Your first presentation will be a 4-5 minute narrative; a story of some kind which you will tell. This may be your own personal story or it may be about someone you know. You may use Power Point or not.
What kind of narrative?
The main point is that you are talking about yourself. That is, your thoughts, feelings, ideas, views, opinions and events are the leading ladies in this special public speaking speech writing process. The primary goal of this type of informative public speaking is constructing a true or fictional story about yourself and make a point. That point can be a personal past or present experience, event, knowledge, a memorable person you have met or a moral lesson. Explore and reflect on your values and build up to a climax at the end of the narrative speech story. 1. A good place to start is with a memorable moment, situation, setting or scene. Try to catch it in one phrase: On Independence Day I … and then a verb. E.g. On Independence Day, I think, I want, I’m going, I was, I stated, and so on. After the verb, you can fill in every experience you want to share. 2. An incident in the previous 10 years or in your childhood that illustrates who you are. 3. The story behind a personal photograph or video.
4. Highlight a few of your typical behavior or characteristics. 5. Something you absolutely dislike or hate.
The Essay on Short Stories : Cultural Encounters
Through a close critical reading of Mavis Gallant’s ‘The End of the World’ (in the Anthology, A World of Difference, pp. 125–32), consider how the story’s narrative techniques, language and structure help to illustrate the theme of ‘cultural encounters’. The short story is like an anecdote. It contains a complete story that usually spans over a short period of time, with a minimal cast. Mavis ...
6. An exciting, interesting, inspiring, or funny experience or event that changed your life. 7. An important lesson you learned from someone you admire. This is a very classical narrative speech topic. 8. The moment in your life you see the light, or that was very insightful. 9. A fable or myth that has a moral lesson you try to live to. 10. The relation between a brief series of important milestones in your life that mould your character is also a catchy narrative speech topic.
NARRATIVE TOPICS
NARRATIVE SPEECH TOPICS ABOUT EVENTS – An accident or positive event that changed my life. The birth of my brother, sister or other relative. My first day at High School or College. The decision I regret most. My Day of Graduation. My first serious date. A significant family event. A memorable vacation. A historical event that impressed me. The day I moved. A milestone that seemed bad but turned out to be good. My heroic sports moment. NARRATIVE SPEECH STORY ABOUT YOUR LIFE LESSONS – The influence of a special person on my behavior. How I have dealt with a difficult situation. What lessons I have learned through studying the genealogy of my family. A prejudice that involved me. An Eureka moment: you suddenly understood how something works in life you had been struggling with. How you helped someone else and what you learned from her or him, and from the situation. NARRATIVE SPEECH ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES – My most frustrating moment. How you handled in an emergency situation. How I break up with my love. A narrow escape. A moment when you did something that took a lot of courage.
A time when you choose to go your own way and did not follow the crowd. How I stood up for my beliefs. The day you rebelled with a decision concerning you. How you cope with your nerves recently. What happened when you had a disagreement with your teacher, this triggering narrative speech idea is great for speech class. NARRATIVE SPEECH TOPIC ABOUT YOUR RITUALS – How you usually prepare for a test. Your ritual before a sports game. Your ritual before going out with friends. The routines you always follow under certain circumstances. EXAMPLE NARRATIVE SPEECH TOPICS ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY – My act of heroism. How curiosity brings me where I am now. I daydream of … A place that stands for my romantic moments. My pet resembles my personal habits. A vivid childhood memory in which you can see how I would develop myself. Make a point by building to a climax at the end of your speech topic, whatever the narrative speech topics may be. TIPS FOR MAKING A NARRATIVE PRESENTATION
Narrative Essay on the Life of Frederick Douglass
In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Frederick Douglass recounts his life of slavery and his eventual flight to freedom. When he was a youngster he was placed in a household in which the naive mistress started to teach him to read. Her efforts were halted by her husband and young Douglass recalled his lecture on the reasons slaves should not be educated. However ...
1. Select carefully the story, lesson, moral, personal characteristic or experience you want to share with your audience. Perhaps your public speaking assignment have a time limit. This will force you to pick out one single significant story about yourself. 2. When you’ve selected the speech topics it is time to gather the material. Decide on the point you want to make and your most wanted response. What do you want your audience to remember? What is the purpose, point, goal, lesson or plot? Another way to determine your speech thesis is wondering why the audience might think your presentation is valuable or important. 3. Develop all the action and drama you need to visualize the plot: the main events, characters, relevant details, steps or dialogues.
4. Organize all text to speech in a strictly time ordered format. Make a story sequence. Relate a progression of events in a chronologically way. The audience will recognize this simple what I call a What Happened Speech Writing Outline, and can fully understand your goal. Another benefit: you will remember your key ideas better. 5. Build in transitions sentences, word or phrases, like the words then, after that, next, at this moment, etc. 6. Rehearse your narrative speech in front of a friend and ask opinions. Practice and practice again. Avoid memorizing your text to speech. When you’re able to tell it in a reasonably extemporaneous manner, it’s okay. 7. Finally, try to make eye contact with your listeners when you deliver the narrative speech.
