Gun Control – Invitational speech

COMM 1110 Invitational Speech Guidelines

Purpose: The purpose of this 5-7 minute speech, along with a 2-3 minute dialogue, is to invite your audience into a conversation about a contentious topic/issue facing our society. As members of a public speaking course, our goal is to create a public (audience) that can engage with the different viewpoints that create different perspectives in our communities.

For this speech to be successful, you will need to help your peers engage with the multiple perspectives, positions, beliefs, and values of a contentious topic in our society. The speech will be followed by a short dialogue (2-3 minutes) where the speaker asks the audience questions about the topic. In addition to preparing and delivering a speech, students will be required to prepare a detailed outline with 5-7 oral citations and a works cited page.

In addition to fulfilling the basic functions of effective speech introductions, your introduction should use invitational language that calls your audience into conversation. By using invitational language, difficult topics may become easier to discuss. You may take a particular stance on the issue, but this speech is typically best executed when you engage your topic with an open mind. The body of your speech should be organized around 2-3 main points that make a compelling argument as to what the intricacies of each of your main ideas/perspectives are. This is NOT a pro-con or positive-negative speech. After your final point is completed, you will turn to your audience and ask them a series of both open- and close-ended questions. Here you will facilitate a classroom dialogue on your topic. Once you reach saturation in the conversation and/or approach the end of your time, you will finish by reviewing the different perspectives discussed and conclude your speech. Finally, in addition to fulfilling the basic functions of effective speech conclusions, you should give your audience a few takeaways to better understand the different tensions of your topic.

Logistics: You are expected to use an extemporaneous delivery. To that end, you should construct purposeful speaker notes. Create your notes in a way that will aid in your delivery—both verbally and nonverbally. If you use your complete outline or a manuscript, your grade will suffer. On the day you are assigned to post your invitational speech, you must turn in a final draft of a clear speech outline with formal citations for any outside sources you reference according to an appropriate citation style identified by your instructor.

Source Requirement: As with your informative speech, you are required to conduct a reference page that cites your research articles. Do not forget that this speech requires you cite 5-7 courses orally throughout your speech.

Time Requirement: A speech that falls between 5-7 minutes and the dialogue will take another 2-3 minutes. Your conclusion should be under a minute. There is a maximum time of 11 minutes.

Point Total: 95 points