWYG?
  7. How did the Selectric Composer make fully justified lines?
  8. What are the differences between page layout and word processing?
  9. What were floppy disks and why were they important to word processing?
• Make up at least three questions of your own based on the reading, and bring them next week. We will quiz one another.

Writing

We read a parody of noir fiction in class, John McIntyre’s Grammar Noir. Now it’s your turn.

• Write a parody of noir fiction.
• Use the clichés of noir. (See our Hammetisms list for ideas, but do not limit yourself to that list.)
• Be absurd and funny. Let loose!
• Write 200–500 words.
• Post your parody on our discussion site.

It proves that even people who are stiff, dull, and rhyme-challenged can pull off a rap.

(Scientific note: The video’s claim that “screening saves lives” is debatable. Some screenings saves lives, but some screenings costs lives. Screenings with high false positive rates or that detect cancers with long latency or delayed mortality may cost lives, because they result in surgeries that were not needed. Surgery is dangerous too. But not to worry. You’re all a long way away from the big 5 oh.)

Give your own book a rest. Instead,

• Carefully read the book you are reviewing for another class member.
• Write down comments for them in three categories:
  1. Things that are clear in the book; things you understood.
  2. Things you found confusing or hard to read.
  3. Specific things you would move, cut, or rewrite.
• Send your comments to the writer.

Remember, your comments are supposed to help the writer make the book better. It helps writers to know what parts of the book are already working (item #1). It helps them to know what parts of the book are difficult (item #2). It helps to have specific suggestions of changes to make (item #3).

Also remember, you are not the writer and it is not your job to make the book be better. The writer still gets to decide what changes to make, if any. You are just giving them one person’s point of view on the book.

Finally, do not make comments about what you like or dislike. Likes and dislikes are comments about the reviewer, not about the book. For example, I do not like poetry, but if a friend wants my comments on her poetry, I can still give suggestions without talking about my dislike of it.

Writing

• Write 500 or more words of gothic fiction.
• Post your story on the discussion site.

Reading

• Find a gothic fiction story, a novel or short story.
• Read it.

In an emergency, email Luke for suggestions. Come to think of it, getting suggestions from Luke might itself create an emergency. Proceed at your own risk.

Optional

• Watch Patsy Rodenburg: Why I do theater.
• Read something fun, light, entertaining, and diverting during tech week and the week after. You choose.

Four-eighths of you have a first draft done. Those four have already emailed drafts to Polly and Bill. Those four should now…

• Email a copy to your designated reviewer (note 1).

For the rest of you,

• Hurry up already! Sheesh! (Finish your complete draft and email a copy to Polly, Bill, and your reviewer by March 3.)

Writing

• Write a rap song.
• Post your rap to our discussion site.

Reading

We’re getting ready for Luke’s Gothic Fiction lesson. As of this writing, we’re still waiting for a reading assignment. You will get an email update when the reading assignment is available.

Update:

• Read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. (Or listen to Garrison Keillor read it out loud—requires RealAudio.)
• Read the Wikipedia entry on The Legend of Sawney Bean.

Optional:

Record your rap song. Use Garage Band or some other recording tool to add instrumentals.