A budget is an evaluation of costs, earnings and resources over a quantified period of time which may be used as; a plan of action to achieve specified objectives, a standard for measuring performance as well as a device for coping with predictable adverse situations (Dictionary, n.d.). This paper will show how using a speech will assist college freshmen in sticking to budgets they come up with. To achieve this, the paper has to engage how the speech will be introduced and concluded, how the audience will be engaged and a delivery outline of the speech. It also shows how the elements would change if the audience were college seniors and a delivery outline for the speech as well.
Sticking to a budget
As a personal planning tools in terms of finances, a budget for a college freshman will surely come in handy bearing in mind that, they live off their parents’ money or may just be doing an on-the-side job. These students must have had some insights from speeches concerning finance but to really get to them about creating and sticking to a budget is another thing all the same. It’s not an exciting activity as it’s even scary to some.
Silence, imagination and a statistic. I would bet that while standing on that stage, these three would really help me get into the heads of the freshmen. I wouldn’t expect myself to start off immediately so a pause of about five to ten seconds would ensure the students are quiet and settled down. The attention would be where I would want it to be – fully in the room on me.
A ‘what if’ scenario would then follow striking the imaginations of each and every individual in the room. A budget being under a general topic of finance, I would probably as, “What if you got paid to save money? What if we were all rich?” they would visualise this and synthesise on the topic before I even got started.
Seventy (70) percent of college students are stressed about finances (Grabmeier, 2015). This statistic while posed to them would leave them asking themselves where they lie at that point and where they would be in the coming days. As freshmen, the thought of taking a student loan will not be farfetched and in fact some may have already applied for the same. While at this moment, I would feel ready to continue with my speech.
At the end I would call to their attention of my coming to a close. I would use a challenge close together with a repetitive close. I would challenge them to a call of action which in this case would be that of creating and sticking to a budget as faithfully as one could be. A repetitive close would see me repeat my main points linking one to the other and at least give them a sense of continuity even after the speech is done.
Coming to a group of college seniors, I will have to keep in mind that they may have made financial mistakes, corrected them maybe or plan to do it and even may have done things right. For the freshmen, reading the speech verbatim would not be the right way to reach them same as the seniors. The only difference I would ensure is that for the freshmen, the main point would be followed by a sub-point and then a supporting point while for the seniors I would state my main point followed by all the sub-points and then the supporting points.
This in my opinion is because the freshmen have to understand step by step how sticking to a budget will be of value while among the seniors the outline would owe to the fact that they most certainly have passed through college with the experience that comes with it. The latter outline is aimed at giving a better understanding to the seniors that they are prone to more financial burdens after completing college and the supporting points at the end will do justice elaborating the issues at hand based on the budgets.
An individual applying for a fist loan is definitely not the same with one who has already taken and used a loan. The same will apply for the speech in that the content for the freshmen will be ‘things they should know about personal finances, budgeting and saving while in college’ while that of seniors would be more importantly be ‘things they would have known about budgeting and saving while in campus and what next after all is done’. In short I assume that one is preparing them for life in college and the other one for life after college in matters finance.
My use of attention grabbers not be so indifferent but for the seniors I would establish to a greater extent, the individualities and experiences I have in common with them thus trying to familiarise an example to them against their past experiences and their future expectations. It would be more of a past versus present versus future comparison unlike that of freshmen that would be a present versus future comparison.
Impromptu speeches are considered to be the best when it comes to binding the audience together and even allows one to change the manner of speaking in between the speech (Olivia, 2011). However, for such a topic like sticking to a budget it would not have been suited best. This required me to be conversant with my content so as to face the audience with complete assurance of a wholesome delivery.
A delivery outline involves less and less text in such a way that it encourages me to talk to the audience rather than reading it. To be alert on what I want to accomplish, I would include the title, topic, specific purpose statement and thesis statement at the beginning of the outline. It would be utmost brief, making sure to use short phrases but still ensure that while delivering, the supporting points exhaust the necessary information they were supposed to deliver. Cards would come in handy making sure to have shortened forms of the introduction and conclusion – the cards would ensure I do not omit any important information. Again rehearsing with the cards will be a plus on the delivery.
To feel more comfortable with my content, the first and the last sentences would be written in full which eliminates any fear of a mental block at the outset of my speech (Academy, n.d.). My transition from the main points to the sub-points would also be distinctive so as to be effective for individuals taking notes. Additionally, I would write down transitional statements to use to alert the audience that I am moving to the next point while linking the previous to the next.
With a combination of well mastered content from introduction to end, sticking to a budget would not have been just a topic but a lesson to live by for these college freshmen and the college seniors.
Appendices
Sample delivery outline.
Title:
Topic:
Thesis Statement:
Introduction:
A. Main point.
a. Sub-point.
i. Supporting point(s).
Transition point.
B. Main point 2
a. Sub-point.
i. Supporting point(s).
Conclusion.
References
Academy, S. (n.d.). Creating a Delivery Outline. Retrieved from shepardacademyjuniorblockspring.weebly.com: http://shepardacademyjuniorblockspring.weebly.com/creating-a-delivery-outline.html
Dictionary, B. (n.d.). Budget. Retrieved from businessdictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/budget.html
Grabmeier, J. (2015, July 01). 70 percent of college students stressed about finances. Retrieved from news.osu.edu: https://news.osu.edu/news/2015/07/01/financial-wellness/
Olivia. (2011, May 28). Difference Between Delivery Outline and Preparation Outline. Retrieved from differencebetween.com: http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-delivery-outline-and-vs-preparation-outline/
