An informative speech explains something you're interested in or describes how to do
something. Here are a few guidelines on how to write an informative speech.
Part 1 of 4: Deciding on Your Topic
1
Start by making a list of general subject areas for your informative speech to
be on. You can give a speech on objects, a process, an event, or a concept. If you
are writing your speech for school, a good rule is to choose something you are
extremely familiar with. You'll have a lot of knowledge from first-hand
experience that might not even be in books.
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The topic you pick for your informative speech is going to end up being
one you're going to learn about and talk about a lot, and years from now
when you're done with this assignment but you still remember the speech
you gave, other people all throughout your life are going to hear it too. So
don't just pick the first idea that occurs to you - take just a moment try to
really home in on an informative speech you'll like knowing and giving.
2.
Consider broad subject areas for your informative speech based on things
you do and like. Add your interests to your subject areas list.
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For instance, if you really like hunting, you're likely to have a lot of
interesting and not-at-all obvious things to say about it. You'll still want to
do research on more than just your experience hunting. Interesting topics
like hunting customs, laws, the kinds of animals you hunt, their behavior
and their place in the ecosystem will come from research.
3.
Consider subject areas based on things you don't know yet, but would like to.
Add these topics to your subject areas list.
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Say you're interested in becoming a movie producer, but you don't know a
lot about what it's like - there's few better ways of learning about it than
researching movie production and then explaining it to people.
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4.
Narrow down your subject areas list into topics. You should be able to figure
out roughly if you're going to be able to cover your topic in the time allotted. Pick
out a specific purpose for your speech to guide your presentation as well as to
guide your audience's attention.
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Try to make your speech interesting, not just important. Saying very
general and important things that everyone already knows can make a
speech boring, and can fill up your speech with background details that
aren't really specifically what your speech is about. For instance, imagine
an informative speech on video game development that went into extreme
detail about every last line of rendering, file management and level design
that all video games shared in common. Such a speech would be fairly
long and probably difficult to listen to, for anyone not deeply involved in
video game design.
Be specific with your speech topic. Try to drill down into some interesting
details that people might not know about. For example, local Native
American hunting customs instead of hunting in general, how it's different
producing a zombie movie instead of movie production in general, how
video game guilds and clans are organized instead of video game in
general.
Your deep knowledge about the details of your topic are what makes your
speech cool and interesting. For example: Would you rather listen to a
speech about how food is important - or about how to make a certain type
of food - say, kimchi tacos or chocolate bacon eclairs? Would you rather
learn about how it's really important to drive well, or would you rather
learn specific ways that you could drive better, like defensive driving
tactics and little steering wheel tricks that few people know about?
5.
From your list of topics, choose one to develop into your thesis. Your thesis is
simply a specific statement expressing clearly in a single sentence what exactly
you're going to do.
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Focus on things that you can feasibly do without too much work. For
instance, a speech topic like "I will explain how to hunt, skin and dress a
deer in the traditional respectful Native American style" might run into
problems if you give your informative speech using a dead deer in a
classroom setting or if you simply can't find a deer.
6.
Make your thesis as specific as possible. A vague thesis like “I’m going to talk
about carburetors” could include a lot of topics - how carburetors function, two
versus four barrel carburetors, etc., etc. A clear, specific and even pretty
interesting thesis for this topic might instead be "I am going to explain how to
take apart a carburetor".
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Think about teaching people how to do things or how things were done not just teaching people about things. For instance, just like with
carburetors, a statement like “In this speech, you will learn about zippers”
is not the best thesis - it sounds very general and obvious. Following that
statement, you might reasonably expect anything from someone zipping
their pants up and down to an hour-long presentation on the history of
zippers - it's hard to tell! More clear, specific examples of a thesis might
be "In this speech, you will learn how the zipper was first invented." or "I
will explain how the first zombie movies were made and how special
effects technology has advanced since then".
Part 2 of 4: Researching Your Topic
1
Do your initial research. If there's one rule to writing an informative speech it's
this: Know your subject. Do your research with care and integrity, using reliable
sources and taking notes as you go.
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As you gather your research materials and begin reading, separate the
material you'll specifically use in your speech - but also be open to
learning more about your subject area that may not be directly related to
your thesis. You may need to answer questions about your speech topic.
Learning additional background material that you may not think is directly
relevant can help you to answer these questions. For example, if your
speech is on Native American hunting and someone asks about different
Native American hunting traditions besides the local ones, you'll seem a
lot more knowledgeable - and will in fact be a lot more knowledgeable - if
you cast a wide net with your research.
Consider how your research might change your topic. Once your research is
completed, you may find something new that emerges that you'd rather do your
speech on. Rather than ignore that, plan for something like this to happen.
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For an informative speech on movie production for zombie movies, for
instance, it might emerge during research that you find the actual
traditional zombie myth more interesting than the movies. Don't resist the
urge to change speech topics - you've done a lot of the research already
and you'll give a much more interesting speech if it's a topic you've
suddenly discovered is interesting.
Part 3 of 4: Writing Your Speech
1
Consider your audience before writing your speech. It's a good idea to assume
they know little about your topic. (Which is why you’re informing them, right?)
With this in mind, however, you might still need to give background information.
Be careful about what shortcuts you take in explaining your topic.
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Unless your assignment says otherwise, don’t explain anything that’s a
given for your audience. Nobody wants to be told what a car steering
wheel or a zipper is, after all, and if you're giving a speech on carburetors
to, say, a group of auto mechanics, you won’t need to give a lot of
background information because they already know the topic well.
2
Outline your speech. Write a list of the information you think should be included
and put it in a logical order.
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For how-to informative speeches, include the reasons for what you're
doing as well as how you do it. For instance, if your speech is on making
kimchi tacos, you should explain why some steps are in a certain sequence
- do you add the kimchi last so that the taco doesn't get soggy? For a
carburetor speech, why are the screws tightened or loosened in a certain
order? This information is important for your audience in learning your
topic.
For informative speeches that explain and describe something instead of
explaining how to do something, make sure to put your information into a
sequence that makes sense. Our local Native American hunting speech, for
example, would have to include some basic information on the identity of
local Native American tribes before getting into the specific details of
hunting traditions.
3
Expand your outline to make the body of the speech. Make it interesting and
informative by elaborating on your key points.
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A common tactic for these speeches, especially when they are given on an
impromptu basis, is to come up with the three most important points for a
speech and organize them by chronological order, spatial order or order of
importance. This process yields a smooth, informative speech in a hurry.
For instance, chronological ordering of a Native American speech might
start with Native American hunting traditions prior to the arrival of
Europeans, the changes to Native American hunting traditions caused by
American history, then conclude with the modern state of Native
American hunting.
4.
Write an introduction. Your introduction should grab the audience's attention
and let them know what direction you’re headed - particularly if it's a long or
complicated speech, be sure to lay out what points you intend to cover.
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It's very common to begin a speech with an amusing anecdote or an
interesting quote relevant to your topic. This can be effective in
establishing rapport with the audience, but it can backfire if you choose a
cheesy statement or a joke that no one gets or likes. For instance, starting
any speech, anywhere, with the joke "I just flew in from New York... and
boy are my arms tired!" is probably a very bad idea (unless the speech is
on bad jokes).
5.
Write a conclusion. The conclusion should quickly summarize the main points of
your speech.
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End your speech with your thesis statement. People are likeliest to
remember the first and last things they hear - so to make sure you're
getting your message across, it helps to "front-load" and "back-load" your
speech with your important take-home message.
Try to tie your conclusion into the introduction in some way; coming full
circle will give your speech a sense of resolution. For example, returning
to the first example you used, or returning to the themes or even the
specific jokes or phrases you began your speech with can give a nice
feeling of "closing the circle" to your speech. If your speech on
carburetors began with a story about how your car began to malfunction at
the worst time possible necessitating carburetor disassembly, for instance,
you'll want to conclude your speech by telling your audience how that car
repair ended up working out.
Part 4 of 4: Practicing Your Speech
1
Practice your speech while being timed. Practice your speech out loud and time
yourself. Add or cut out material as necessary. Even if you do not have an
assigned time limit for your speech, your "hard" time limit is essentially how long
you can talk for until people become bored. You will not know this while you're
busy giving the speech - so get a good sense of it beforehand.
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If your speech is for a forensics or speech event, make sure that it fits
within the time limits you are working within. You will get cut off if your
speech goes over time - so make sure that it fits. If your speech will not be
strictly monitored, don't worry if the speech is a little longer than your
self-imposed time limit.
2.
Practice slowing down. When you're presenting in front of a group of people,
you'll feel like you're going at a glacial pace, even when you're talking quite
quickly. To make sure the audience gets the most out of your speech, practice
slowing down even more than feels natural.
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If you can, videotape yourself and see for yourself how quickly you talk. It
can be very eye-opening to think you're speaking slowly when in fact
you're rushing through things.
Learn to insert dramatic pauses into your speech. A dramatic pause can
hammer home a specific bit of information or offer the audience time for
reflection. The best presenters use them sparingly but to great effect.
Be careful about lists of information. If you need to list out a set of ideas
of facts, give yourself time to pause after each item in the list.[1]
3.
Practice your speech with your props if you have them. You will probably be a
lot more nervous when you give your speech - so get it down as pat as you can.
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Practice what will happen if your props malfunction. Being nervous will
make it very easy to mess up, so set yourself up for success by making
working with your props as automatic and easy as possible for yourself.
What happens if you give your speech on carburetors and fumble or mess
up your disassembly procedure, or if you suddenly misplace a key
ingredient in the middle of a delicate taco-making procedure and be
unable to continue? Plan for something to go wrong and you'll be able to
recover smoothly and still give a great speech.