Introduction
- Explain why informative speeches are important
- Identify the main responsibilities of the informative speaker
- List and describe the four types of informative speeches
- Discuss techniques to make speeches interesting, coherent, and memorable
- Apply module concepts in final questions and activities
"A speaker hasn't taught until the audience has learned"
Every day you give others information in an informal way, whether you realize it or not. You give your grandparents driving directions to your college campus. You tell your professor about a breaking news story. You teach a friend how to ride a motorcycle. You explain to your significant other your spiritual philosophy. You teach a co-worker how to operate the cash register. Or you share your summer travel experience with your roommate. Without a doubt, information plays a vital role in our everyday lives. In the dictionary, the term inform has several meanings, including to impart knowledge, to animate or inspire, to give information or enlightenment, to furnish evidence, to make aware of something, to communicate something of interest or special importance, to give directions, and to provide intelligence, news, facts or data. When you give an informative speech, your primary purpose is to give your audience information that they did not already know, or to teach them more about a topic they are already familiar with.
Your ability to give informative speeches is one of the most important skills you will ever master, and it will be used both in during the course of your career, and in your personal life. A pharmaceutical sales representative who can’t describe the products’ chemical composition, uses and side effects, will have trouble making a sale. A high school math teacher, who can’t explain algebra in simple terms, will have students who will not learn. A manager who can’t teach workers how to assemble microchips will have a department with low productivity and quality. And a little league coach who is unable to instruct players on batting and catching techniques will have a disadvantaged team. It is easy to imagine how difficult it would be to go about the business of our daily lives without the ability to give and receive information. An informative speech “helps keep countries developing, communicates valuable and useful information in thousands of areas, and continues to change, improve or upgrade the lives of audiences”1: pp. 99. Our personal and professional success, as well as our safety and survival depend upon the successful communication of facts and knowledge.
Speeches to inform are the most common types of speeches2, so speech writers should give priority to learning how to construct them. The overall goals of informative speaking are to increase audience members’ knowledge, enhance understanding of a topic, and share relevant facts. Information (facts or circumstances associated with some topic) must be turned into knowledge (familiarity or awareness gained by sight, experience, or report) 3. Knowledge, in this case, comes from the speaker. Informative speeches influence how people see a subject by bringing it to light, or may influence what is seen as important by virtue of directing attention to the subject 4. Successful informative speeches help listeners make sense of their world, and provide information which improves their ability to make wise decisions, because they understand all of their options 5 4. The next two sections of this module will outline the role of the informative speaker and provide a discussion on the four types of informative speeches.
