WRITING A SPEECH OUTLINE FOR INFORMATIVE TALK -

CONTENT:

An effective informative speech to be accurate, relevant, and interesting,

supporting material should be developed from examples, narratives, testimony,
facts, and statistics. You can blend these various types of supporting materials so
that the speech delivered is instructive and even exciting to listen to. You can use
example, story, comparison, contrast, analogy, and statistics.
Examples are representatives of the subject you want the listeners to think
about or understand more. They can make the subject concrete, mentally visible.
You should use them only when the audience members find the subject difficult to
describe or explain. They can be straightforward such as a single illustration:
You have heard how the country is losing billons every day because of the
traffic in Manila that makes traveling to work turtle crawl. My uncle runs a
business. Since 2005 his company has shrunk with its operation, limited to
certain areas only and time of the day. Every year around fifteen workers
are laid off and three trucking lorries are sold.
They can also be substantial such as extended example. Extended examples
give more information about the subject, whether an abstract idea or event,
providing opportunities for learning through gaining insight.

Traffic has taken off the steam from whatever gain the economy has made
since the beginning of the administration of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.
Billions are lost every day collectively by those traders and businessmen
who use EDSA as high way to freight their goods emanating from major and
artery roads radiating out the Greater Manila. Imagine also the amount of
money wasted from people who arrive hours late to work, sometimes even
never making it to their place of work. Companies will lose millions of pesos
because of inefficient and irregular operation. The massive vehicular
choking points as seen on the mass and social media have turned off and
 scared off investors, causing the country the chance to leave the rank of
developing countries.

In some speeches you may need to make a point about something that
could happen in the future if certain events were to occur. Since it has not
happened yet, you will need a hypothetical example of what you believe the
outcome might be. Because of the prodigious failure of not being able to design it
structurally three decades ago to meet the challenges of the modern activity and
life of the 21st century, an urban plan expert and futurist has described Metro
Manila as follows:

By 2050 if the maximal restructuring of the infrastructure has not been

accomplished, Manila will become one of the poorest capital cities of the
World. Traffic will almost paralyze a significant artery of economic activity.
Like a heartbeat that is barely heard, it will cause a trauma to the entire
system of economy, like a ticking bomb ready to explode. In the years that
will follow after 2050, the city will be clinically dead.

Stories can convey message emphatically. They are interpretative tools to

make an abstract idea or esoteric phenomenon analyzable. They can help you make
sense of an odd experience. Brief or long, they may be real and imaginary. A
striking story connects to the hearts of the listeners.
Traffic is a conundrum to every President who has occupied Malacanang
since 1990s. It was not like that a long time ago. Mang Ambo still
remembers how was the traffic in EDSA in the 1980s. There were only few
buses and cars that were plying along this highway. He said he used to
travel from his house in Monumento to a bank in Makati where he worked
as a clerk. He could wake up at 7:00 in the morning and make it work
before his time-in at 8:00AM. Before the 1990s, he was driving to school his
two kids in Mandaluyong where his wife worked before proceeding to the
office.
Quotations can strengthen the authority of the information that supports the
main points of our speech. Testimony, firsthand findings, eyewitness accounts, and
people’s opinions, can also be supporting materials. Lay testimony, or testimony
by non-experts such as eyewitnesses, can furnish evidence that is empirical in
nature. You have to state your source of testimony - name and qualifications.
 “Madam Grace Poe has been thinking of 2022 presidential election. She is
treating the traffic problem as a platform. If she gave the emergency power
Pres. Duterte asked to deal with the traffic woes, we could have been better
off right now than in 2016. She only likes to talk, offering no solution to the
problem.” (Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade after being grilled and
asked to resign in the Senate Transportation Committee)
You can use comparison and contrast. Comparison is when you flag up
similarities. Contrast is when you highlight differences. Below is an example:

The traffic debacle the Philippines is enduring has drawn in experts of

various specializations who are offering analyses and solutions. Hundreds
of miles from Manila across the ocean is another megacity capital which is
also being beset by gridlocks of almost frozen vehicles in principal roads
and highways. It has sloughed off billions of Thai baths. The King has
organized a council of technocrats and economic advisers to find the
panacea to it. The council has the support of the parliament which still
reveres the Monarch. He is largely viewed as somewhat irreproachable, at
least in so far as his sincerity and love for his people are concerned.

An anecdote is a brief amusing story which is quite potent in illustrating a

point. To describe out the psychological impact of traffic on drivers, you can share
this anecdote:
I know a friend who has a prostate problem driving through EDSA pinched
in a traffic. He had to close a business deal. He felt his bladder was going
crazy. His mind was beleaguered by his business which was about to close
shop. Horns were honking and blaring around him. Mad and furious faces
were passing by him, left and right, swallowing his sanity.

An analogy is highlighting certain essential aspects of your subject to another of

different category, which may not sound unlikely to be done given their difference.

We can liken traffic to unhealthy life style. It did not start that bad. It was
pleasurable at first. A large part of it could be recounted by our love affair
with car. Like unhealthy life we got too much of it. We don’t know how to
stop. We stop being healthy too. High way and road are the answers to
limited time. They have been the symbol of progress. When everybody has
 figured this out, more and more cars have started to hit the high way and
road.

Facts are raw evidence, and people, especially those who cannot be swayed
emotionally in a dispute, are only convinced by some of them. Facts may be
documented occurrences, including actual events, dates, times, people, and places.
Statistics are numerical evidence that summarizes, compares, and predicts things.
You can employ them because they invest an argument with accuracy and
legitimacy. Frequencies are examples of statistics, and these refer simply to a count
of the number of times something occurs, e.g., “on the midterm exam there were 8
A’s, 15 B’s, 7 C’s, 2 D’s, and 1 F.” Frequencies expose the similarities and
differences among categories, suggesting size and describing trends.
• According to a 2018 Survey, a total of 50 million vehicles passed along
EDSA every day, compared to 30 million in other major highways in the
country.
• Eighty percent of the cause of traffic comes from wrong place of loading or
unloading of passengers and heavy volume of private vehicles careering
through the major highway.
Percentages can clearly depict proportion. A percentage is the numerical part
that comprises an entirety. To illustrate, you can describe the frequencies of males
and females or similarity of the two amounts are: 50.36% male and 49.64%
female. In speech, the use of adverb “roughly” qualifies the statement of
percentage. Below is the statistical presentation using percentages:
Averages can be used to present common characteristics. The average is the
total scores divided by the number of scores. This is the mean, the arithmetic
average. There are two other kinds of averages—the median and the mode. Let us
say nine students whose scores are 5, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 28, and 30. Thirty
points are the highest possible grade. Below are the three types of averages:
• The mean score is 22.8, the arithmetic average, the sum of the scores
divided by 9.
• The median score is 24, the center-most score in a distribution or the point
above and below which 50% of the nine scores fall.
• The mode score is 28, the most frequently occurring score in the
distribution.
 You should organize statistics ethically. The following are steps you can
pursue to minimize the probability of contaminating the statistics.
 Use statistics with verified credible source which identifies and evaluates
the methods used to generate the data.

 Present statistics in context.

 Provide the details on the date the data were collected, the method used
to collect the them, and the scope of the research:

These figures represent data collected in the second quarter of the

second year of Duterte Administration from those registered vehicles
with plate numbers of 2000-2018 range driving around Metro Manila.

You should not make statistics as “absolute truth.” The date of collection
and analysis of data can lose “absolute truthfulness” in a claim. Statistics do not
make an argument precise without consideration of their nature, method of
gathering, and statistical tools of analysis. Thus, you present the statistics as these
appropriately represent a contention, but you have to control yourself from making
a sweeping statement that your data are definitive and conclusive.

Researching Your Informative Speech Topic

To have supporting materials, you need to do primary research and
secondary research. You can carry out both, whichever can yield the materials you
need. Primary research involves you, gathering possibly localized data. Secondary
research collects materials that are gathered by others.
After developing the thesis statement, you can decide how you conduct the
primary and secondary research. How you will develop the various parts of outline
and main points determines the type of research to be done. A talk on a fraternity
seeking permission to operate inside the university premises suggests at least some
need for primary research in the form of interviews, surveys, or personal
observations. A combination of both primary and secondary research can yield rich
information.
Books, newspapers, periodicals, government publications, blogs, and
references, such as encyclopedias, almanacs, books of quotations, and atlases are
reliable sources of supporting materials. It is essential to know how to use them.
They can stir interest, illustrate a point, and buttress assertions.
Books treat topics substantially. They supply valuable information detail and
are an excellent source of supporting examples, stories, facts, and statistics.
Newspapers and periodicals update you with current information and orient you
with detailed background or historic information on most current issues, events,
and facts. Encyclopedias give you overview knowledge and provide general
important information on almost every subject area of knowledge. Specialized
encyclopedias deal specifically and comprehensively with almost every subject
area, such as religion, science, art, sports, or engineering.
Almanacs and fact books contain information and statistics on many subject
areas and are published annually. Biographical resources are essential to give you
information about lives and works of famous or valuable people.
Books of quotations furnish priceless passages, phrases, and proverbs.
Poetry collections contain lines of poetry or entire poems, which can be cited in the
introduction and conclusion. Atlases have a collection of maps, text, and
accompanying charts and tables.