Chapter 29 How Speakers Construct a Speech

Former Senator Albert Beaveritz has written a short but useful booklet titled The Art of Public Speaking.In the book, the famous political campaigner wrote: The speaker must become master of his subject, and that means gathering, arranging, studying, and assimilating all the facts—not only on one side of the subject, but on another, or even every side, of the subject. .And, make sure that the material is something factual and not unproven assumptions that can never be taken for granted.Therefore, each material should be carefully checked and verified.That means doing the painstaking research that ultimately leads to definitive answers rather than just knowing "what's this?"

Don't you dream of being able to answer questions and give advice to your fellow man?Don't you want to be an authoritative expert?Then, try to do it.After gathering the facts about any problem, you first have to think for yourself about ways to bring them together.In this way, your speech will be full of creativity and personal charm-this power is very important and irresistible.At this point, the speech has become your avatar.You then write your thoughts as clearly and logically as possible. In other words, provide both positive and negative facts, and then draw clear and definite conclusions from them.When asked about Wood Wilson's approach to speech construction, he replied: First, I list the topics to be discussed and organize them in my mind by their natural connections—that is, I assemble the skeleton of the speech. together; then, use the sketch method to write out the speech.I'm used to using sketches and it saves a lot of time.After this step, I'll change the rhetoric, correct the sentences, keep adding material, and then, print it out.

When Theodore Roosevelt prepared his speech, he had his unique Roosevelt method: first, he collected all the facts, constantly pondered and evaluated them, and determined the results of his research, so as to draw definite conclusions.Then, with a stack of notes in front of him, he began dictating his speech, fast enough to keep it fluent, natural, and lifelike.He then typed out the lecture notes and revised them—adding things and taking things away in pencil.Then, dictate the speech again. "Without hard labour, sound judgment, careful design, and long hours in advance, I would do nothing," he concluded.

He often reads his speeches to the critics, but he does not argue with them, because all his thoughts are on the speech, and he is determined.He was desperate for advice—advice not about what to say, but how to say it.Over and over again, he browsed through the typed manuscript, continuously processed and polished it, and finally formed the speech printed by the newspaper.Of course, he couldn't recite the whole speech completely, so when he spoke extemporaneously, there was inevitably some discrepancy with the printed and polished speech.However, it was this excellent preparation of writing and repeated revisions that made him aware of the speech materials and their inherent logical order.In his speech, there is such a fluency, certainty and grace that cannot be obtained in any other way.

Mr. Oliver Lords has said to me that dictating speeches is an excellent method of training and preparation.When dictating, maintain speed and have something to say, just as you would when speaking to a public.Many speech students listen to their own speeches after dictating their speeches in front of the tape recorder, and find that they are very enlightening.It does, and sometimes it makes you realize your own inadequacies.This is a very good speech practice method, and I strongly recommend that you try it. Writing out what you feel stimulates your thinking, clarifies your thoughts and engraves them in your mind, minimizes your doubts and improves your dictation skills.

In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin described how he improved his dictation, how he developed his ability to choose words and make sentences, and how he taught himself how to organize his thoughts.This biography is a literary classic and, unusually, remarkably readable and entertaining, almost an accessible model.From it, every prospective speaker and writer will benefit a lot.Here is an excerpt I recommend, I hope you like it: By chance, I discovered the third episode of the book "The Spectator", and I have never seen the other episodes.So, I bought it, read it over and over again, and enjoyed great pleasure from it.This book is so wonderfully written that I want to copy it very much.Under this impulse, I picked up paper and pen, and after a few days, I sorted out the emotional clues in the book.Then, I put aside the book, relying on these emotional clues, I used the most appropriate words to complete the article and link it together.Then, comparing it with the original "The Spectator", many errors were found and corrected one by one.

In this process, I have absorbed many fresh words, and, while thinking and using them, I have acquired the ability to use them flexibly.This ability, if I can persist in writing poems, should have been possessed long ago.Because the requirements of poetry on sentence length and rhythm will allow me to learn to master a variety of vocabulary. Since then, I have often copied some stories and novels. Sometimes, I will also be caught in the vortex of many emotional threads entangled. It usually takes weeks to sort out the clues, supplement the sentences, and make them coherent.This taught me how to organize my thoughts.By comparing the articles I have copied with the original, I found many defects and corrected them, thereby improving the order of the language. I feel extremely lucky and immersed in this happiness.This also makes me dream that one day I can become a not bad English writer and fulfill my sincere long-cherished wish.