Chapter 9: Informative Speaking
You are exposed to Informative Speaking every day that you are in school. In college you listen to informative speaking.
When a peer tells you about her senior project, you are getting informative speaking.
YOU will be giving an informational speech in our class on a topic of your choice. Your speech will be 8-10 minutes. No one
will fall asleep. You will give a quiz after your speech to find out how effective your transfer of facts was.
Read chapter 9 and answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
What is the main goal of informative speaking?
What are the four main categories of informative speaking?
What is the difference between an informational process speech and a directional process speech?
Decide what the time, occasion, audience and goals are for your speech. Be creative; you’ll tell us where we are,
who we are, and what the occasion is.
Are persuasive elements permitted in an informational speech? Will you WANT to use persuasion? Why or why
not?
Will you need to research your topic?
What are the three parts of a speech?
What are the six methods listed (152) that might help you gain an audience’s attention in the introduction?
Which method can you apply to your own informational speech? Why do you think that method will work best for
you, and for the topic you chose?
What are the five methods suggested for captivating the audience for the duration of your speech (build interest p
153)? Which one will work best for you and your topic? Why?
What motivation can you use in your speech?
What type of speech do you have? Process? Description? Which of the five common patterns of organization would
work best for YOUR topic (155-156)
Explain Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Create a small poster depicting those needs in a visual way.
How will you tie YOUR topic to your audience’s feelings? Again, write out some ideas.
Time to start drafting. What are the 3-5 main points you will raise in your informational speech?
What points will need to be repeated because they are complicated or really important? (make a list)
Time to write your speech notes. Prepare about 2 pages of notes. Remember, it ALWAYS takes longer to deliver a
speech than to read it at home.
Revise your lecture: add transitions, and remove excessive “thus” “therefore” and other blahy transitions. Try both
transitional words, and what I like to call gum on the shoe transitions… where you pull a little bit of one paragraph
out to start the next with.
Check your notes against Maslow’s Hierarchy- are you touching on all levels, or most? Fix as needed.
Pruning time: turn the jargon into English. Normal English. The kind that old ladies like me understand.
After editing and proofreading… get ready for delivery. Print your speech in big font, with spaces. Highlight or bold
key words that you can catch with your eye so you can look at your audience. This copy will be turned in!
Be prepared for audience confusion and questions! Have some note cards with further information.
Revise your conclusion! Do not use “To summarize” or other awful enders. Use one of the methods suggested on
page 162.
Yup. You will have to conduct a question and answer period. Be ready. Be nice. You will have to ask questions to
your peers’ lectures, so find out what everyone’s topic is, and write one question to ask.
Write a 10 question quiz (multiple choice or short answer is fine) on the content of your speech. The quiz is due
alone with your highlighted lecture.
The Speech (transcript) is 25% of your final exam.
The quiz grade is 10%
Presentation of the speech is 50%
Appropriate Decorum and Participation in Banquet is 15% of your exam grade.