Public Speaking Part 15

_Current Opinion_, Monthly. Review of the World, Persons in the Foreground, Music and Drama, Science and Discovery, Religion and Social Ethics, Literature and Art, The Industrial World, Reconstruction.

_The Literary Digest_, Weekly. Topics of the Day, Foreign Comment, Science and Invention, Letters and Art, Religion and Social Service, Current Poetry, Miscellaneous, Investments and Finance.

_The Independent_, an ill.u.s.trated weekly.

EXERCISES

1. Describe to the cla.s.s the contents of a recent issue of a magazine.

Concentrate upon important departments, articles, or policies, so that you will not deliver a mere list.

2. Tell how an article in some periodical led you to read more widely to secure fuller information.

3. Explain why you read a certain periodical regularly.

4. Speak upon one of the following topics:

Freak magazines.

My magazine.

Policies of magazines.

Great things magazines have done.

Technical magazines.

Adventures at a magazine counter.

Propaganda periodicals.

5. Explain exactly how you study.

6. How would you secure an interview with some person of prominence?

7. Is the "cramming" process of studying a good one?

8. Is it ever justifiable?

9. Explain how, why, and when it may be used by men in their profession.

10. Give the cla.s.s an idea of the material of some book you have read recently.

11. Explain how reading a published review or hearing comments on a book induced you to read a volume which proved of value to you.

12. Can you justify the reading of the last part only of a book?

Consider non-fiction.

13. For preserving clippings, notes, etc., which method is better--cards filed in boxes or drawers, sc.r.a.p-books, or slips and clippings grouped in envelopes?

14. Report to the cla.s.s some information upon one of the following.

Tell exactly how and where you secured your information.

Opium traffic in China.

Morphine habit in the United States.

Women in literature.

A drafted army as compared with a volunteer army.

Orpheum as a theater name.

Prominent business women.

War time influence of D'Annunzio.

Increasing cost of living.

Secretarial courses.

The most beautiful city of the American continent.

Alfalfa.

Women surgeons.

The blimp.

Democracy in Great Britain compared with that of the United States.

The root of the Mexican problem.

San Marino.

Illiteracy in the United States.

How women vote.

(NOTE.--The teacher should supply additions, subst.i.tutes, and modifications.)

CHAPTER VII

PLANNING THE SPEECH

Selecting Material. It can be a.s.sumed, by the time you have reached this point in the study and practice of making speeches, that you have words to express your thoughts and some fair skill of delivery, that you know something about preparing various kinds of introductions and conclusions, that you know how your own mind operates in retaining new information, and that you know how to secure material for various purposes. Either clearly a.s.similated in your brain or accurately noted upon paper you have all the ideas that are to appear in your speech.

The Length of the Speech. Look over this material again. Consider it carefully in your thoughts, mentally deciding how long a time or how many words you will devote to each topic or entry. Can you from such a practical consideration determine how long in time your speech will be? Are you limited by requirements to a short time as were the Four Minute Speakers? Have you been allotted a half hour? Will you hold your audience longer?

These may appear simple things, but they cover the first essential of planning any speech. It should be just the correct length--neither too long nor too short. Many beginners--timid, hesitant, untrained--will frequently fill too short a time, so that they must drill themselves into planning longer productions. On the other hand, it may be stated, as a general criticism, that many speakers talk too long.

A United States Senator, in order to block the vote on a bill he was opposing, decided to speak until Congress had to adjourn, so he deliberately planned to cover a long time. He spoke for some twenty-two hours. Of course he did not say much, nor did he talk continuously; to get rests, he requested the clerk to call the roll, and while the list was being marked, he ate and drank enough to sustain him. Technically his speech was uninterrupted, for he still had the floor. Though we may not approve of such methods of legislative procedure we must see that for this speech the first element of its plan was its length.

Keep this consideration of time always in mind. Speakers always ask how long they are to speak, or they stipulate how much time they require. Legislative bodies frequently have limiting rules. Courts sometimes allow lawyers so much time. A minister must fit his sermon to the length of the service. A business man must not waste his hearers' time. A lecturer must not tire his audience. In Congress members must be given chances to eat. In Parliament, which meets in the evening, men grow anxious for bed.

Making the Speech too Long. The rule is fundamental, yet it is violated continually. I have known of instances when four men, asked to present material in a meeting announced months in advance as lasting two hours, have totally disregarded this fact, and prepared enough material to consume over an hour each. In such cases the presiding officer should state to each that he will be allowed exactly thirty minutes and no more. He may tap on the table after twenty-five have elapsed to warn the speaker to pa.s.s to his conclusion, and at the expiration of the time make him bring his remarks to a close and give way to the next speaker. There is no unfairness in this. The real offense is committed by the speaker who proves himself so inconsiderate, so discourteous of the conditions that he places himself in such an embarra.s.sing circ.u.mstance. He deserves only justice tempered by no mercy. I have heard the first of two speakers who were to fill an hour of a commemorative service in a church talk on for an hour and ten minutes, boring the congregation to fidgety restlessness and completely preventing the second speaker--the more important--from delivering a single word.

Mark Twain tells how he went to church one hot night to hear a city mission worker describe his experiences among the poor people of the crowded districts who, though they needed help, were too modest or proud to ask for it. The speaker told of the suffering and bravery he found. Then he pointed out that the best gifts to charity are not the advertised bounties of the wealthy but the small donations of the less fortunate. His appeals worked Mark Twain up to great enthusiasm and generosity. He was ready to give all he had with him--four hundred dollars--and borrow more. The entire congregation wanted to offer all it had. But the missionary kept on talking. The audience began to notice the heat. It became hotter and hotter. They grew more and more uncomfortable. Mark's generosity began to shrink. It dwindled to less and less as the speech lengthened until when the plate did finally reach him, he stole ten cents from it. He adds that this simply proves how a little thing like a long-winded speech can induce crime.

Plan your speech so that it will be the proper length.

Discarding Material. This first consideration very likely indicates to you that you have much more material than you can use in the time allowed or a.s.signed you. You must discard some. Strange as it may seem, this is one of the must difficult directions to carry out. It seems such a waste of time and material to select for actual presentation so small a part of all you have carefully gathered. There is always the temptation to "get it all in somehow." Yet the direction must remain inflexible. You can use only part of it. You must carefully select what will serve your purpose. What is the purpose of your speech? What is the character of your audience? These two things will determine to a large extent, what and how much you must relinquish. Your finished speech will be all the better for the weeding-out process. Better still, in all your preliminary steps for subsequent speeches you will become skilful in selecting while you are gathering the material itself. Finally you will become so practised that you will not burden yourself with waste, although you will always secure enough to supply you with a reserve supply for a.s.surance and emergency.

Relation of Material to the Purpose of the Speech. A few examples will show the wide application of this principle. A boy who has explained to his father the scholarship rules of his school concerning athletes will discard a great deal of that material when he addresses a student gathering. A speaker on child labor in a state where women have voted for a long time will discard much of the material presented in a neighboring state where general franchise has just been granted. If in a series of remarks you want to emphasize the thrilling experience you have had with a large fish which jerked you out of a boat, you would not include such material as the trip on the train to the lake where you had your adventure. Why not?

These are humble instances, but the principle of selection is the same for all speeches.

A man who was asked to lecture on Mark Twain knew the contents of the thirty published volumes written by him, all the biographies, practically every article written about him; he had conversed with people who had known him; he had visited scenes of his life; yet when he planned to talk for an hour he had to reject everything except two striking periods of his life with their effects upon his writing.