My Passion

James Boyd
For this 4-6 minute speech, you will be sharing with the class a personal passion and teaching them something you know about the topic with a built in “how–to.” Your mission here is not only to share your passion about your hobby/intellectual pursuit, but share a skill you have with your audience.

Your grade will be based on:

  • the organization of your speech:
  • your effectiveness of conveying your passion and your personal history with it
  • your presentation of your steps in an active manner;
  • the components the of your speech
  • your visual aids (2 posters and any extra artifacts)
  • your research
  • your outlines (a preparation outline and a delivery outline)
  • your timing (4-6 minutes)
  • effective use of notecards (standard notecards, no pages)

This section has three parts to it. Following this template will provide you with a fairly uniform organizational structure that will help familiarize you with the components in an expository speech.

  1. An introduction which contains:
  2. Interesting, attention-getting Opening
  3. Thesis statement/Main idea
  4. Credibility statement
  5. Body preview.
  6. The Body: My passion and a How to
  7. My passion: How your passion developed and why you are passionate about it.

At least three sub-points under this.

  • A “How To” which teaches the audience how to participate more fully in your passion.
  • Why this is useful
  • Step-by-step process
  • Keeping in mind that you must actively show us “How To” perform this task.
  • You may have several steps to one process or several varieties of ways to perform the task.
  • At least two sources that you cite [say] OUT LOUD in your speech.
  • A conclusion which ties back to you Passion and the how to.

Visual Aids

  • Each speech will have two posters. Your posters must be on a standard, full size poster board (22” x28”). You may also bring an artifact to help the audience appreciate and/or understand your speech (particularly the how to portion).
  • Because of the mess involved and because of, frankly, how unimaginative they often are, I request that none of your passion or how to’s involve the making of food or beverages. Keep in mind for the how to that you don’t want to create big mess to clean up.

Deductions (Don’t let this happen to you):

  • For each visual aid and/or artifact that you may lack, 5 points will be deducted from your final grade.
  • For every twenty seconds your speech is either too short or too long, 5 points will be deducted from your final grade. (4-6 minute speech)
  • For every resource that your speech lacks, 5 points will be deducted from your final grade.
  • Lastly, lack of bringing copies of your outlines (preparation and delivery) for me and a grading rubric on the day of your speech will result in five points deducted from your final grade

Outline Guidelines
Your outlines must include your introduction, your thesis statement, credibility statement, body preview, your main points and a conclusion. You will have both a presentations and a delivery outline. Consult your textbook and Canvas for examples; use standard numbering and label/ put brackets around required elements. In your outlines, indicate where your resources will be mentioned during your speech in parentheses. You must mention research sources in your speech to receive credit.

At the bottom of your presentation outline, list at least two sources. These references should be done APA style (your choice). Check The OWL Purdue site for the correct citation format for APA.

Remember: All sources must be credible. Webpages such as Wikipedia and About.com, Do Not count as a resource. Please come see me if you have any questions.