Chapter 4.
Speaking to Inform
About Informative Speech
• Any speech is an informative speech if it
presents information to an audience.
• When do we make informative speech?
• All the time.
• What is the goal of giving an informative
speech?
• To state ideas simply, clearly, and interestingly.
Preparing for the Informative Speech
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Blueprint: a vision of what you want to build.
Analyzing your audience
Choosing your topic
Narrowing your topic
Gathering information
Preparing visual aids
Organizing your speech
Step 1: Analyzing your audience
• Demographic: the population’s needs, interests,
knowledge.
– Age range
– Gender
– Occupation(s)
– Economic level(s)
– General background
• P.63-64: Personal Information Survey.
• P.65: Analysis of Audience
Step 2: Choosing your topic
• Choose sth that you know a lot about or sth
that really interests you.
– An experience that you remember vividly
and are enthusiastic about.
– Sth you care a lot about.
– Sth at which you are skilled or experienced.
– Sth about which you are knowledgeable.
Step 3: Narrowing your topic
• Not to tell everything you know about the topic.
– It’s impossible to say everything in a short amount
of time.
– Your audience can’t remember too many details
after a speech.
• How to narrow an informative speech topic
effectively?
– A good informative speech topic is specific,
contains only one idea, and is achievable.
• P.68. Evaluate topics.
Step 4: Gathering information
• Two ways to look for material for your speech:
– Within yourself
– Outside yourself
• Interview
• Library and Internet research
• Find more information than you can use!
– Choose what to include instead of stretching the
facts to fill time.
– Extra knowledge may be helpful for Q&A session.
• Interview
– Open-ended questions
– Closed-ended questions
– Scale questions
– Directive questions
– Multiple-choice questions
• Library search
– Bibliography note cards
Step 5: Preparing visual aids
• Why use visual aids?
– Help make a speech clear and interesting.
– Add variety, capture attention, illustrate
concepts, and provide entertainment.
• Visual aids are helpful in three ways:
– They help the speaker get organized.
– They help the audience understand the
information.
– They help the audience remember the speech.
• Chalkboard
• Poster
– With charts or graphs
– With words or phrases
– With drawings
• Objects or models
• Audiovisual equipment
(overhead projector or opaque projector)
– Slides
– Films
– videotapes
• Handouts
• Tips of using visual aids:
– Use visual aids that are large enough for
everyone to see.
– Do not pass out objects or papers during your
speech.
– Keep charts, maps, and graphs very simple.
– Look at your audience, not at your visual aids.
– Put your visual aids away after you have
finished using them.
– Practice using your visual aids with your
speech before you actually deliver it.
Informative Speech
Schedule
• 4/2-4/8: Find a topic for your informative
speech. Prepare your proposal.
• 4/9 & 4/16: Present your proposal in class. You
topic needs to be approved by the whole class;
otherwise you need to change topics.
• 4/16-4/22: Preparation.
• 4/23: Informative speech presentation.
Topic
• Main goal: sth related to culture.
• Three standpoints to take:
– Sth globalwide  Universality
– Sth which others have but we don’t  Specificity
– Sth we both have but different  Comparison
Proposal for Informative Speech
• Central topic: Culture
– To give your own definition of “culture.”
• Personal topic (A rough direction is fine. No need to give a specific
“title” at this stage.)
– To explain the reasons why the topic you choose
fits your definition of “culture.”
• Rationale
– To briefly introduce the topic, and tell the possible
directions you are going to probe into the topic.
– To explain the importance of knowing this topic.