The Project Comes First

Build the Speech Around the Objective

One of the easiest mistakes to make in Pathways is to choose an interesting speech topic, prepare a good speech, deliver it successfully, and then assume the project has been completed.

But every Pathways project has a purpose beyond simply giving a speech. Each project is designed to help you practice and strengthen a particular communication or leadership skill.

Your speech topic tells the audience what you are talking about. The project objective tells what skill you are supposed to be practicing while you talk about it.

Before deciding what you want to speak about, open the Pathways project and read it from beginning to end.

Pay particular attention to the project purpose, objectives, requirements, and evaluation criteria. These tell you what the project is actually asking you to learn and demonstrate.

Then ask yourself one simple question:

Once you know the answer, choose a speech topic that gives you a good opportunity to practice that skill.

Suppose you want to give a speech about a memorable vacation.

That same topic could be used for several different Pathways projects, depending on what you do with it.

The subject may be exactly the same. What changes is the skill you are deliberately practicing.

The evaluation form should not be something you see for the first time after your speech.

Before you begin writing, review the evaluation criteria. They provide valuable clues about what your evaluator will be listening and watching for.

If the evaluation form asks about vocal variety, organization, audience awareness, body language, or another specific skill, build opportunities to demonstrate that skill into your presentation.

In other words, use the evaluation form as a preparation tool, not simply as a score sheet after the speech.

A member can give an excellent speech and still miss much of the value of a Pathways project if the project's learning objective is ignored.

Pathways is designed to help you improve through practice. The project gives you the skill to work on. Your speech gives you the laboratory in which to practice it. Your evaluator gives you feedback on how well you used it.

When those three pieces work together, Pathways becomes much more than a collection of speeches. It becomes a deliberate program of communication and leadership development.

This Pointer shifts the focus from simply completing speeches to intentionally working the project. It explains the difference between a speech topic and a project objective, shows how to build the objective into the speech, and encourages members to use the evaluation form as part of their preparation—not just after the speech.