Here is an example of a narrative speech I have given.

The story is true, and you can guess at the name of the candy company!

I’ve provided you with four options for introducing the speech.

Each needs editing – how would you improve this speech?

Opening Options:

1.     Have you ever had an experience with a boss that changed your life?

2.     Most of us are aware of how others see us – they let us know in ways big and small if we are liked, respected, loved. Other times, people let us know that they don’t think much of us. This is one of those stories.

3.     Do you like chocolate? Most people do - - and with Valentine’s day around the corner, we’ll be eating big heart shaped chocolates. Then at Easter, some of us will get a visit from a big bunny and we’ll have chocolate coconut eggs. Well, like you, I used to love chocolate, too – I’m going to tell you how I came to despise it.

4.     Think back to when you were just out of high school. For some of you, this was very recent - -for others of us, it was very long ago. But we all probably planned for the best summer ever - -because you were free from all those bossy, boring or crazy high school teachers. You’d never have to see Mrs. Drummond again, with her bad jokes and oatmeal stuck to her brown suede skirt; no more Father Shrek, whose Latin classes were sprayed -- not prayed -- sprayed:  he spit on anyone in the 1^st few rows. 

BODY

As soon as I graduated from high school - -and I mean the day after -- my parents told me I had to get a full time job. Ok, I could still have a great summer even though I was working - -and it was fair that I should pay my own way. Unlike today, back then, you could get a job pretty easily, and there were still many factories in Philadelphia.  I was the envy of my family because I got a job at a chocolate factory in Germantown.

Sounds like a dream job, right?

It soon became clear that this was not Willy Wonka’s factory - -it was more like Shutter Island. I knew it would be hard work for minimum wage, I knew I had to take 2 buses and leave at quarter to 6 every day -- and I was ok with that.

But - - they ran it like a prison -- we weren’t allowed to speak to one another while we were working on machines side by side, even though it didn’t detract from our work. The women who’d worked there for years seemed depressed and really terrified of the bosses.

And - -to top it off - -everyday when we left the factory, the owner would go through our backpacks, or purses.

Can you guess why?

I’m sure some of you have had that experience: they call it “inventory control,” and are trying to make sure we weren't stealing their candy. Yes, they assumed we'd jeopardize our jobs for pennies worth of candy. 

I was pretty sick of this, and felt violated, so I started to just bring my lunch in a paper bag, and my library book for the bus ride.

I thought I’d outsmart the manager - - no bag -- nothing to check, right?

Well, every day that I did this, the same thing happened: he took my book, and opened it to make sure –

What do you think he was checking?

Yes, that’s right: he thought that I would go to all the trouble of pasting the pages together, and cutting out an opening, in order to steal his nasty candy. And - -he thought I would do this to a library book!

I realized something very important that summer standing in the alleyway outside the factory, getting my library books checked for candy:

Life was going to be full of people treating me poorly because I was poor, and that I needed to go to college to get some control over where I would work.

I was really mad, and ashamed of being poor, and I sure didn’t know how I could go to college without money – but a few years later I did figure out how to get financial aid, student loans, and enroll at Temple.

The point of the story:

Use all of your experiences - -and the anger and shame – to motivate you to reach for your goals. Don’t let people like the candy factory owner tell you who you are - -you are the master of your fate, the captain of your soul.