Chapter 16.1 Informative Speaking Goals

Accuracy, Clarity, and Listener Interest

• A good informative speech:

  • Conveys accurate information.

  • Is clear.

  • Keeps the listener interested.

• Accuracy, clarity, and interest are key to speaker effectiveness.

• Inaccurate, incomplete, or unclear information has limited usefulness.

• Narrowing the topic is crucial for accuracy.

  • It's impossible to give complete information on any topic.

Importance of Being Current

• Ensure information is up-to-date.

• Technology changes rapidly, requiring constant updates.

• Even seemingly unchanging topics (e.g., the American Civil War) require updated information due to ongoing research.

Clarity in Informative Speaking

• Convey ideas understandably.

• Clarity relies on:

  • Logical organization.

  • Understandable word choices.

• Avoid assumptions about audience knowledge.

• Rehearse in front of peers for feedback on clarity.

Keeping the Speech Interesting

• Sustain audience attention by avoiding boredom.

• Consider audience interests when choosing a topic.

• Connect the topic to audience interests and curiosities.

Why We Speak to Inform

• Informative speaking delivers knowledge.

• Avoid expressing personal opinions.

• When discussing controversial topics, present all sides fairly.

  • Represent views of proponents and critics without bias.

  • Do not slant explanations to influence listeners.

• Informative speakers educate by informing, allowing listeners to form their own opinions.

Making Information Clear and Interesting

• Use description: create a picture in the minds of your audience.

  • Describe physical, social, and emotional realities, sequences, consequences, or contexts (e.g., the mindset of Salem during the witch trials).

• Use causal analysis: focus on connections between causes and consequences.

  • Example: Explaining how serious illness can lead to bankruptcy, even for well-insured families.

• Use categories to group things together.

  • Example: Three categories of investment: liquid savings, avoiding debt, and acquiring properties.

Strategies for Clarity and Interest

Adjust Complexity to the Audience

• Avoid speeches that are too complex or too simplistic.

• Use audience analysis to determine the appropriate level of complexity.

• Consider age groups, educational backgrounds, and majors.

• Avoid assuming shared knowledge among students.

• Explain terms vulnerable to misinterpretation.

• Stephen Lucas: "You cannot assume they will know what you mean. Rather, you must be sure to explain everything so thoroughly that they cannot help but understand."

Define Terms

• Help listeners understand terms the way you mean them to be understood.

• Give consistent explanations and show how ideas apply to the speech topic.

• Be careful about assuming that there is anything that everybody knows.

• Clarify terms and concepts, even seemingly basic ones (e.g., New England), for international students or those with knowledge gaps.

• Provide necessary background information to ensure understanding.

Avoid Unnecessary Jargon

• Limit technical language or jargon, especially on specialized topics.

• Avoid overwhelming the audience with definitions.

• Introduce one specialized term at a time, carefully defining and explaining it with concrete examples.

• Avoid overly technical topics for short speeches.

• Present technical topics in audience-friendly ways.

  • For example, when using the term "pyroclastic flow", take the time to either show or tell what it means.

Create Concrete Images

• Use concrete words over abstract terms to avoid multiple interpretations.

• Give clearer meaning.

• Examples:

  • Abstract: transportation; Concrete: air travel

  • Abstract: success; Concrete: completion of project

  • Abstract: discrimination; Concrete: exclusion of women

  • Abstract: athletic; Concrete: physically fit

  • Abstract: profound; Concrete: knowledgeable

Keep Information Limited

• Adhere to the narrowed topic to avoid tangents or confusing the audience.

• Avoid overloading the audience with information.

• Use necessary definitions, descriptions, explanations, and examples, but avoid tangential information.

Link Current Knowledge to New Knowledge

• Connect new information to the audience's existing knowledge.

• Example: Linking new knowledge about Wikipedia's reliability to the audience's existing knowledge of it.

• Acknowledge the audience's understanding of a topic, then introduce new information that builds upon or challenges that understanding.

• Address potential resistance by highlighting the good aspects of what they already know.

  • For example, show that some Wikipedia entries contain many good references.

Make it Memorable

• Make the speech vivid through explanations, comparisons, examples, or language.

• Use dramatic contrasts and before-and-after scenarios.

• Engage the audience's imagination through visualization.

• Provide information about circumstances and conditions.

• Mention notable individuals related to the topic.

• Public speaking is prepared and formal; it demands more than casual conversation.

Make it Relevant and Useful

• Keep the audience in mind by connecting the topic to their experiences.

• Personalize content by giving a human face to the topic.

• Use real case studies and refer to human subjects by name.

• Avoid using fictional characters without informing the audience about its hypothetical nature, which is unethical.

Key Takeaways

• Informative speaking allows listeners to form their own opinions.

• Informative speeches should be accurate, clear, and interesting.

• Strategies include:

  • Adjusting complexity to the audience.

  • Avoiding jargon.

  • Creating concrete images.

  • Limiting information to what is relevant.

  • Linking information to existing knowledge.

  • Making information memorable through language or personalization.