This outline is for the speech competition and preparing for a speech without any notes. The outline for the Soapbox Speeches can be found on Soapbox Outline page. There are a couple keys to preparing to deliver a speech without notes.
1)Get over the psychological hump. It is totally doable. The difference between using notes and not using notes is the outline and more practice.
2)Do not attempt to memorize the speech. I make this declaration every year and there is always one or two people who disregard this advise.
3)Break your speech into 10-12 chunks. I can help with this process if you would like. There will be samples posted below.
4) From there the only thing you memorize is the 10-12 words that remind to you to talk about the chunks. Each chunk is not memorized. You are simply cuing yourself to tell that mini story, talking casually as opposed to mechanically spitting out memorized material.
5) Use your outline to look at the first 5-10 times practicing the speech. Then use just the 10-12 words that represent the chunks. Then set the whole outline down and practice the speech without the notes. The key to success is practice and eventually getting yourself to where you are simulating the final speech, without notes.
There are countless samples of outlines that can be used to model the process. We will outline a speech on the 1964 March on Washington here. I need to assume the audience knows nothing about the event, so I am going to include the beginning, middle and end of the story. MLK's I Have a Dream speech is just one chunk to this speech. For this speech the 10-12 words I am going to memorize are Intro, First, Goal, Plan, Organizing, Transportation, Sabotage, Randolph, Lewis, MLK, End, Significance. I have included some of the details from the outline below.
Intro- Provide some context: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How. In 1964 the Civil Rights Movement in American was spread throughout the country. Nonviolent protests had been successful with bus boycotts in Montgomery, sit-ins across the south, and marching campaigns.
First- This was not the first attempt at a large scale march on Washington by African American leaders. A man by the name of John Randolph tried to organize a similar march in the early 1940's to pressure for more African American options and equality during the war efforts of WWII. FDR talked him into cancelling the march in exchange for opening up more jobs for African Americans in the war industries.
Goal- In 1964, the black community had shown that it was a time for change. It was not time for the government to do their part in delivering laws to protect the rights of minorities and end segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was up for vote in Congress. The march on Washington was designed to show overwhelming support for the passing of the bill not only from the black community, but from white Americans as well.
Organizing- Planning the March on Washington was a complicated process. There was permits to be sought after. The stage was to be assembled on top of the Lincoln Memorial, which overlooked the National Mall. The logistics of how to accommodate for hundreds of thousands of people coming to the National Mall to take part in the event were monstrous including police, traffic, restrooms, food, signs, water, lodging, seating, speaker systems, stage construction, recruiting singers and celebrities to take part in the event, etc. The main issue was transportation.
Transportation- Organizers charters hundreds of buses and planes. Trains were expected from around the country. There were not enough hotels in the city, so organizers filled gymnasiums with cots and encouraged others to open up space for lodgers to rent. There was also an issue with getting everyone in and out of D.C. without them showing up and leaving at the same time.
Sabotage- There were several groups that sought to sabotage an event that featured black and white Americans hand in hand working towards equality. The KKK made several threats to target marchers. The president and Congressmen were concerned about the kind of pressure an event like this could produce on them. Some black leaders like Malcolm X mocked the idea of working with the white people for equality. Just before the event was set to begin the speaker system was ruined by someone. At the last minute a replacement was found so the show could go on.
Randolph- John Randolph, the organizer of the first attempted march in the 1940s, spoke of what a wonderful day it was to see so many people working together as Americans to improve our country.
Lewis- John Lewis, who was an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), created some turmoil behind the scenes before his speech. SNCC had been involved in sit-ins and marched throughout the South and met much resistance from those who opposed change. His initial speech was deemed too aggressive and after some persuading, he toned it down a bit. Still it represented a strong message of marching through the South and demanding change.
MLK- The "I Have a Dream" speech is considered to be one of the better speeches and has come to characterize the Civil Rights Movement. MLK talked about his dream of one day Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Gentiles, will one day come together settle their differences. He dreamed of a day when his black girls and play with white girls and be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. (You should watch the speech on youtube- it is 17 minutes long and worth it.)
End- In the end the march was a huge success. 200,000 people took part in the march. Black and white people worked together to push for equality and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964. There was no violence. Volunteers stayed after to help clean.
Significance- The white and black community worked together to send a message to leaders who did pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was the high-water mark of the Civil Rights Movement.
The speaker only has to remember these 12 words, in this order: Intro, First, Goal, Plan, Organizing, Transportation, Sabotage, Randolph, Lewis, MLK, End, Significance. If this does not work out perfectly, that is not a big deal. Let's suggest the speaker forgets a bullet. Well there goes 1/12th of the speech, it will be fine. Lets suggest that a nervous speaker forgets a portion and comes back to later in the speech. No one knows the outline, so the audience will have no idea. What if the topics go out of order? Again, the audience is not going to be looking at your outline while you give the speech. Each chunk represents a 20-40 second story. The speaker just needs to memorize the order of the stories they already know and them deliver them.
I do not want to make this sound easy or flawless. There are three elements that will make this process a lot smoother for students who are confused or nervous. 1)Come get help- I will sit with you and we can go through this process together. 2)Address your concerns sooner than later. This is not an assignment you can improvise of procrastinate on. 3)Practice, practice and practice again. A students can stress themselves out with hearing me say they should practice this at least 30 times to get it down, but the reality is that you are talking about a five minute speech which will take 30 minutes to run through 5 times (with some transition time in between) and this is all taking place over a 5-6 week period.
The reality is that this is not hard work, it is just work. Put the time in and come get help sooner than later.
