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A public speaking class looks like it's about performing, but most of the grade comes from what happens around the performance: the outline you hand in, the way you use feedback, and how much better your fourth speech is than your first. That makes this a class where good notes matter more than you'd expect.
You'll write three kinds of notes in a speech course: outlines for your own speeches, feedback on your speeches and classmates' speeches, and lecture notes on the concepts you'll be tested on. Here's how to handle each one, and how to rehearse with them. For general advice on presenting in other classes, see how to prepare a class presentation; this guide is about the speech course itself.
Know the speeches you'll give
Most introductory speech courses work through a similar set of assignments, though yours may differ:
- Introductory speech: a short talk about yourself or a classmate, mostly to get you in front of the room.
- Informative speech: explain a process, event, idea or object, with sources.
- Persuasive speech: change the audience's mind or get them to act.
- Impromptu speech: a topic you get on the spot, with a minute or two to prepare.
- Special occasion speech: a toast, tribute or award speech.
Each one has its own grading rubric. Get the rubric before you start writing, keep it in your notebook, and check your outline against it line by line. Many points are lost on things the rubric spelled out, like the number of sources or a required preview of main points.
Write two outlines, not one
Speech instructors often ask for two outlines, and they do different jobs.
The preparation outline
This is the full plan, usually in complete sentences, often handed in for a grade. A common structure:
- Introduction: attention getter, why it matters to this audience, your credibility, thesis, and a preview of main points.
- Body: two to four main points, each with supporting material and a source.
- Transitions between points, written out in full. They're easy to forget and the audience needs them.
- Conclusion: a signal that you're wrapping up, a summary of main points, and a memorable close.
- References in the citation style your instructor asks for.
For persuasive speeches, many courses teach Monroe's Motivated Sequence: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action. If yours does, use those five steps as your outline's headings.
Plan your oral citations here too. In a speech, the audience can't see a footnote, so you say the source out loud: who, where and when, in one short phrase.
The speaking outline
This is what you actually look at while you speak. It's short: key words, the first line of your introduction, your transitions, your sources and your closing line. Not full sentences. If you write a script, you'll read it, and reading is what most rubrics mark down.
Write it large. You'll be glancing at it from a podium or holding it at arm's length.
Tip: write delivery cues in a second color right on your speaking outline, like "pause," "slow down" or "look up." They're easy to spot mid-speech.
Note cards on iPad
Many speech instructors require physical note cards and limit how many you can use. Check before you plan to speak from an iPad. Even then, drafting the cards on the iPad helps: you can rearrange them freely before copying them onto real cards.
Scribba's Index Cards paper prints a page of card outlines. Use one card per main point, with key words only. Change a page's paper from the page sidebar to switch between your full outline and your cards in the same notebook. The index cards guide has more ideas for the template.
If you're allowed to speak from the iPad, double-tap the paper with a finger to fit the page to the screen's width, and keep each page short enough to read without scrolling mid-sentence.
Turn feedback into a plan
Feedback is the most valuable part of this class, and the easiest to waste. Your instructor's comments, peer evaluations and your own review of a video of your speech all point to the same few habits to work on. Collect them in one place.
After each speech, make a feedback page:
- What went well, so you keep doing it.
- What to fix, in specific terms: "said 'um' at every transition" is useful, "be more confident" isn't.
- Two goals for the next speech. Just two. Trying to fix everything at once usually fixes nothing.
Before your next speech, reread the last feedback page. Over a semester, this becomes a record of how you improved, which is handy if your course ends with a self-reflection paper.
Giving peer feedback
You'll also evaluate classmates. Note one specific strength and one specific suggestion for each speaker, tied to the rubric. Watching others closely teaches you a lot: you'll notice which openings grab the room and which transitions get lost, and you can borrow what works.
Rehearse with your notes
Rehearse out loud, standing, with a timer, from your speaking outline rather than your full outline. If you go over time in practice, you'll go over in class.
Recording yourself is one of the best rehearsal tools there is. In Scribba, tap the mic and run through your speech while your speaking outline is on screen. Each time you stumble, make a quick mark next to that point on the outline. Afterwards, tap the mark and playback jumps to that moment. Scribba also transcribes the recording, so you can read back what you said. For filler words, listen to the playback, since a transcript may leave them out. See how to record a lecture on iPad for how ink and audio link up.
Scribba hides the iPad's status bar by default. Turn on Settings › Screen › Show Time and Battery to see the time while you rehearse.
Lecture notes and exams
Speech courses usually have exams on the concepts: the communication process, types of reasoning, audience analysis, logical fallacies, ethics, delivery terms. Keep a Vocabulary page for these as they come up. Scribba can turn each handwritten row on a Vocabulary page into a flashcard, with spaced repetition bringing cards back over the following weeks. Review the words it read before saving.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a preparation outline and a speaking outline?
A preparation outline is the full plan in complete sentences, with sources. A speaking outline is the short version you look at while you speak: key words, transitions and cues.
Can I use my iPad instead of note cards?
Only if your instructor allows it. Many require paper cards. You can still draft your cards on the iPad and copy them over.
How do I stop saying "um" so much?
Record a rehearsal and listen for where the filler words fall. They tend to cluster at transitions, so practice those transitions until you can say them without thinking, and let yourself pause instead.