Supporting Your Ideas

Good speeches need strong supporting materials to bolster the speaker's point of view. The three basic types of supporting materials are examples, statistics, and testimony.

In the course of a speech you may use brief examples—specific instances referred to in passing—and sometimes you may want to give several brief examples in a row to create a stronger impression. Extended examples are longer and more detailed. Hypothetical examples describe imaginary situations and can be quite effective for relating ideas to the audience. All three kinds of examples help clarify ideas, reinforce ideas, or personalize ideas. To be most effective, they should be vivid and richly textured.

Statistics can be extremely helpful in conveying your message as long as you use them sparingly and make them meaningful to your audience. Above all, you should understand your statistics and use them fairly. Make sure your figures are representative of what they claim to measure, that you use statistical measures correctly, and that you take statistics only from reliable sources.

Citing the testimony of experts is a good way to make your ideas more credible. You can also use peer testimony, from ordinary people who have firsthand experience on the topic. Regardless of the kind of testimony, you can either quote someone verbatim or paraphrase his or her words. Be sure to quote or paraphrase accurately and to use qualified, unbiased sources.

When citing sources in a speech, you need to let your audience know where you got your information and why they should accept it as qualified and credible. In most cases, this means identifying the document you are citing, its date of publication or posting, the author or sponsoring organization, and the author's credentials.

Review Questions

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions:

Why do you need supporting materials in your speeches?

What are the three kinds of examples discussed in this chapter? How might you use each kind to support your ideas?

What are five tips for using examples in your speeches?

Why is it so easy to lie with statistics? What three questions should you ask to judge the reliability of statistics?

What are six tips for using statistics in your speeches?

What is testimony? Explain the difference between expert testimony and peer testimony.

What are four tips for using testimony in your speeches?

What four pieces of information do you usually need to provide when making oral source citations in a speech?