COMS 361
                                          Organizing a Speech

Motivational Sequence
 The motivated sequence is a pattern of arranging your information so as to motivate your audience to respond positively to your purpose.

 Unlike most organizational patterns, which are concerned with organizing the body of the speech, the motivated sequence is a pattern for organizing the entire speech.  Under the motivated sequence, the speech (introduction, body, and conclusion) is divided into five steps:
  Attention Step
  Need Step
  Satisfaction Step
  Visualization Step
  Action Step


Attention Step
 The attention step makes the audience give you their undivided attention.  If you execute this step effectively, your audience should be anxious and ready to hear what you have to say.  Here are a few ideas for attention steps:

 *  Ask a question (rhetorical or actual)
 *  Make reference to audience members
 *  Make reference to recent happenings
 *  Use humor
 *  Use an illustration or dramatic story
 *  Stress the importance of the topic to the specific audience
 *  Use audiovisual aids
 *  Use a quotation ? good for English papers - can quote back later, build up ethos
 *  Refer to yourself
 *  Make reference to a little known fact or statistic


Need Step
 In the second part of your speech, you would demonstrate that a need exists.  The audience should feel that something has to be learned or something has to be done because of this demonstrated need.  Monroe suggests that the need be established in four parts:

 1. State the need or problem as it exists or will exist.
 2. Illustrate the need with specific examples.
 3. Further support the existence of the need with additional illustrations, statistics, testimony, and other forms of support.
 4. Show how this need affects your specific listeners.

Satisfaction Step
 Present the "answer" or the "solution" to satisfying the problem that you identified in the need step.  On the basis of this satisfaction step, the audience should now believe that what you are informing them about or persuading them to do will effectively satisfy the need.  In this step you answer the question "How will the need be satisfied by what I am asking the audience to learn, to believe, or to do?" Ale satisfaction step usually involves:

 1. A statement (with examples and illustrations if necessary) of what you want the audience to learn, believe, or do; and ? call to action
 2. A statement of how or why what you are asking them to learn, believe, or do will lead to satisfying the problem identified in the need step.


Visualization Step
 Visualization intensifies the audience's feelings or beliefs.  In this step you take the audience beyond the present time and place and enable them to imagine the situation as it would be if the need were satisfied as you suggested in the satisfaction step.  There are two basic ways of doing this:

 1. Demonstrate the benefits that the audience will receive if your ideas are put into operation.
 2. Demonstrate the negative effects that the audience will suffer if your plan is not put into operation.

 Of course, you could combine the two methods and demonstrate both the benefits of your plan and the negative consequences of not adopting the plan.


Action Step
 Tell the audience what they should do to ensure that the need is satisfied. that is, what should the audience do to satisfy the need?  Here you want to move the audience in a particular direction, for example, to speak in favor of additional research funding for AIDS or against cigarette advertising, to attend the next student government meeting, to contribute free time to read for the blind.  You can accomplish this step by stating exactly what the audience should do, using an emotional appeal, or giving the audience guidelines for future action.