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You must develop a design in which your points fit together to help you achieve your purpose. Your design provides the overall pattern into which you fit your supporting materials. Let us look at how a design might help structure a self-introductory speech.
If you wanted to explain how you were shaped by the neighborhood in which you grew up, you might select a categorical design. You could begin with the setting, a description of a street scene in which you capture sights, sounds, and smells: “I can always tell a Swedish neighborhood by the smell of lutefisk on Friday afternoons.” Next you might describe the people, focusing on a certain neighbor who influenced you—perhaps the local grocer, who loved America with a passion, helped those in need, and always voted stubbornly for the Socialist party. Finally, you might talk about the street games you played as a child and what they taught you about people and yourself. This “setting—people—games” categorical design structures your speech in an orderly manner.
The example also suggests that the introduction, body, and conclusion of your speech must be closely related. Your introduction, in which you arouse interest and set the mood for what will follow, could be the opening street scene. In the body of the speech, where you develop your points using supporting materials, you could describe the people, using the grocer as an extended example. Then you could go on to describe the childhood games that reinforced the lessons of sharing.