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Tribute Speech Package

Public Speaking

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Tribute Speech

(with suspenseful details to build upon)

Your final speech is to deliver a tribute speech on a famous person who

inspires you to become a better person!

A tribute speech gives credit, respect, admiration, gratitude and inspiration to

someone who is famous and in his/her lifetime exemplifies an extraordinary

character and service to humanity.

For this assignment, famous is defined as a person who is widely known and is

honored for his/her achievements for the greater good of humanity.

Tribute speeches should offer the audience the opportunity to reflect and

appreciate the person.

The speech should also stimulate and strengthen the audience.

When selecting a person to honor, please consider the following:

1. The character of the person

2. Personal stories help to build on his/her character/achievements

3. His/her achievements and contributions to humanity

Format /Writing the Tribute Speech

The goal is not give away major details that the public would know about the

famous person until the concluding paragraph.

In writing this speech, it is similar to your informative speech in that you have an

introduction with the following:

Introduction

Greeting

Attention Getter(s) (entertain, sing, poetry, quotes, questions, story)

Your Name

Thesis/Main point of why you are honoring him/her

Example of main point: Today, I am honoring an outstanding woman because of her

selfless character.

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Note: You will not introduce the name of the honoree until the concluding paragraph

In the body of the speech, the main point is to show illustrations of the woman’s selfless

character.

Stories that build upon her selflessness character

Each topic sentence in your body needs to reflect selfless contributions to humankind.

Your required to start the topic sentences with selfless.

You will creatively introduce your honoree in the concluding paragraph with a toast and

the following:

Toast leading into the introduction of the honoree

“Catchy” phrases for your concluding paragraph

Here‘s to you..(name of honoree)

I salute you…………………..

To my greatest inspiration ………

I honor you……………………..

I celebrate you………………

Here’s a toast to you………

After you introduce the first and last name of your honoree, share with your

audience members additional details about him/her that are common to the

listener

Restate the main point/thesis

Other Major Requirements

Draft (includes outline and speech) Due: please check your monthly calendar for

the date.

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Two pages or less (introduction, body & conclusion)

Outline

Professional Dress

Black Portfolio

Below are a list of famous individuals who have made a substantial impact on humanity. You

do not have to pick from this list!

Famous People

Athletes:

Amanda Beard

Andre Agassi

Arnold Palmer

Arthur Ashe

Betheny Hamilton

Dale Earnhardt

Derek Jeter

Gabrielle Douglass

Hank Aaron

Hope Solo

Jack Nicklaus

Jackie Robinson

LeBron James

Magic Johnson

Michael Jordan

Michael Oher

Michael Phelps

Muhammad Ali

Roberto Clemente

Serena Williams

Tiger Woods

Tim Tebow

Walter Payton

Musicians/Artists:

Beyonce

Bob Marley

Bono

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Christina Aquilera

Elvis Presley

John Lennon

Johnny Cash

Justin Timberlake

Katy Perry

Lady Gaga

Michael Jackson

Paul McCartney

Tupac Shakur

Whitney Houston

Entrepreneurs:

Mark Zuckerberg

Martha Stewart

Richard Branson

Steve Jobs

Walt Disney

Political & Historical:

Abraham Lincoln

Al Sharpton

Anne Frank

Bill Clinton

Booker T. Washington

Charles Lindbergh

Colin Powell

Condolezza Rice

Deval Patrick

Gabrielle Giffords

George W. Bush

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Hillary Clinton

John F. Kennedy

Kate Middleton

Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr.

Mikhail Gorbachev

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Neil Armstrong

Nelson Mandela

President Obama

Princess Diana

Sandra Day O’Connor

Sonia Sotomayor

Winston Churchill

Actors and Entertainers:

Angelina Jolie

Bob Barker

Ellen DeGeneres

Jim Henson

Julia Child

Marilyn Monroe

Michael J. Fox

Oprah Winfrey

Pam Grier

Rachel Ray

Stephen Colbert

In the News:

Elizabeth Smart

Chris Kyle

Julian Assange

Chelsey Sullenberger, “Captain Sully”

Writers:

Alice Walker

Edgar Allan Poe

JK Rowling

Maya Angelou

Stephen King

Draft of Outline & Speech

Outline

1. Introduction

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a. Small quote

b. Greeting

c. Background of religious importance

d. Attention getter based on religious beginnings

e. Thesis

2. Limited Background

a. Birth and education

b. Story of change in educational and life purpose

3. Formation Period

a. Limited description of challenges to faith

b. Development of challenge to the Church

4. Firestorm

a. Publishing of challenge

b. Hopeful expectation of Church’s reaction

c. Actual reaction of the Church

5. Conclusion

a. Announcement of Martin Luther

b. Tribute to his faithful life

c. Final quote

d. Thank the audience

Pray, and let God worry.

Good morning everyone, my name is Joshua Knutson. The quote I just shared is one of

my favorites from my honoree. It pretty much sums up his entire life. His mission was based on

the idea that faith is essential to justice and that justice must exist in faithful religion. Religion is

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incredibly important to the course that world history has taken. From Judaism to Christianity,

and many other religions beside, religious belief has shaped the decision making process of

people for millions of years. Today, there are over 400 denominations of Christianity alone.

Unfortunately, many of those denominations who are not Catholic do not realize that they owe

the very existence of their faith to the actions of one man. Few people have had the impact that

this man had on the course of history. His simple actions ignited a firestorm of changes that

have reverberated throughout the world to this very day. Through all the changes that he

brought about, his faith is the most outstanding aspect of his life.

Faith comes in many shapes and sizes. A person does not have to do extraordinary

things in life to be considered faithful. Yet he did exactly that. His life started simply enough.

He was born in a small town and raised in a religious home. His father’s goal for him was to

become a lawyer and he went to college with that intention. College is where his life took a

dramatic turn. On a trip one day, he was caught in a terrible storm. He was so terrified of the

storm that he promised God that he would enter His service if He would allow him to escape the

storm unscathed. When the storm subsided, he faithfully maintained his promise and entered the

service of the church.

Unfortunately, church service caused a conflict for him but his faith in God told him

something different from the teachings of the church. As he read scripture, it became

obvious that there were things going on that were contrary to the faith that Jesus had taught in the

scriptures. It was centuries after the ministry of Jesus had walked the Earth and he realized that

humans had taken that ministry and perverted it to their human desires. After deep

consideration, he realized that there was no way to accept what the church was doing and remain

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in faithful service to God. He was convinced that his decision was the end of the road for him.

Fortunately for us, it was just the beginning.

To free himself from the torment he experienced from this conflict of faith in reality,

he fell back on his faith in the church processes that he still agreed with. He sat down and

contemplated what was wrong with the current way and wrote the ideas down. Once he finished

this process, he published the result in the accepted way and presented them to the church. He

hoped that the church would read them and discuss them. What actually happened is that the

church felt attacked and lashed out. He was declared a criminal and thrown out of the church.

Yet his faith never wavered. His study of the Bible had told him that he was right and the church

was wrong. So rather than backing down from his position, he pushed forward and published

more works that focused on the faith that he had found.

I honor you, Martin Luther. Your tireless faith in a scripturally based relationship with

God changed the course of history. By standing up to certain practices of the Catholic Church,

you opened the door for a deeper relationship with God for regular people that do not depend on

special access through a church. You were the trend setter for separation from the Catholic

Church and all of the Christian denominations that have followed owe their existence to your

faith. Your example of standing up to injustice because of faith has inspired millions of people

around the world, and not just the ones who share a portion of your name. In your words, “all

who call on God in truth faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive

what they have asked and desired.” Thank you.

Brainstorming

Please pick three people that you are interested in writing about in a ranking order.

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Famous person The main character that s/he exemplifies

First pick:

Second pick:

Third pick: