1. Organizing Your Ideas
M.Yaseen
Chapter 11 – Adler

2. Outline
• Importance of Clear Organization
• Gathering Ideas and Materials
• Organizing the Body
• Planning the Introduction and Conclusion
• Adding Transitions
What points to cover and how to arrange them?

3. IMPORTANCE OF CLEAR ORG.
• Helps solve the following problems
– Taking too long to get to a point
– Including irrelevant material
– Leaving out necessary information
– Getting ideas mixed up
“First, tell them what you’re going to tell them;
then, tell them;
then, tell them what you told them.”

4. GATHERING IDEAS & MATERIALS
• Example: selling to potential customers
– Find out competing products
– Whether they’re familiar with your product
– What is their attitude towards it
• Sources of information
– Company’s files
– Interviews
– Library
– Survey, etc

5. ORGANIZING THE BODY
• Identify the main points and sub-points
– Brainstorming
– ‘One-week later’ test
• Choose best organizational pattern
1. Chronological – sequence in time: process, steps, events,
history
2. Spatial – physical location: real estate, geographical
3. Topical – reasons, types, benefits… catchall approach
4. Cause-effect
5. Problem-solution

6. Rules for main points:
 Main points should be stated as claims (fact/belief)
 All points should develop the thesis
 No more than five main points
 Each point should contain one idea
 Should be in parallel structure whenever possible

7. PLANNING THE INTRODUCTION
Functions
 Capture the listener’s attention
 Give your audience a reason to listen
 Set the proper tone for topic and setting
 Establish your qualifications
 Introduce thesis and preview presentation

8. Types of opening statements
 Ask a question
 Tell a story
 Give a quotation
 Make a startling statement
 Refer to the audience
 Refer to the occasion
 Use humor

9. PLANNING THE CONCLUSION
Types of closing statements
 All of the intro types +
 Return to the theme of your opening statement
 Appeal for action
 End with a challenge

10. ADDING TRANSITIONS
Bridges that connect segments of presentation
Tell listeners how parts are related
Occur between intro/body, body, body/concl.

11. • Functions of transitions
– Promote clarity
– Emphasize important points
– Keep listener’s interested
• Characteristics of transitions
– Refer to both preceding and upcoming ideas
– Show logical relationship among ideas
– Call attention to themselves
Important: TABLE 11-1