Speeches to Inform Lesson 4

Word of the Day: Enthrall Verb; in-THRAWL To hold spellbound: charm Example: FCpl Nitschke had trouble enthralling his fellow team members with his speech to inform last year.

What is an informative speech? Main purpose: To impart a body of knowledge on an audience. Intends to educate the audience on a particular topic. Goals: Unlike speeches to persuade, the goal is not to sway the audience in your favour. Instead you lay out all the details so the audience can make an educated decision or learn about a subject they were interested in. What a teacher does versus what a politician does.

Not all informative speeches are the same… There are many different types of informative speeches. We will go over a few to give you an understanding or idea of how you can write yours.

Definition Speech Explains the meaning, theory, or philosophy of a specific topic that the audience may not know much or anything about. Topics can vary in specificity. They may range from a sport to a particular person. Main goal is to give the main points regarding the topic and/or subject so the audience has a better understanding.

Explanatory Speech Gives a description of the state of a given topic. Goal is inform the audience on a particular part of the topic at its given state in time. Example: When new laws are introduced, the Supreme Court explains them to the public. Can be used to condense a highly complex topic into an easy description for the audience. Sigmund Freud ^

Descriptive Speech Creates a detailed picture in a person’s mind regarding an object, person, animal or place. Creates a mental image in the audience’s minds. Example: When you do a report on what you did over the summer, you try and paint a picture of your experience for your teacher.

Informative Speeches: Sub-Types Each of the types of informative speeches can be ordered further down into sub-types. These are more specific to what the topic chosen is, and are focused as such. Sub-Types of Informative Speeches Objects: a speech about anything you can see or touch Procedures: a speech about how something works Concepts/Ideas: a speech about an abstract topic (paradoxes, philosophical ideas) People: a biographical speech Events: a speech about an event you have witnessed or researched

Characteristics of an Informative Speech Designed to convey knowledge and understanding. You are acting as a lecturer or a teacher. You absorb knowledge, and then communicate that knowledge effectively.

Nine Steps to Writing an Informative Speech Choose your topic. Don’t select a topic that requires you to give your opinion. Choose a topic you are genuinely interested in. Narrow down your topic. Don’t try and cover every aspect of the topic. Pick a niche. Develop your thesis. Research your topic. Consider your audience. Assume they know little. Give background information as needed.

Nine Steps to Writing an Informative Speech Outline your speech. List information you want to cover. Order it as you see fit. Write the introduction. Grab the audience’s attention. State your thesis and overview where you are going. Write your body. Expand your outline and include all key points. Write your conclusion. Summarize and refer back to the introduction.

Helpful Hints Give the audience a good reason to listen to you. Observe the audience as you speak. If they don’t look like they are following, try explaining it in a different way. Cover the basics: who, when, what, why, where and how. Emphasize main ideas. Repeat main ideas. People generally need to hear something three times before they remember. State your main idea in three different ways. Be excited about the topic. If you don’t care, the audience won’t care either. If you are excited, the audience will be too.

For next week: I want you to all have an initial idea of what topic you want to write on. We will be going over the last way to write your speech – Speeches to Entertain.