Throughout the speech there must also be variety of emphasis.  It would not be fitting to have everything with a forceful emphasis upon it.  To secure variation in emphasis you must remember that in speeches the best effects will be made upon audiences by offering them slight relief from too close attention or too impressive effects.  If you observe the plans finally followed by good speakers you will be able to see that they have obeyed this suggestion.  They have the power to do what is described as “swaying the audience.”  In its simplest form this depends upon varying the emphasis.

In making an appeal for funds for destitute portions of Europe a telling topic would surely be the sufferings of the needy.  Would it be wise to dwell upon such horrors only?  Would a humorous anecdote of the happy gratitude of a child for a cast-off toy be good to produce emphasis?  Which would make the most emphatic ending—­the absolute destitution, the amount to be supplied, the relief afforded, or the happiness to donors for sharing in such a worthy charity?  You can see how a mere mental planning, or a shuffling of notes, or a temporary numbering of topics will help in clearing up this problem of how to secure proper and effective emphasis.

Making the First Plan.  It would be a helpful thing at this point in the planning to make a pencil list of the topics to be included.  This is not a final outline but a mere series of jottings to be changed, discarded, and replaced as the author considers his material and his speech.  It is hardly more than an informal list, a scrap of paper.  In working with it, don’t be too careful of appearances.  Erase, cross out, interline, write in margins, draw lines and arrows to carry portions from one place to another, crowd in at one place, remove from another, cut the paper sheets, paste in new parts, or pin slips together.  Manipulate your material.  Mold it to suit your purposes.  Make it follow your plan.  By this you will secure a good plan.  If this seems a great deal to do, compare it with the time and energy required to learn how to swim, how to play a musical instrument, how to “shoot” in basketball, how to act a part in a play.

Knowing how to speak well is worth the effort.  Every time you plan a speech these steps will merge into a continuous process while you are gathering the material.  In informal discussion upon topics you are familiar with, you will become able to arrange a plan while you are rising to your feet.

Transitions.  As this preliminary plan takes its form under your careful consideration of the material you will decide that there are places between topics or sections which will require bridging over in order to attain coherence and emphasis.  These places of division should be filled by transitions.  A transition is a passage which carries over the meaning from what precedes to what follows.  It serves as a connecting link.  It prevents the material from falling apart.  It preserves the continuity of ideas.  A transition may be as short as a single word, such as however, consequently, nevertheless.  It may be a sentence.  It may grow into a paragraph.