Planning Your Speech for the FFA Extemporaneous CDE Part 2 of 3
Great you are back for more! If you haven't started from the beginning, then here's part 1.
You'll find that the first minute of your speech just flew by and you'll have the judges ready to listen. Judges have about 20 items they must check off as you go through the speech and if you stay organized with your introductory paragraph not only have you made our job a whole lot easier, we can tell you are well prepared, organized, and a convincing speaker.
REINFORCE YOUR POINTS
The next 3 or 4 paragraphs reinforce the points you told us were so important that you wanted to give a speech on them. One paragraph for each point.
In the first sentence of each point state your point and why it is important. "Personal responsibility associated with a livestock project extends much farther than a student not being able to hang out with his or her friends every afternoon."
The second sentence use a statistic, a fact or two, or cite study that reinforces the point. "On average, a student will spend __ hours over the course of a semester working, feeding, and cleaning up after an animal. Studies have shown that when a teen spends more than __% of their week looking after an animal, in a job, or mentoring a student they are more likely to run a successful business, less likely to go in debt, and are more responsible adults more capable of leadership."
The third sentence is where you bring in a personal example. You want to tell a story, judges will remember story long after we forgot your statistics of the previous sentence. Be concise, use some emotion, and stick to the point. "My senior year I showed a lamb as my livestock project. On one afternoon after school I went to feed and water my lamb as I always did and I found my lamb missing from its pen. I discovered a tree knocked down the fence and the lamb was penned in the branches. While unharmed I could see it had been out in the late summer sun all day with no water and looked very close to death. No one was at home and my closest neighbors were away so I had to find whatever I could to cut away the branches and very carefully remove the lamb and place it in the barn until my Ag. teacher could come look at it."
STORYTELLING
Storytelling is one of the most effective forms of communication. That's why we remember so many fables from childhood. Plus stories are much easier to tell without feeling like you are actually presenting a speech. There's one more part to go...here's part 3.
