Chapter 13
Presentations to Inform
After all, the ultimate goal of all research is not objectivity, but truth.
Helene Deutsch
Getting Started
Storytelling is a basic part of human communication. You’ve probably told several short
stories just today to relate to friends what the drive to school was like, how your partner
has been acting, what your boss said to a customer, or even what your speech teacher
did in class. With each story you were sharing information, but is sharing the same as
informing? At first you might be tempted to say “sure,” but consider whether you had a
purpose for telling a friend about another friend’s actions, or if the words you used to
discuss your boss communicated any attitude.
At some point in your business career you will be called upon to teach someone
something. It may be a customer, coworker, or supervisor, and in each case you are
performing an informative speech. It is distinct from a sales speech, or persuasive
speech, in that your goal is to communicate the information so that your listener
understands. For example, let’s say you have the task of teaching a customer how to use
a remote control (which button does what) to program a DVD/R to record. Easy, you
say? Sure, it’s easy for you. But for them it is new, so take a moment and consider their
perspective. You may recommend this unit versus that unit, and aim for a sale, but that
goal is separate from first teaching them to be successful at a task they want to learn to
perform. You may need to repeat yourself several times, and they may not catch on as
fast as you expect, but their mastery of the skill or task they want to learn can directly
lead to a sale. They will have more confidence in you and in themselves once they’ve
mastered the task, and will be more receptive to your advice about the competing
products available.
While your end goal may be a sale, the relationship you form has more long-term value.
That customer may tell a friend about the experience, show their family what they
learned, and before you know it someone else comes in asking for you by name.
Communicating respect and focusing on their needs is a positive first step. The
informative speech is one performance you’ll give many times across your career,
whether your audience is one person, a small group, or a large auditorium full of
listeners. Once you master the art of the informative speech, you may mix and match it
with other styles and techniques.
13.1 Functions of the Presentation to Inform
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Describe the functions of the speech to inform.
2. Explain the difference between exposition and interpretation.
Informative presentations focus on helping the audience to understand a topic, issue, or
technique more clearly. You might say, “Is that all?” and the answer is both yes and no.
An affirmative response underscores the idea that informative speeches do not seek to
motivate the audience to change their minds, adopt a new idea, start a new habit, or get
out there and vote. They may, however, inform audiences on issues that may be under
consideration in an election or referendum. On the other hand, a negative response
reaffirms the idea that to communicate a topic, issue, or subject clearly is a challenge in
itself and shouldn’t be viewed as a simplistic process. There are distinct functions
inherent in a speech to inform, and you may choose to use one or more of these
functions in your speech. Let’s take a look at the functions and see how they relate to the
central objective of facilitating audience understanding.
Share
The basic definition of communication highlights the process of understanding and
sharing meaning. An informative speech follows this definition in the aspect of sharing
content and information with an audience. You won’t be asking the audience to actually
do anything in terms of offering a response or solving a problem. Instead you’ll be
offering to share with the audience some of the information you have gathered relating
to a topic. This act of sharing will reduce ignorance, increase learning, and facilitate
understanding of your chosen topic.
Increase Understanding
How well does your audience grasp the information? This should be a guiding question
to you on two levels. The first involves what they already know—or don’t know—about
your topic, and what key terms or ideas might be necessary for someone completely
unfamiliar with your topic to grasp the ideas you are presenting. The second involves
your presentation and the illustration of ideas. A bar chart, a pie graph, and a video clip
may all serve you and the audience well, but how will each ingredient in your speech
contribute to their understanding? The audience will respond to your attention
statement and hopefully maintain interest, but how will you take your speech beyond
superficial coverage of content and effectively communicate key relationships that
increase understanding? These questions should serve as a challenge for your
informative speech, and by looking at your speech from an audience-oriented
perspective, you will increase your ability to increase the audience’s understanding.
Change Perceptions
How you perceive stimuli has everything to do with a range of factors that are unique to
you. We all want to make sense of our world, share our experiences, and learn that many
people face the same challenges we do. Many people perceive the process of speaking in
public as a significant challenge, and in this text, we have broken down the process into
several manageable steps. In so doing, we have to some degree changed your perception
of public speaking. When you present your speech to inform, you may want to change
the audience member’s perceptions of your topic. You may present an informative
speech on air pollution and want to change common perceptions such as the idea that
most of North America’s air pollution comes from private cars, or that nuclear power
plants are a major source of air pollution. You won’t be asking people to go out and vote,
or change their choice of automobiles, but you will help your audience change their
perceptions of your topic.
Gain Skills
Just as you want to increase the audience’s understanding, you may want to help the
audience members gain skills. If you are presenting a speech on how to make salsa from
fresh ingredients, your audience may thank you for not only the knowledge of the key
ingredients and their preparation but also the product available at the conclusion. If
your audience members have never made their own salsa, they may gain a new skill
from your speech. In the same way, perhaps you decide to inform your audience about
eBay, a person-to-person marketplace much like a garage sale in which items are
auctioned or available for purchase over the Internet. You may project onto a screen in
class the main Web site and take the audience through a step-by-step process on how to
sell an item. The audience may learn an important skill, clean out the old items in their
garage, and buy new things for the house with their newfound skills. Your intentions, of
course, are not to argue that salsa is better than ketchup or that eBay is better than
Amazon, but to inform the audience, increasing their understanding of the subject, and
in this case, gaining new skills.
Exposition versus Interpretation
When we share information informally, we often provide our own perspective and
attitude for our own reasons. But when we set out to inform an audience, taking sides or
using sarcasm to communicate attitude may divide the audience into groups that agree
or disagree with the speaker. The speech to inform the audience on a topic, idea, or area
of content is not intended to be a display of attitude and opinion. Consider the
expectations of people who attend a formal dinner. Will they use whatever fork or spoon
they want, or are there expectations of protocol and decorum? In any given
communication context there are expectations, both implicit and explicit. If you attend a
rally on campus for health care reform, you may expect the speaker to motivate you to
urge the university to stop investing in pharmaceutical companies, for example. On the
other hand, if you enroll in a biochemistry course, you expect a teacher to inform you
about the discipline of biochemistry—not to convince you that pharmaceutical
companies are a good or bad influence on our health care system.
The speech to inform is like the classroom setting in that the goal is to inform, not to
persuade, entertain, display attitude, or create comedy. If you have analyzed your
audience, you’ll be better prepared to develop appropriate ways to gain their attention
and inform them on your topic. You want to communicate thoughts, ideas, and
relationships and allow each listener specifically, and the audience generally, to draw
their own conclusions. The speech to inform is all about sharing information to meet the
audience’s needs, not your own. While you might want to inform them about your views
on politics in the Middle East, you’ll need to consider what they are here to learn from
you and let your audience-oriented perspective guide you as you prepare.
Exposition
This relationship between informing as opposed to persuading your audience is often
expressed in terms of exposition versus interpretation. Exposition means a public
exhibition or display, often expressing a complex topic in a way that makes the
relationships and content clear. Expository prose is writing to inform; you may have
been asked to write an expository essay in an English course or an expository report in a
journalism course. The goal is to communicate the topic and content to your audience in
ways that illustrate, explain, and reinforce the overall content to make your topic more
accessible to the audience. The audience wants to learn about your topic and may have
some knowledge on it as you do. It is your responsibility to consider ways to display the
information effectively.
Interpretation and Bias
Interpretation involves adapting the information to communicate a message,
perspective, or agenda. Your insights and attitudes will guide your selection of material,
what you focus on, and what you delete (choosing what not to present to the audience).
Your interpretation will involve personal bias. Bias is an unreasoned or not-wellthought-out judgment. Bias involves beliefs or ideas held on the basis of conviction
rather than current evidence. Beliefs are often called “habits of the mind” because we
come to rely on them to make decisions. Which is the better, cheapest, most expensive,
or the middle-priced product? People often choose the middle-priced product and use
the belief “if it costs more it must be better” (and the opposite: “if it is cheap it must not
be very good”). The middle-priced item, regardless of actual price, is often perceived as
“good enough.” All these perceptions are based on beliefs, and they may not apply to the
given decision or even be based on any evidence or rational thinking.
By extension, marketing students learn to facilitate the customer “relationship” with the
brand. If you come to believe a brand stands for excellence, and a new product comes
out under that brand label, you are more likely to choose it over an unknown or lesserknown competitor. Again, your choice of the new product is based on a belief rather
than evidence or rational thinking. We take mental shortcuts all day long, but in our
speech to inform, we have to be careful not to reinforce bias.
Bias is like a filter on your perceptions, thoughts, and ideas. Bias encourages you to
accept positive evidence that supports your existing beliefs (regardless of whether they
are true) and reject negative evidence that does not support your beliefs. Furthermore,
bias makes you likely to reject positive support for opposing beliefs and accept negative
evidence (again, regardless of whether the evidence is true). So what is positive and
what is negative? In a biased frame of mind, that which supports your existing beliefs is
positive and likely to be accepted, while that which challenges your beliefs is likely to be
viewed as negative and rejected. There is the clear danger in bias. You are inclined to
tune out or ignore information, regardless of how valuable, useful, or relevant it may be,
simply because it doesn’t agree with or support what you already believe.
Point of View
Let’s say you are going to present an informative speech on a controversial topic like
same-sex marriage. Without advocating or condemning same-sex marriage, you could
inform your audience about current laws in various states, recent and proposed changes
in laws, the number of same-sex couples who have gotten married in various places, the
implications of being married or not being able to marry, and so on. But as you prepare
and research your topic, do you only read or examine information that supports your
existing view? If you only choose to present information that agrees with your prior
view, you’ve incorporated bias into your speech. Now let’s say the audience members
have different points of view, even biased ones, and as you present your information you
see many people start to fidget in their seats. You can probably anticipate that if they
were to speak, the first word they would say is “but” and then present their question or
assertion. In effect, they will be having a debate with themselves and hardly listening to
you.
You can anticipate the effects of bias and mitigate them to some degree. First, know the
difference between your point of view or perspective and your bias. Your point of view is
your perception of an idea or concept from your previous experience and understanding.
It is unique to you and is influenced by your experiences and also factors like gender,
race, ethnicity, physical characteristics, and social class. Everyone has a point of view, as
hard as they may try to be open-minded. But bias, as we’ve discussed previously,
involves actively selecting information that supports or agrees with your current belief
and takes away from any competing belief. To make sure you are not presenting a biased
speech, frame your discussion to inform from a neutral stance and consider alternative
points of view to present, compare and contrast, and diversify your speech. The goal of
the speech to inform is to present an expository speech that reduces or tries to be free
from overt interpretation.
This relates to our previous discussion on changing perceptions. Clearly no one can be
completely objective and remove themselves from their own perceptual process. People
are not modern works of minimalist art, where form and function are paramount and
the artist is completely removed from the expression. People express themselves and
naturally relate what is happening now to what has happened to them in the past. You
are your own artist, but you also control your creations.
Objectivity involves expressions and perceptions of facts that are free from distortion by
your prejudices, bias, feelings or interpretations. For example, is the post office box
blue? An objective response would be yes or no, but a subjective response might sound
like “Well, it’s not really blue as much as it is navy, even a bit of purple, kind of like the
color of my ex-boyfriend’s car, remember? I don’t care for the color myself.” Subjectivity
involves expressions or perceptions that are modified, altered, or impacted by your
personal bias, experiences, and background. In an informative speech, your audience
will expect you to present the information in a relatively objective form. The speech
should meet the audience’s need as they learn about the content, not your feelings,
attitudes, or commentary on the content. Here are five suggestions to help you present a
neutral speech:
1. Keep your language neutral and not very positive for some issues while very
negative for others.
2. Keep your sources credible and not from biased organizations. The National Rifle
Association (NRA) will have a biased view of the Second Amendment, for
example, as will the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on civil rights.
3. Keep your presentation balanced. If you use a source that supports one clear side
of an issue, include an alternative source and view. Give each equal time and
respectful consideration.
4. Keep your audience in mind. Not everyone will agree with every point or source
of evidence, but diversity in your speech will have more to offer everyone.
5. Keep who you represent in mind: Your business and yourself.
13.2 Types of Presentations to Inform
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Provide examples of four main types of speech to inform.
Speaking to inform may fall into one of several categories.
Thepresentation to inform may be
•
an explanation,
•
a report,
•
a description, or
•
a demonstration of how to do something.
Let’s explore each of these types of informative speech.
Explanation
Have you ever listened to a lecture or speech where you just didn’t get it? It wasn’t that
you weren’t interested, at least not at first. Perhaps the professor used language and
jargon, or gave a confusing example, or omitted something that would have linked facts
or concepts together. Soon you probably lost interest and sat there, attending the speech
or lecture in body but certainly not in mind. An effective speech to inform will take a
complex topic or issue andexplain it to the audience in ways that increase audience
understanding. Perhaps the speech where you felt lost lacked definitions upfront, or a
clear foundation in the introduction. You certainly didn’t learn much, and that’s exactly
what you want to avoid when you address your audience. Consider how you felt and
then find ways to explain your topic—visually, using definitions and examples, providing
a case study—that can lay a foundation on common ground with your audience and
build on it.
No one likes to feel left out. As the speaker, it’s your responsibility to ensure that this
doesn’t happen. Also know that to teach someone something new—perhaps a skill that
they did not posses or a perspective that allows them to see new connections—is a real
gift, both to you and the audience members. You will feel rewarded because you made a
difference and they will perceive the gain in their own understanding.
Report
As a business communicator, you may be called upon to give an informative report
where you communicate status, trends, or relationships that pertain to a specific topic.
You might have only a few moments to speak, and you may have to prepare within a
tight time frame. Your listeners may want “just the highlights,” only to ask pointed
questions that require significant depth and preparation on your part. The informative
report is a speech where you organize your information around key events, discoveries,
or technical data and provide context and illustration for your audience. They may
naturally wonder, “Why are sales up (or down)?” or “What is the product leader in your
lineup?” and you need to anticipate their perspective and present the key information
that relates to your topic. If everyone in the room knows the product line, you may not
need much information about your best seller, but instead place emphasis on marketing
research that seems to indicate why it is the best seller.
Perhaps you are asked to be the scout and examine a new market, developing strategies
to penetrate it. You’ll need to orient your audience and provide key information about
the market and demonstrate leadership as you articulate your strategies. You have a
perspective gained by time and research, and your audience wants to know why you see
things the way you do, as well as learn what you learned. A status report may be short or
long, and may be an update that requires little background, but always consider the
audience and what common ground you are building your speech on.
Description
Have you ever listened to a friend tell you about their recent trip somewhere and found
the details fascinating, making you want to travel there or visit a similar place? Or
perhaps you listened to your chemistry teacher describe a chemical reaction you were
going to perform in class and you understood the process and could reasonably
anticipate the outcome. Describing information requires emphasis on language that is
vivid, captures attention, and excites the imagination. Your audience will be drawn to
your effective use of color, descriptive language, and visual aids. An informative speech
that focuses description will be visual in many ways. You may choose to illustrate with
images, video and audio clips, and maps. Your first-person experience combined with
your content will allow the audience to come to know a topic, area, or place through you,
or secondhand. Their imagination is your ally, and you should aim to stimulate it with
attention-getting devices and clear visual aids. Use your imagination to place yourself in
their perspective: how would you like to have someone describe the topic to you?
Demonstration
You want to teach the audience how to throw a fast pitch in softball or a curveball in
baseball. You want to demonstrate how to make salsa or how to program the
applications on a smartphone. Each of these topics will call on your kindergarten
experience of “show and tell.” A demonstrative speech focuses on clearly showing a
process and telling the audience important details about each step so that they can
imitate, repeat, or do the action themselves. If the topic is complicated, think of ways to
simplify each step.
Consider the visual aids or supplies you will need. You may have noticed that cooking
shows on television rarely show the chef chopping and measuring ingredients during the
demonstration. Instead, the ingredients are chopped and measured ahead of time and
the chef simply adds each item to the dish with a brief comment like, “Now we’ll stir in
half a cup of chicken stock.” If you want to present a demonstration speech on the ways
to make a paper airplane, one that will turn left or right, go up, down or in loops,
consider how best to present your topic. Perhaps by illustrating the process of making
one airplane followed by example on how to make adjustments to the plane to allow for
different flight patterns would be effective. Would you need additional paper airplanes
made in advance of your speech? Would an example of the paper airplane in each of the
key stages of production be helpful to have ready before the speech? Having all your
preparation done ahead of time can make a world of difference, and your audience will
appreciate your thoughtful approach.
By considering each step and focusing on how to simplify it, you can understand how
the audience might grasp the new information and how you can best help them. Also,
consider the desired outcome; for example, will your listeners be able to actually do the
task themselves or will they gain an appreciation of the complexities of a difficult skill
like piloting an airplane to a safe landing? Regardless of the sequence or pattern you will
illustrate or demonstrate, consider how people from your anticipated audience will
respond, and budget additional time for repetition and clarification.
Informative presentations come in all sizes, shapes, and forms. You may need to create
an “elevator speech” style presentation with the emphasis on brevity, or produce a
comprehensive summary of several points that require multiple visual aids to
communicate complex processes or trends. The main goal in an informative
presentation is to inform, not to persuade, and that requires an emphasis on credibility,
for the speaker and the data or information presented. Extra attention to sources is
required and you’ll need to indicate what reports, texts, or Web sites were sources for
your analysis and conclusions. Here are additional, more specific types of informative
presentations:
•
Biographical information
•
Case study results
•
Comparative advantage results
•
Cost-benefit analysis results
•
Feasibility studies
•
Field study results
•
Financial trends analysis
•
Health, safety, and accident rates
•
Instruction guidelines
•
Laboratory results
•
Product or service orientations
•
Progress reports
•
Research results
•
Technical specifications
Depending on the rhetorical situation, the audience, and the specific information to be
presented, any of these types of presentation may be given as an explanation, a report, a
description, or a demonstration.
13.3 Adapting Your Presentation to Teach
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Articulate and demonstrate an audience-centered perspective.
2. Provide and demonstrate examples of ways to facilitate active listening.
Successfully delivering an informative speech requires adopting an audience-centered
perspective. Imagine that you are in the audience. What would it take for the speaker to
capture and maintain your attention? What would encourage you to listen? In this
section we present several techniques for achieving this, including motivating your
audience to listen, framing your information in meaningful ways, and designing your
presentation to appeal to diverse learning styles.
Motivating the Listener
In an ideal world, every audience member would be interested in your topic.
Unfortunately, however, not everyone will be equally interested in your informative
speech. The range of interest might extend from not at all interested to very interested,
with individual audience members all across this continuum. So what is a speaker to do
in order to motivate the listener?
The perception process involves selection or choice, and you want your audience to
choose to listen to you. You can have all the “bells and whistles” of a dramatic,
entertaining or engaging speech and still not capture everyone’s attention. You can,
however, use what you know to increase their chances of paying attention to you. Begin
with your attention statement at the beginning of your speech and make sure it is
dynamic and arresting. Remember what active listening involves, and look for
opportunities throughout your speech to encourage active listening.
Let’s highlight seven strategies by posing questions that audience may think, but not
actually say out loud, when deciding whether to listen to your speech. By considering
each question, you will take a more audience-centered approach to developing your
speech, increasing your effectiveness.
How Is Your Topic Relevant to Me?
A natural question audience members will ask themselves is, what does the topic have to
do with me? Why should I care about it? Your first response might be because it’s your
turn to speak, so the least they can do is be respectful. Instead, consider the idea that
you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make her drink. If you are in a class, the
audience is part of the class and they may be present in body, but they may arrive
wishing they were somewhere else. You can put a stop to that wish by making your topic
relevant for your audience.Relevance means that the information applies, relates, or has
significance to the listener. Find areas of common ground and build on them.
If you are going to present an informative speech about the drinking and driving laws in
your state, you can be assured that many people in the audience drive automobiles,
some may consume alcohol, and according to psychologist Abraham
Maslow, [1] everyone needs safety. You may also consider that some of your listeners
have had experiences with people who have consumed too much alcohol or people who
have driven under the influence; they may have even had a loved one injured by an
intoxicated driver. You may use the issue of safety to underscore relevance. You might
consider briefly alluding to the effects of alcohol, asking rhetorically if audience
members have ever seen someone try to walk, talk, or even drive after a drinking binge.
All these strategies will reinforce the relevance of your topic and highlight connections
across common ground.
What Will I Learn from You?
This question involves several issues. How much does the audience already know about
your subject? What areas do you think they might not know? If you know that many
people are aware of the laws in your state that pertain to intoxicated driving, you may
consider informing them about proposed changes to these laws in your state legislature.
Another approach might be to describe the impact of the laws on families and
individuals. The consequences can be discussed in terms of annual statistics of motor
vehicle accidents involving alcohol, the age and gender distribution of those involved,
and the individual consequences in terms of financial penalties, impact on employment,
and a criminal record. By building on the information the audience knows, briefly
reviewing it and then extending it, illustrating it, and demonstrating the impact, you
inform them of things they didn’t already know.
Why Are You Interested in This Topic?
Your interest in your topic is an excellent way to encourage your audience to
listen. Interest involves qualities that arouse attention, stimulate curiosity, or move an
individual to a more excited state of mind. You probably selected your topic with your
audience in mind, but also considered your interest in the topic. Why did you choose it
over other topics? What about your topic aroused your attention? Did it stimulate your
curiosity? Did it make you excited about researching and preparing a speech on it?
These questions will help you clarify your interest, and by sharing the answers with your
listeners, you will stimulate excitement on their part.
How Can I Use the Knowledge or Skills You Present to Me?
In an informative speech you are not asking your listeners to go out and vote, or to quit
smoking tomorrow, as you would in a persuasive speech. Nevertheless, you need to
consider how they will apply their new understanding. Application involves the
individual’s capacity for practical use of the information, skill, or knowledge. As a result
of your speech, will your listeners be able to do something new like set up an auction on
eBay? Will they better understand the importance of saving money and know three new
ways to save for retirement?
For example, as a result of your informative speech on drunk driving laws, they may
reflect on what a conviction would mean to them financially, think about how they
would get to work if their driver’s license was suspended, or imagine the grief of a family
when an innocent person is killed in a drunk driving accident. Although your goal is not
to persuade but inform, the new knowledge gained by your audience may motivate them
to make new decisions about their lives.
When you prepare your presentation, consider ways you can actively show application of
your material or content. Incorporate messages into your speech to highlight the
practical use of the knowledge or skill. A couple of helpful comments about how the
audience will actually use the information will go a long way toward encouraging
listening and gaining attention.
What Is New about What You Propose to Present?
Sometimes humans seem like a mass of contradictions. We are naturally attracted to
novelty, yet we appreciate predictability. We like clear organization, yet there are times
when we enjoy a little controlled chaos.Novelty involves something new, unusual, or
unfamiliar. As a speaker, how do you meet the two contrasting needs for familiarity and
novelty?
Address both. You may want to start by forming a clear foundation on what you have in
common with the audience. Present the known elements of your topic and then extend
into areas where less is known, increasing the novelty or new information as you
progress. People will feel comfortable with the familiar, and be intrigued by the
unfamiliar.
You might also invert this process, starting from a relatively unfamiliar stance and
working your way back to the familiar. This is a technique often used in cinema, where
the opening shot is an extreme close-up of something and you can’t guess what it is for
lack of perspective. As the camera pulls back or pans left or right, you get more clues and
eventually are able to see what it is. It is intriguing, yet familiar. Consider ways to
reinforce the novelty of your material to your audience to encourage listening.
Are You Going to Bore Me?
You have probably sat through your fair share of boring lectures where the speaker,
teacher, or professor talks at length in a relatively monotone voice, fails to alternate his
or her pace, incorporates few visual aids or just reads from a PowerPoint show for an
hour in a dimly lighted room. Recall how you felt. Trapped? Tired? Did you wonder why
you had to be there? Then you know what you need to avoid.
Being bored means the speaker failed to stimulate you as the listener, probably
increased your resistance to listening or participating, and became tiresome. To avoid
boring your audience, speak with enthusiasm, and consider ways to gain, and keep
gaining, their attention. You don’t have to be a standup comedian, however, to avoid
being a boring speaker. Consider the rhetorical situation, and let the audience’s needs
guide you as you prepare. Adjust and adapt as they give you feedback, nonverbal or
verbal. Consider the question, “What’s in it for me?” from the audience’s perspective
and plan to answer it specifically with vivid examples. If your presentation meets their
expectations and meets their needs, listeners are more likely to give you their attention.
You may also give some thought and consideration to the organizational principle and
choose a strategy that promises success. By organizing the information in interesting
ways within the time frame, you can increase your effectiveness. The opposite of boring
is not necessarily entertaining. Variety in your speech, from your voice to your visual
aids, will help stimulate interest.
Is This Topic Really as Important as You Say It Is?
No one wants to feel like his or her time is being wasted. That trapped, tired, or bored
feeling is often related to a perception that the topic is not relevant or important. What
is important to you and what is important to your audience may be two different things.
Take time and plan to reinforce in your speech how the topic is important to your
audience. Importance involves perceptions of worth, value, and usefulness.
How can you express that the topic is worthy of their attention? We’ve discussed the
importance of considering why you chose the topic in the first place as a strategy to
engage your audience. They will want to know why the topic was worthy of your time,
and by extension, their time.
Consider how to express through images, examples, or statistics the depth, breadth, and
impact of your topic. Tell the audience how many drivers under the age of twenty-one
lose their lives each year in alcohol-related accidents, or what percentage of all undertwenty-one deaths in your state are related to a combination of drinking and driving.
Remember, too, that because statistics may sound impersonal or overwhelming,
focusing on a specific case may provide more depth. As a final tip, be careful not to
exaggerate the importance of your topic, as you may run the risk of having the audience
mentally call your bluff. If this happens, you will lose some credibility and attention.
Framing
The presentation of information shapes attitudes and behavior. This is done through
framing and content. Framing involves placing an imaginary set of boundaries, much
like a frame around a picture or a window, around a story, of what is included and
omitted, influencing the story itself. What lies within the frame that we can see? What
lies outside the frame that we cannot see? Which way does the window face? All these
variables impact our perspective, and by the acts of gatekeeping and agenda setting, the
media frames the stories we see and information we learn.
Suppose you are presenting an informative speech about media effects on viewers. You
might cite the case of the 1993 movie The Program about college football players. [2] In
one scene, to demonstrate their “courage,” the football players lie on the divider line of a
busy highway at night as cars rush past. After viewing the film, several teenagers
imitated the scene; some were seriously injured and one died as a result. [3] How will you
frame this incident in the context of your speech? You might mention that the
production studio subsequently deleted the highway sequence from the film, that the
sequence clearly indicated the actors were stunt men, or that The Program ultimately
argues that such behavior is destructive and unwarranted. Or you might cite additional
incidents where people have been injured or killed by trying a stunt they saw in the
media.
One form of framing is gatekeeping. Gatekeeping, according to Pearson and Nelson, is
“a process of determining what news, information, or entertainment will reach a mass
audience.” [4] The term “gatekeeping” was originally used by psychologist Kurt Lewin as
a metaphor, featuring a series of gates that information must pass through before ever
reaching the audience. [5] In the context of journalism and mass media, gates and
gatekeepers may include media owners, editors, or even the individual reporter in the
context of mass communication. In the context of public speaking, you as the speaker
are the gatekeeper to the information.
Another function of gatekeeping is agenda setting. Setting the agenda, just like the
agenda of a meeting, means selecting what the audience will see and hear and in what
order. Who decides what is the number one story on the evening news? Throughout the
twentieth century, professional communicators working in the media industry set the
agenda for readers, listeners, and viewers; today widespread Internet access has greatly
broadened the number of people who can become agenda setters. In giving a speech,
you select the information and set the agenda. You may choose to inform the audience
on a topic that gets little press coverage, or use a popular story widely covered in a new
way, with a case example and local statistics.
Another aspect of framing your message is culture. According to Pearson and
Nelson, culture within the context of communication is “a set of beliefs and
understandings a society has about the world, its place in it, and the various activities
used to celebrate and reinforce those beliefs.” [6] Themes of independence, overcoming
challenging circumstances, and hard-fought victory are seen repeatedly in American
programming and national speeches. They reflect an aspect of American culture. In the
case of football, it is sometimes viewed as the quintessentially male American sport, and
its importance on Thanksgiving Day is nothing short of a ritual for many Americans. If
you went to a country in Latin America, you would probably find the television set tuned
to a soccer game, where soccer is the revered sport. What do these sports say about
culture?
One might argue that American football is aggressive and that, while the team is
important, the individual’s effort and record are celebrated in all the time between plays.
Significant attention is given to the salary each individual player makes. In South
American football, or soccer, the announcer’s emphasis is on the team and at breaks,
some discussion of key players is present, but not to the same degree, though this is
changing.
What do these differences tell us? Our interpretation of these differences may point
toward ways in which the media reinforces national culture and its values. However,
since you are speaking to inform, take care not to overgeneralize. To state that American
football is a male-viewer-dominated sport may be an accurate observation, but to
exclude women when discussing the sport would lead to a generalization that is not
accurate, and may even perpetuate a stereotype.
The media and its public communication is an active participant in the perpetuation of
stereotypes in many ways. In the mid-1990s, Julia Wood [7]made an interesting
observation of the world according to television: “It is a world in which males make up
two-thirds of the population. The women are fewer in number perhaps because less than
10 percent live beyond 35. Those who do, like their male counterparts and the younger
females, are nearly all white and heterosexual. In addition to being young, the majority
of women are beautiful, very thin, passive, and primarily concerned with relationships
and getting rings out of collars and commodes.” [8]
This limited view, itself a product of gatekeeping, agenda setting, and the profit motive,
has little connection to the “real world.” Most people in the world are not white, and the
majority of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. There are more women than men
in the adult populations of most countries. Women do not tend to die off at age thirtyfive, in fact women on average live longer than men. Many people, particularly in a
diverse country that is undergoing dramatic demographic changes, are not members of
just one racial, ethnic, or cultural group but rather a member of many groups. Consider
culture when selecting content and note that diversity of information and sources will
strengthen your speech and relate to more members of your audience.
Additional Tips
Andrews, Andrews, and Williams [9] offer eight ways to help listeners learn that are
adapted and augmented here.
Limit the Number of Details
While it may be tempting to include many of the facts you’ve found in your research,
choose only those that clearly inform your audience. Try to group the information and
then choose the best example to reduce your list of details. You don’t want the audience
focusing on a long list of facts and details only to miss your main points.
Focus on Clear Main Points
Your audience should be able to discern your main points clearly the first time. You’ll
outline them in your introduction and they will listen for them as you proceed. Connect
supporting information to your clear main points to reinforce them, and provide verbal
cues of points covered and points to come.
Use internal summaries, where you state, “Now that we’ve discussed X point, let’s
examine its relationship to Y point. This will help your audience follow your logic and
organization and differentiate between supporting material and main points. You may
also want to foreshadow points by stating, “We’ll examine Z point in a moment but first
let’s consider Y point.”
Pace Yourself Carefully
Talking too fast is a common expression of speech anxiety. One way to reduce your
anxiety level is to practice and know your information well. As you practice, note where
you are in terms of time at the completion of each point. After a few practice rounds, you
should begin to see some consistency in your speed. Use these benchmarks of time to
pace yourself. When you deliver your speech, knowing you have time, are well prepared,
and are familiar with your speech patterns will help you to pace yourself more
effectively.
Speak with Concern for Clarity
Not everyone speaks English as his or her first language, and even among English
speakers, there is a wide discrepancy in speaking style and language use. When you
choose your language, consider challenging terms and jargon, and define them
accordingly. You may assume that everyone knows “NIH” stands for “National Institutes
of Health,” but make sure you explain the acronym the first time you use it, just as you
would if you were writing a formal article. Also pay attention to enunciation and
articulation. As your rate of speech picks up, you may tend to slur words together and
drop or de-emphasize consonants, especially at the ends of words. Doing this will make
you harder to understand, discouraging listening.
Use Restatement and Repetition
There is nothing wrong with restating main points or repeating key phrases. The
landmark speech titled “I have a dream,” which Martin Luther King Jr. delivered on
August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, used that phrase multiple times
to reinforce the main message effectively.
Provide Visual Reinforcement
We’ve discussed the importance of visual aids to support and illustrate your content. As
a speaker giving a prepared presentation, you have the luxury of preparing your visual
aids with your audience in mind. In an impromptu speech, or a media interview, you
may lack this luxury and find the effort challenging to appropriately reinforce your
content. Take advantage of the known time frame before your speech to prepare
effective visual aids and your speech will be more effective.
Include Time for Questions
You can’t possibly cover all the information about a topic that every audience member
would want to know in the normal five to seven minutes of a speech. You may do an
excellent job of supporting and reinforcing your points, but many listeners may have
questions. Take this as a compliment—after all, if you hadn’t piqued their interest, they
wouldn’t have any questions to ask. Answering questions is an opportunity to elaborate
on a point, reinforcing what you presented and relying on your thorough preparation to
illustrate the point with more depth.
In some situations, the speaker will accept and answer questions during the body of the
presentations, but it is more typical to ask listeners to hold their questions until the end.
Depending on your instructor’s guidelines, you may advise the class at the beginning of
your presentation which of these formats you will follow.
Look for Ways to Involve Listeners Actively
Instead of letting your audience sit passively, motivate them to get involved in your
presentation. You might ask for a show of hands as you raise a question like, “How many
of you have wondered about…?” You might point out the window, encouraging your
audience to notice a weather pattern or an example of air pollution. Even stepping away
from the podium for a moment can provide variety and increase active listening.
Assess Learning, If Possible
Questions during a speech can help assess understanding, but also run the risk of
derailing your speech as the audience pursues one point while you have two more to
present. Make time for dialogue after the conclusion of your speech and encourage your
audience to write down their questions and ask them at that time. Perhaps asking your
audience to reflect on a point, and then to write a few sentences at the conclusion of
your speech, might reinforce your central message.
[1] Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.
[2] James, C. (1993, October 24). If Simon says, ‘Lie down in the road,’ should you? New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/24/weekinreview/the-nation-if-simon-says-lie-down-in-the-road-shouldyou.html
[3] Wilson, J., & Wilson, S. (1998). Mass media/mass culture (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
[4] Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2000). An introduction to human communication: Understanding and sharing (p. 133).
Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
[5] Wilson, J., & Wilson, S. (1998). Mass media/mass culture (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
[6] Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2000). An introduction to human communication: Understanding and sharing (p. 132).
Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
[7] Wood, J. (1994). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Random House.
[8] Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2000). An introduction to human communication: Understanding and sharing (p.136).
Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
[9] Andrews, P. H., Andrews, J., & Williams, G. (1999). Public speaking: Connecting you and your audience. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
13.4 Diverse Types of Intelligence and Learning Styles
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Define the concepts of multiple intelligences and learning styles, and identify different
types of intelligence and learning styles that audience members may have.
Psychologist Howard Gardner [1] is known for developing the theory of multiple
intelligences in which he proposes that different people are intelligent in different
domains. For example, some people may excel in interpersonal intelligence, or the
ability to form and maintain relationships. Other people may excel in bodily-kinesthetic
intelligence, or physical coordination and control. Still others have a high degree of
musical intelligence or of logico-mathematical intelligence. While some psychologists
argue that these are actually talents or aptitudes rather than forms of intelligence, the
point remains that individual audience members will receive information differently,
depending on the types of intelligence (or talent) they possess.
An outgrowth of the theory of multiple intelligences is thetheory of learning styles, the
idea that people learn better if the message is presented in a strategy that fits with the
types of intelligence in which they are strongest. Consider each style when preparing
your speech. What styles might work best with your particular audience?
For example, suppose you work for a do-it-yourself home improvement store and part of
your job is to give an informative seminar once a month on how to renovate a previously
wallpapered wall. Your topic is specified for you, and you are very familiar with your
subject matter, having worked in a variety of homes where old wallpaper needed to be
removed or replaced. However, you never know from one month to the next how many
people will come to your seminar or what their interests and level of prior knowledge
are.
If you begin by going around the room and asking each person to describe the wallpaper
situation they plan to work on, this will help you determine what kinds of questions your
audience hopes to have answered, but it won’t tell you anything about their learning
styles. Suppose instead that you ask them to state why they decided to attend and what
their career or occupation is. Now you can gauge your presentation according to the
likely learning styles of your audience. For example, if you have ten attendees and five of
them work in the banking or information technology field, it is probably safe to assume
they are fairly strong in the logical or mathematical area. This will help you decide how
to talk about measuring the wall, calculating product quantities, and estimating cost. If
another attendee is a psychologist, he or she may be able to relate on the intrapersonal
and interpersonal level. You may decide to strengthen your remarks about the
importance of being comfortable with one’s choices for renovating the room, seeking
consensus from family members, and considering how the finished room will be suitable
for guests. If some attendees work in the arts, they may be especially attentive to your
advice about the aesthetic qualities of a well-executed wall surface renovation.
Table 13.1 "Diverse Learning Styles and Strategies" provides a summary of the seven
styles and some suggested strategies to help you design your speech to align with each
learning style.
Table 13.1 Diverse Learning Styles and Strategies
Learning Style
Linguistic
Examples
Language, reading, verbal expression,
speaking, writing, memorizing words (names, Reading, oral presentations such as
places, and dates)
debates, reports, or storytelling
Use of numbers, perceiving relationships,
reasoning (sequential, deductive, inductive),
Logical/Mathematical computation
Spatial
Strategies
Think in three dimensions, mental imagery,
design color, form and line within space
Problem solving, graphic organizers,
categorizing, classifying, working with
patterns and relationships
Maps, charts, graphic organizers,
painting or drawing, visual aids,
working with pictures or colors
Learning Style
Examples
Strategies
Musical
Discern rhythm, pitch and tone, interpret
music, identify tonal patterns, compose
music
Rhythmic patterns and exercises,
singing, music performance
Bodily/Kinesthetic
Sense of timing and balance, athletics,
dance, work that takes physical skill
Drama, role playing, touching and
manipulating objects, demonstrating
Interpersonal
Organizing, leading others, communicating,
collaboration, negotiating, mediating
Group projects, interaction, debates,
discussions, cooperative learning,
sharing ideas
Intrapersonal
Reflection, thinking strategies,
focusing/concentration
Individual projects, self-paced
instruction, note-taking, reflection
[1] Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: Basic Books.
13.5 Preparing Your Speech to Inform
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss and provide examples of ways to incorporate ethics in a speech.
2. Construct an effective speech to inform.
Now that we’ve covered issues central to the success of your informative speech, there’s
no doubt you want to get down to work. Here are five final suggestions to help you
succeed.
Start with What You Know
Are you taking other classes right now that are fresh in your memory? Are you working
on a challenging chemistry problem that might lend itself to your informative speech?
Are you reading a novel by Gabriel García Márquez that might inspire you to present a
biographical speech, informing your audience about the author? Perhaps you have a
hobby or outside interest that you are excited about that would serve well. Regardless of
where you draw the inspiration, it’s a good strategy to start with what you know and
work from there. You’ll be more enthusiastic, helping your audience to listen intently,
and you’ll save yourself time. Consider the audience’s needs, not just your need to cross
a speech off your “to-do” list. This speech will be an opportunity for you to take prepared
material and present it, gaining experience and important feedback. In the “real world,”
you often lack time and the consequences of a less than effective speech can be serious.
Look forward to the opportunity and use what you know to perform an effective,
engaging speech.
Consider Your Audience’s Prior Knowledge
You don’t want to present a speech on the harmful effects of smoking when no one in
the audience smokes. You may be more effective addressing the issue of secondhand
smoke, underscoring the relationship to relevance and addressing the issue of
importance with your audience. The audience will want to learn something from you,
not hear everything they have heard before. It’s a challenge to assess what they’ve heard
before, and often a class activity is conducted to allow audience members to come to
know each other. You can also use their speeches and topic selection as points to
consider. Think about age, gender, and socioeconomic status, as well as your listeners’
culture or language. Survey the audience if possible, or ask a couple of classmates what
they think of the topics you are considering.
In the same way, when you prepare a speech in a business situation, do your homework.
Access the company Web site, visit the location and get to know people, and even call
members of the company to discuss your topic. The more information you can gather
about your audience, the better you will be able to adapt and present an effective speech.
Adapting Jargon and Technical Terms
You may have a topic in mind from another class or an outside activity, but chances are
that there are terms specific to the area or activity. From wakeboarding to rugby to a
chemical process that contributes to global warming, there will be jargon and technical
terms. Define and describe the key terms for your audience as part of your speech and
substitute common terms where appropriate. Your audience will enjoy learning more
about the topic and appreciate your consideration as you present your speech.
Using Outside Information
Even if you think you know everything there is to know about your topic, using outside
sources will contribute depth to your speech, provide support for your main points, and
even enhance your credibility as a speaker. “According to ____________” is a normal
way of attributing information to a source, and you should give credit where credit is
due. There is nothing wrong with using outside information as long as you clearly cite
your sources and do not present someone else’s information as your own.
Presenting Information Ethically
A central but often unspoken expectation of the speaker is that we will be ethical. This
means, fundamentally, that we perceive one another as human beings with common
interests and needs, and that we attend to the needs of others as well as our own. An
ethical informative speaker expresses respect for listeners by avoiding prejudiced
comments against any group, and by being honest about the information presented,
including information that may contradict the speaker’s personal biases. The ethical
speaker also admits it when he or she does not know something. The best salespersons
recognize that ethical communication is the key to success, as it builds a healthy
relationship where the customer’s needs are met, thereby meeting the salesperson’s own
needs.
Reciprocity
Tyler [1] discusses ethical communication and specifically indicates reciprocity as a key
principle. Reciprocity, or a relationship of mutual exchange and interdependence, is an
important characteristic of a relationship, particularly between a speaker and the
audience. We’ve examined previously the transactional nature of communication, and it
is important to reinforce this aspect here. We exchange meaning with one another in
conversation, and much like a game, it takes more than one person to play. This leads to
interdependence, or the dependence of the conversational partners on one another.
Inequality in the levels of dependence can negatively impact the communication and, as
a result, the relationship. You as the speaker will have certain expectations and roles,
but dominating your audience will not encourage them to fulfill their roles in terms of
participation and active listening. Communication involves give and take, and in a
public speaking setting, where the communication may be perceived as “all to one,”
don’t forget that the audience is also communicating in terms of feedback with you. You
have a responsibility to attend to that feedback, and develop reciprocity with your
audience. Without them, you don’t have a speech.
Mutuality
Mutuality means that you search for common ground and understanding with the
audience, establishing this space and building on it throughout the speech. This involves
examining viewpoints other than your own, and taking steps to insure the speech
integrates an inclusive, accessible format rather than an ethnocentric one.
Nonjudgmentalism
Nonjudgmentalism underlines the need to be open-minded, an expression of one’s
willingness to examine diverse perspectives. Your audience expects you to state the truth
as you perceive it, with supporting and clarifying information to support your position,
and to speak honestly. They also expect you to be open to their point of view and be able
to negotiate meaning and understanding in a constructive way. Nonjudgmentalism may
include taking the perspective that being different is not inherently bad and that there is
common ground to be found with each other.
While this characteristic should be understood, we can see evidence of breakdowns in
communication when audiences perceive they are not being told the whole truth. This
does not mean that the relationship with the audience requires honesty and excessive
self-disclosure. The use of euphemisms and displays of sensitivity are key components
of effective communication, and your emphasis on the content of your speech and not
yourself will be appreciated. Nonjudgmentalism does underscore the importance of
approaching communication from an honest perspective where you value and respect
your audience.
Honesty
Honesty, or truthfulness, directly relates to trust, a cornerstone in the foundation of a
relationship with your audience. Without it, the building (the relationship) would fall
down. Without trust, a relationship will not open and develop the possibility of mutual
understanding. You want to share information and the audience hopefully wants to
learn from you. If you “cherry-pick” your data, only choosing the best information to
support only your point and ignore contrary or related issues, you may turn your
informative speech into a persuasive one with bias as a central feature.
Look at the debate over the U.S. conflict with Iraq. There has been considerable
discussion concerning the cherry-picking of issues and facts to create a case for armed
intervention. To what degree the information at the time was accurate or inaccurate will
continue to be a hotly debated issue, but the example holds in terms on an audience’s
response to a perceived dishonestly. Partial truths are incomplete and often misleading,
and you don’t want your audience to turn against you because they suspect you are
being less than forthright and honest.
Respect
Respect should be present throughout a speech, demonstrating the speaker’s high
esteem for the audience. Respect can be defined as an act of giving and displaying
particular attention to the value you associate with someone or a group. This definition
involves two key components. You need to give respect in order to earn from others, and
you need to show it. Displays of respect include making time for conversation, not
interrupting, and even giving appropriate eye contact during conversations.
Trust
Communication involves sharing and that requires trust. Trust means the ability to rely
on the character or truth of someone, that what you say you mean and your audience
knows it. Trust is a process, not a thing. It builds over time, through increased
interaction and the reduction of uncertainty. It can be lost, but it can also be regained. It
should be noted that it takes a long time to build trust in a relationship and can be lost
in a much shorter amount of time. If your audience suspects you mislead them this time,
how will they approach your next presentation? Acknowledging trust and its importance
in your relationship with the audience is the first step in focusing on this key
characteristic.
Avoid Exploitation
Finally, when we speak ethically, we do not intentionally exploit one
another.Exploitation means taking advantage, using someone else for one’s own
purposes. Perceiving a relationship with an audience as a means to an end and only
focusing on what you get out of it, will lead you to treat people as objects. The
temptation to exploit others can be great in business situations, where a promotion, a
bonus, or even one’s livelihood is at stake.
Suppose you are a bank loan officer. Whenever a customer contacts the bank to inquire
about applying for a loan, your job is to provide an informative presentation about the
types of loans available, their rates and terms. If you are paid a commission based on the
number of loans you make and their amounts and rates, wouldn’t you be tempted to
encourage them to borrow the maximum amount they can qualify for? Or perhaps to
take a loan with confusing terms that will end up costing much more in fees and interest
than the customer realizes? After all, these practices are within the law; aren’t they just
part of the way business is done? If you are an ethical loan officer, you realize you would
be exploiting customers if you treated them this way. You know it is more valuable to
uphold your long-term relationships with customers than to exploit them so that you
can earn a bigger commission.
Consider these ethical principles when preparing and presenting your speech, and you
will help address many of these natural expectations of others and develop healthier,
more effective speeches.
Sample Informative Presentation
Here is a generic sample speech in outline form with notes and suggestions.
Attention Statement
Show a picture of a goldfish and a tomato and ask the audience, “What do these have in
common?”
Introduction
1. Briefly introduce genetically modified foods.
2. State your topic and specific purpose: “My speech today will inform you on
genetically modified foods that are increasingly part of our food supply.”
3. Introduce your credibility and the topic: “My research on this topic has shown me
that our food supply has changed but many people are unaware of the changes.”
4. State your main points: “Today I will define genes, DNA, genome engineering and
genetic manipulation, discuss how the technology applies to foods, and provide
common examples.”
Body
1. Information. Provide a simple explanation of the genes, DNA and genetic
modification in case there are people who do not know about it. Provide clear
definitions of key terms.
2. Genes and DNA. Provide arguments by generalization and authority.
3. Genome engineering and genetic manipulation. Provide arguments by analogy,
cause, and principle.
4. Case study. In one early experiment, GM (genetically modified) tomatoes were
developed with fish genes to make them resistant to cold weather, although this
type of tomato was never marketed.
5. Highlight other examples.
Conclusion
Reiterate your main points and provide synthesis, but do not introduce new content.
Residual Message
“Genetically modified foods are more common in our food supply than ever before.”
[1] Tyler, V. (1978). Report of the working groups of the second SCA summer conference on intercultural
communication. In N. C. Asuncio-Lande (Ed.), Ethical Perspectives and Critical Issues in Intercultural
Communication (pp. 170–177). Falls Church, VA: SCA.
13.6 Creating an Informative Presentation
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss the parts of an informational presentation.
2. Understand the five parts of any presentation.
An informational presentation is common request in business and industry. It’s the
verbal and visual equivalent of a written report. Information sharing is part of any
business or organization. Informative presentations serve to present specific
information for specific audiences for specific goals or functions. The type of
presentation is often identified by its primary purpose or function. Informative
presentations are often analytical or involve the rational analysis of information.
Sometimes they simply “report the facts” with no analysis at all, but still need to
communicate the information in a clear and concise format. While a presentation may
have conclusions, propositions, or even a call to action, the demonstration of the
analysis is the primary function.
A sales report presentation, for example, is not designed to make a sale. It is, however,
supposed to report sales to date and may forecast future sales based on previous trends.
An informative presentation does not have to be a formal event, though it can be. It can
be generic and nonspecific to the audience or listener, but the more you know about
your audience, the better. When you tailor your message to that audience, you zero in on
your target and increase your effectiveness. The emphasis is on clear and concise
communication, but it may address several key questions:
•
Topic: Product or Service?
•
Who are you?
•
Who is the target market?
•
What is the revenue model?
•
What are the specifications?
•
How was the information gathered?
•
How does the unit work?
•
How does current information compare to previous information?
Table 13.2 "Presentation Components and Their Functions" lists the five main parts or
components of any presentation. [1]
Table 13.2 Presentation Components and Their Functions
Component
Function
Attention Statement Raise interest and motivate the listener
Introduction
Communicate a point and common ground
Body
Address key points
Conclusion
Summarize key points
Residual Message
Communicate central theme, moral of story, or main point
You will need to address the questions to establish relevance and meet the audience’s
needs. The five parts of any speech will serve to help you get organized.
Sample Speech Guidelines
Imagine that you have been assigned to give an informative presentation lasting five to
seven minutes. Follow the guidelines in Table 13.3 "Sample Speech Guidelines" and
apply them to your presentation.
Table 13.3 Sample Speech Guidelines
1. Topic
Choose a product or service that interests you, research it, and report your findings in your
speech.
2. Purpose
Your general purpose, of course, is to inform. But you need to formulate a more specific
purpose statement that expresses a point you have to make about your topic—what you
hope to accomplish in your speech.
3. Audience
Think about what your audience might already know about your topic and what they may
not know, and perhaps any attitudes toward or concerns about it. Consider how this may
affect the way that you will present your information.
4. Supporting
Materials
Using the information gathered in your search for information, determine what is most
worthwhile, interesting, and important to include in your speech. Time limits will require
that you be selective about what you use. Use visual aids!
a.
Write a central idea statement that expresses the message, or point, that you hope to get
across to your listeners in the speech.
5. Organization
b.
Determine the two to three main points that will be needed to support your central idea.
c.
Finally, prepare a complete sentence outline of the body of the speech.
Develop an opening that will
6. Introduction
1.
get the attention and interest of your listeners,
2.
express your central idea or message,
3.
lead into the body of your speech.
7. Conclusion
The conclusion should review and/or summarize the important ideas in your speech and
bring it to a smooth close.
8. Delivery
The speech should be delivered extemporaneously (not reading but speaking), using
speaking notes and not reading from the manuscript. Work on maximum eye contact with
your listeners. Use any visual aids or handouts that may be helpful.
[1] McLean, S. (2003). The basics of speech communication. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
13.7 Additional Resources
To listen to speeches from great figures in history, visit the History Channel’s audio speech
archive. http://www.history.com/video.do?name=speeches
What were the greatest speeches of the twentieth century? Find out
here.http://gos.sbc.edu/top100.html
Visit this eHow link for a great video demonstrating how to remove ink stains from
clothing. http://www.ehow.com/video_2598_remove-ink-stains.html
To improve your enunciation, try these exercises from the Mount Holyoke College
site. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/speech/enunciation.htm
The Merriam-Webster dictionary site provides a wealth of resources on words, their meanings, their
origins, and audio files of how to pronounce them.http://www.merriam-webster.com
For information on adapting your speech for an audience or audience members with special needs,
explore this index of resources compiled by Ithaca
College.http://www.ithaca.edu/wise/topics/speech_language.htm
Dr. Richard Felder of North Carolina State University presents this questionnaire to assess your
learning styles.http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers an array of Web resources on
ethics. http://www.asha.org/practice/ethics
Visit this site for a list of more than thirty informative topics for a business
speech. http://www.speech-topics-help.com/informative-business-speech-topics.html
Visit this eHow site to get ideas for an audience-oriented informative speech
topic. http://www.ehow.com/how_2239702_choose-topic-informative-speech.html
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