Developing Supporting Material for Your Speech

In this lesson you are going to learn how to use different types of supporting material to give your speech credibility. Not all speeches need researched data and statistics, but all speeches need to be credible.

Dictionary.com defines credible as:

1. capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement.
2. worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness.

Synonyms of credible include: plausible, likely, reasonable, and tenable. 

Important!!! If you are not a credible person yourself, it doesn't matter what you say or do, you won't be believed. Credibility of any speech begins with YOU!!!!

With that being said, let's look at the next area of making your speech credible.

Use different types of supporting material.

Even if you are an expert in an area, your speech will be better received if you use a variety of supporting material.

14 Clubs and some luck

To help illustrate this point, let's look at the greatest game ever invented…Golf. The rules of golf say that the maximum number of clubs one can carry in their bag is 14. If you follow golf, you will notice that pros do not always carry the same clubs to each tournament, but they almost always carry 14 clubs. They know that each course plays different, and different clubs will serve different purposes. A pro will not be a pro for long if they do not adjust their equipment to the courses they are playing, and there will NEVER be a pro who only carries around a putter only.

This same approach applies to giving a great speech. Different material is needed for different speeches, but not always the same material will be used. Most importantly, you will always need more than one item of supporting material to be successful.

Before discussing the types of supporting material, make sure when you use supporting material that you cite the resource in your speech. Citing a credible resource in your speech actually makes you the presenter more credible.

Let me give you a personal example of how this works. Recently I was the Master of Ceremonies for an event where a well known United States Senator was the guest speaker. My wife and I also had the privilege of sitting with the Senator and his wife at the head table. We had an enjoyable evening together discussing politics and life in general. There were many other guests in attendance and many of them saw me "mingle" with the Senator. At the end of the evening, my wife and I had our pictures taken with the him. Later these pictures found there way on Facebook for many more to see. I instantly gained credibility with many associates because of my brief association with this man. This may seem like a "superficial" credibility to you, but the fact is, perception of credibility is still a form of credibility (in fact, I would say it's the only form of credibility).

Using the "good name" of others will help you become more credible. If you fail to let the audience know that you were using material from someone/somewhere else, you will lose your credibility.

Lost credibility can be difficult to regain.

Types of supporting material

When using credible sources for your material, it is going to take some common sense. For some this may be a difficult task and you will need to rely on the help of well respected, educated persons. You need to realize that quoting from an article in the National Inquirer is not the same as quoting from an article in Forbes magazine.

NOTE!!! Unfortunately, Wikipedia does not count as a credible source of information in the world of academia. The reason is, Wikipedia is open source and anyone is free to go in and change/add information. I often use Wikipedia as a starting point in my research because most of the information there is cited. I just go to the cited material and make sure it's credible.

Choose the best supporting material

So what's the best supporting material? That depends on the type of speech you are giving and what your audience needs. Going back to my golf analogy, you pick the right club based on the shot. I know that if I am sitting 150 yards out from the green, I am going to use a 9-iron.

If you are giving a speech on the importance of education, you will need to use research from credible education journals, statistics, and maybe even a testimony or two.

Here are 5 types of supporting material and their purpose.

Examples. Examples are used to illustrate, describe, or represents things. Examples can be real or hypothetical. You will often hear it said as "For example….". Using examples helps by making ideas, items, or events more concrete and it helps to create interest.

Story. Stories can be personal, fictional, imaginary, about somebody else, etc. It's a story, but make sure you let your audience know it's a story and if it's imaginary, make sure the audience knows it's imaginary. If you don't, it's not a story, IT'S A LIE! Stories help to personalize and a speech and can allow a "dry" topic to become humorous. A story can generate interest and make your speech relatable.

Testimony. A testimony is a first-hand or eye-witness account of something that has happened. It can also be the opinion of someone. Testimonies can come from "experts" or from just an ordinary "nonexpert" person. Based on what your speech needs will determine what kind of testimony you want. Someone who has lost weight following your instructions does not have to be an expert in losing weight. On the other hand, if you are giving a speech on the benefits of a new weight loss drug, a doctor would be a more credible resource for a testimony.

Facts. Facts are actual events, dates, times, places that are documented and can be independently verified. Facts are great for providing evidence and backing up the main points of an argument.

Statistics. There is an old saying that goes, "Liars use statistics." The truth is, any information can be skewed, that's why it's important to use a variety of sources, especially if the information your are providing is considered controversial. Statistics are data that demonstrate relationships.

WARNING!!! There can be a tendency to "skew" supporting material data in a way that really does not portray what the data was intended for. A "half-truth" is also a "half-lie."

Lastly, not everyone is going to believe the sources you use for supporting material, and rightly so. There is a lot of information out there that is not credible. You may need to convince your listeners that material you are using is reliable and credible. As stated earlier, make sure you cite you resources orally and MAKE SURE YOU USE THE NAME OF THE REFERENCE MATERIAL IT CAME FROM. This may not be enough though so you will need to build up the referring source by describing why it's a credible source. This may take some research on your part. Find out how long the "source" has been around and who has been involved with the referring source (maybe it's a journal that has had famous scientists contribute to it). Just ask yourself WHY this is a credible source, and then go answer the question.