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MPS Chap. 15
Speaking to Inform
Inform
We seek knowledge for three reasons:
Know, understand, and use information
Accordingly
The goals of informative speech are:
• Impart knowledge: to know (new information)
• Enhance understanding: to understand (understand information we already
possess)
• Permit application: to use (apply what we know and understand)
Informative speech does not terminate in a call for action or a partisan judgment.
Speeches about people
Activities and accomplishments of other people fascinate us
Speech should not resemble a biographical listing in an encyclopedia
It shouldn’t be a seemingly limitless compendium of dates
Try using a chronological/topical patterns of organization
Survey events in a person’s life
Explain various aspects of a person’s life
For example:
Christopher Reeve
1. The actor
2. The accident victim
3. The activist
4. The legacy
Can talk about virtues, social or professional role played especially well, etc.
Speeches about objects
Focus on what is concrete, rather than what is abstract
Speeches about objects can use several organizational patterns
Organization:
Spatially—describe elements or parts of the place
Chronologically—history of the place’s development
Topical—aspects of the place
Speeches about places
These speeches may introduce listeners to new locales or expand their knowledge of
familiar places
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Organization:
Can be organized spatially, topically, or chronologically
Speeches about activities and events
Activities: things you do at home, work, school; by yourself or with friends; to learn,
relax, or accomplish a required task
Hobbies, interests, experiences
Organization:
Topical (significance) or chronological (sequence),
Events: important or interesting occurrences
Organization:
Chronological (sequence) , topical (significance), causal (how one event produced
or resulted from another) organization
Speeches about processes
A process is a series of steps producing an outcome
May explain or demonstrate how something
Works
Functions
Is accomplished
Organization:
Chronological pattern (steps)
Topical (parts/whole, genus/species, causes/effect, antecedents/consequence, etc.)
Pro-con—arguments for and against the procedure
Causal—discuss causes and effects of process
Speeches about concepts
Focus on what is abstract rather than what is concrete (but can ‘make’ the abstract
concrete)
Challenge you to make something specific that is abstract.
Rely on
Definitions
Examples
Organization:
Topical (discuss aspects, definitions, or applications of the concept)
Speeches about conditions
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Conditions are particular situations: living conditions in a third-world country; political
& economic climates that give rise to social movements
Conditions can refer to a state of illness or health (literal and metaphorical)
Organization:
Topical (explain aspects)
Chronological (trace the stages)
Cause/effect
Antecedent/consequence
Disease/remedy
What is it? What causes it? How do you treat it? Is there a cure?
Speeches about issues
Deal with controversial ideas and policies
Not persuasive, even though issue-oriented
Remember—informative speech on a controversial topic needs to be
researched thoroughly and developed so that you appear to present the
issue objectively
Organization:
Chronological—how the issue evolved over time
Topical (aspects of the issue’s significance)
Pro-con organization (present opposing viewpoints on the issue)
Again—if you use pro-con guard against two pitfalls:
Lack of objectivity
Lack of perspective
More than two sides?
General guidelines:
Stress your informative purpose
Be objective
Present a balanced view
Take into account all perspectives
Use objective-sounding language
Watch out for those loaded adjectives, etc.
Be specific
Narrow your topic
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Focus (for example) on specific people or maybe types of people, not
people per se
Your specific focus will make your speech easier to remember
Be clear
Always consider your audience—clear to whom?
Watch out for jargon (for example)
Be accurate
Inaccurate information harms your credibility
Inaccurate information may harm your audience
Also—make sure to accurately cite your sources
Limit your ideas and supporting materials
Don’t include too much information
Be relevant
Don’t include information that is not to the point
Use appropriate organization
Choose the pattern most appropriate to your topic and purpose
Use appropriate forms of support
Use effective delivery
Show your involvement in your speech through your physical and vocal
delivery
If you appear to know about it and care about it, your audience will
probably want to hear about it!