Informative Speaking / After Dinner
Speech
“Obviously, a man’s judgment cannot be better than
the information on which he has based it.”
--Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher, NewYork Times
Objectives
• Identify the major types of informative speeches.
• Find a good subject for an informative speech, narrow
that subject to a manageable topic, and compose a
sharply focused thesis.
• Develop interesting material for your speech through
the use of anecdotes, quotes, and definitions.
• Capture a listener’s attention with suspense and humor.
• Integrate audio and visual aids into your speech.
Speeches That Instruct, Inform,
and Clarify
• A large part of talking is done to give instructions, provide facts,
or clarify ideas.
• You provide information to others every day in a hundred
different ways.
• Deep down, we are all curious. Being knowledgeable about a
subject gives you confidence when you speak.
Types of Informative Speeches
 The Public Lecture: As a result of a person’s special interest
or expertise, he or she may be invited to give a public lecture
to a community group of club.
 The Status Report: Every business and social group must
keep up to date on its various projects. A knowledgeable
person will be asked to give a status report about what has
been accomplished and what plans exist for the future.
 The Briefing: A very common informative speech used to
tell members of a group about changes in policy or
procedure.
Types of Informative Speeches
 The Fireside Chat: Named for a famous series of radio
broadcasts given by President Franklin Roosevelt. They
usually feature a group leader addressing the concerns,
worries, and issues of the moment.
 The Chalk Talk: The speaker relies on a visual aid (the
chalkboard). Examples could be a coach showing the team
how to arrange its defense or a director outlining plans to
present a stage play.
 Many informative speeches are followed by a question-andanswer period, which gives the audience a chance to
participate.
The Six Cs of Informative Speaking
1. Be Clear
4. Be Correct
2. Be Concise
5. Be Concrete
3. Be Complete
6. Connect
1. Be Clear
 Make a special effort at the
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beginning of the speech to help
listeners by defining a few
important words and phrases.
The purpose of a definition is to
create some common ground
between speaker and listener.
Explain any technical terms that
may be new to the audience.
Make distinctions by saying what
something is, and especially,
what something is not.
Compare and contrast the
distinctions
2. Be Concise
 The secret of being concise
is to make each word
count, and the best way is
to use precise and specific
language.
 Using precise language
means choosing the word
that best fits your meaning.
3. Be Complete
 Create a sense of completion
in the minds of the audience
by raising certain
expectations and then
satisfying them.
 State your main three points.
 Statements that forecast what
the audience expects are
called advance organizers.
4. Be Correct
 There is no substitute for
being accurate.
 Check and double-check
the accuracy of your
information.
 Always identify your
sources.
5. Be Concrete
 Focus on the immediate and
the actual instead of talking in
abstracts.
 Individual cases are far more
interesting than generalities.
 Focus your speech on the
particulars rather than the
broader subject.
 Concrete examples give the
audience a mental picture.
6. Connect
 Analyze the people who
will be in your audience.
 Imagine how the world
looks to someone else.
 Your own intuition can
help guide you as you
prepare for a speech.
 Cultural literacy describes
the information that an
average American citizen
can be expected to know.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
Personal Experience
Observations
 You already have a lifetime
 Look for speech topics in
of experience, and it can be
a major source of
information.
 Find an area of interest
where you have
considerable experience.
your immediate
environment.
 Be a participant observer.
Use what you see and hear
during major events.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
Surveys
 Utilize polls and surveys to
discover listeners’ interests
and concerns.
 Pay attention to major
news events, trends in
movies and television,
prominent personalities
and interesting ideas that
crop up in class.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
Narrow Your Subject
State Your Thesis
 Limit your subject in time.
 Make a positive statement
 Limit your subject in space.
about your topic, or thesis,
which is a statement of
purpose.
 Your thesis should be in
very clear language.
Focus on local statistics
that matter.
 Limit your subject in
extent.
 Limit you subject using the
principle of divide and
conquer.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
 Topics:
 Teenagers and fads
 Healthy lifestyles
 Famous musicians
Thesis
The slang teenagers use often
comes from the latest popular
movies.
Eating five servings of fruits and
vegetables each day can
dramatically reduce your chances of
getting cancer.
Beethoven’s hearing loss may
actually have helped him compose
music.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
 Facts … Information is
built on a network of
facts—those small
statements about people,
events, and other
phenomena.
 All facts are true; actual
facts, real facts, and true
facts. If a thing is not true,
it is not a fact.
 Facts should be used to
support ideas.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
 Everyone Loves a Story
… Another form of
information is the anecdote.
An anecdote is simply a short
story that illustrates a point.
 Anecdotes can be humorous,
sad, or touching.
 Anecdotes spice up a speech.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
 Quotable Quotes …
Quotations can be used
more freely than anecdotes
because they are much
briefer.
 They add credibility to
your speech.
 Do not overuse quotations.
 Quotations tend to make
audiences think you are
well read and believable.
Turning a Subject into a Speech
 Defining Your Terms …
 Descriptions …
Sometimes simply defining
a term is the best way to
get an audience headed in
the right direction.
 Etymological information
(etymology means the
origins of words) can
sometimes help correct
mistaken ideas.
Descriptions, images that
stimulate the audience’s
imagination, help
emphasize certain aspects
of your topic.
 They bring to life an
interesting character or
create a vivid impression of
a particular place.
Audio and Visual Aids
• Visual aids include anything the audience can see—photographs,
cartoons, color slides, illustrations, etc.
• Audio aids include anything the audience can hear—music sound
effects, or recorded conversations
• Visual aids, especially, can help a speaker make a point because
vision is our most dominant sense.
• We pay 25 times as much attention to visual information as we do
to audio information.
Photographs, Drawings, and Cartoons
 Photos can make people
see things that you can’t
easily explain.
 Photos should be larger in
scale.
 You should hide or cover
photos until you are ready
to use them and then put
them out of sight again
when you are done.
Graphic Representations
 Maps, diagrams, and graphs
that aid speakers
particularly in the business
world.
 Maps show a geographical
relationship.
 Diagrams help explain
process.
 Graphs show relationships
among statistical data.
After Dinner Speaking (ADS)
“If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever.
Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then
hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.”
― Winston Churchill
After Dinner Speaking (ADS)
 After Dinner Speaking (ADS) is a public address event similar
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to Speech to Entertain, meant to take an important topic and
make greater sense of it through the use of humor.
Often takes the form of an Informative or Persuasive speech.
Covers a variety of topics, but the use of humor is central to
the execution of the event.
The After-Dinner speech should not resort to the base forms
of humor. The humor should be topical and relevant to the
idea presented.
Generally, it is a humorous speech with a serious undertone
and/or an actual point.