 Have you ever thought about what sandwiches can teach us about speech organization and structure? If your mind works like mine then the answer may be yes. In case it doesn't though, let me explain. How many of you like sloppy joes? If not then maybe you should move back to Mars or whatever distant planet you came from because they're awesome. I love how the meat, sauce, onions and other ingredients all mix together so much that you can't tell where the meat ends and the sauce begins. If you're really lucky it might even seep into the bread so that you have to eat it with a fork. De-lish. While this kind of mushy goodness makes for an amazing sandwich, it doesn't make for a good speech organization. When your main points all blend together so much that you can't tell where one ends and another begins, it makes the critical ideas of your speech indistinct and it's confusing for the audience. When it gets really bad it's even hard to identify when the speaker has moved from the intro into the body of the speech or from the body into the conclusion like the sloppy joes seeping into the bread. You need to create some separation between each of these parts and between the main points themselves so that they're distinguishable from one another. In sandwich parlance your speech organization should be less like a sloppy joe and more like a BLT. It's easy to see the different layers in a BLT because the ingredients are solid and don't run together. The delicious bacon stands apart from the tomato which holds its ground against the lettuce. Even the mayonnaise does a pretty good job of not getting mixed up with all the other items. The bread also keeps from getting soggy because the ingredients are able to remain distinct. Like a BLT a well organized speech will have clear and distinct structure with easily identifiable main points. The best way to accomplish this is with a strong preview statement in the introduction well-defined connectives meaning transitions and signposts and a thorough review in the conclusion. All of these things will work together to give your speech sharply defined structure emphasize the main points and make it easier for the audience to follow along. So as you prepare your next speech remember sloppy joes are good for eating but not ideal for public speaking order up a nice BLT instead.