What's the Big Idea?

From my perspective, I felt that the specific purpose that Beebe & Beebe talked about is the same as the big idea discussed in the Duarte reading. The basic idea behind the specific purpose in Beebe & Beebe is to motivate the audience to accomplish whatever your speech sets out to do and the big idea in the Duarte reading virtually does the same thing, just in a different way.

Personally, I preferred the Duarte reading. I felt that the information was presented in a more concise manner and it was not as wordy as the Beebe & Beebe reading. While both readings talked about the basic idea of moving the audience from point A to point B, I feel that the Duarte reading was better written in that it made it clear you were moving your audience to do/change something. While I got the same general message from the Beebe & Beebe reading, it was more convoluted. The Duarte reading made it clear that the goal of a presentation should be to persuade the audience to accept new habits/beliefs and let go of their old habits/beliefs. It made it clear that the big idea of a presentation should have the speakers unique voice, clearly state the issue at hand, and should be stated in a complete sentence.

My remaining question for creating my big idea is which of my ideas will connect with the majority of my audience. While everyone in my audience is a college student, each audience member will have a different major which generally means that there will be a wide variety of opinions and feelings in the room and I want to make sure that I can capture my audience’s attention from the start.