INFORMATIVE SPEAKING

To inform

Informing is the basis of many speeches and plays a

big role in special occasion and persuasive
speeches as well.
You must master the art of informative speaking to
master the art of presenting.
This is the most common type of presenting you will
do on a daily basis inside and outside the
classroom.

Types of Informative Speeches

To Report:
A speaker gives an account or description
Essentially you are providing the objective facts
To Instruct:
Speaking to teach our audience something
How To
To Explain:
Speaking to explain a difficult, or new, topic
Ex) Explaining a scientific theory for betting understanding

How it works
Its purpose is to clarify an objective topic

Informative Speech Topics

Informative speeches can be about:

People

Objects
Places
Activities

& Events

Processes
Concepts
Conditions
Issues

Guidelines of Informative Speaking

Make sure you are clear that the purpose is to inform

not to persuade

Objectivity is key

leave bias at the door

if necessary tell both sides of a story

Sharing specific details in your main points is important.

it insures your audience learns something from your speech

Guidelines Contd

Clarity and accuracy is important so you dont misinform

or confuse your audience further.
Detail is good, but make sure you are not overloading
your audience.
You are a good judge of what would be too much.
Consider time constraints. Are you talking quickly to share
everything?

Make sure the information you present is relevant.

Sharing Too Much

Be careful to narrow your topic enough.

A

broad informative topic can leave you with too much

to say and not enough time to say it.
Often if we choose a topic we enjoy, it is difficult to
narrow our topic.
We

love the topic & want to share everything about it.

Save what you have to leave out for your next potential
speech topic.
Create a for more interesting information slide or handout
for your audience to take with them

Benefits to Informative Speaking

You are not trying to persuade.

You are not defending a stance.
You are only presenting relevant information for
your audience to do with what they please.
Researching

is necessary when creating a quality

informative speech.
You may even learn new interesting information while
researching that will be useful to your speech.

Visual Aids & Informative Speeches

Most often your audience will be learning something

new in your speech.
Visual

aids help them to understand a new topic quickly

and clearly
Visual aids help you to explain a new topic.
Remember,

a majority of your audience usually will not know

everything you know about your topic
Be careful & avoid using topic specific jargon or concepts
unless the audience is familiar with them
A

picture, or visual aid in this case, really can be worth

a thousand words.

How-To Presentations
Most

professions will require individuals to be able

to share information clearly and effectively

When

do you think How-To presentations occur in

everyday life?
Asking

etc.

directions, giving pointers on anything, teaching,

Steps to a How-To Presentation

A clear and well-designed how-to speech takes the

following steps:
Desired

State: your goal, what you want your audience

to be able to do
Pre-requisites: the items you need to reach that goal
Interim: the actual steps in the process
Unwanted: what you want to avoid or what common
problems that may occur

Explanatory Presentations

Sometimes How-To or Process speeches require

types of explanations.
The following is a list of common types of
explanations and how best to address them.

Elucidating Explanation

Explains a difficult concept or term (something that is

commonly misconstrued)
Provide a definition
Provide an example
Provide a non-example
For Example: Explain the slang use of the term sweet
Sweet stands in for something that is neat or cool.
Wow, that car is really sweet!
Its so sweet when you insult me like that.

Quasi-Scientific Explanation

Explains a complex process or structure

Use

an analogy (relate it to something they already

know)
Use visual aids
Use repetition
Use lots of transitions

Transformative Explanation

Explain a commonly held myth or incorrect,

preconceived notion
State

the lay theory

Acknowledge the reasonableness of the lay theory
Show limitations to the lay theory
Explain the actual correct/scientific theory

Transformative Contd

For example:
Youll

get a cold if you go outside with wet hair.

You lose heat from your head so it seems that wet hair
would make you more vulnerable to a cold.
The problem is cold weather or loss of heat from your
head does not cause a cold.
The only cause of a cold is a virus and you are equally
likely to be exposed to a virus with or without wet hair.