PREPARING THE

INFORMATIVE SPEECH

Guidelines For
Your Success
Preparation Steps

 Understand the Informative Speech

 Research the Topic
 Prepare and Plan
 Use Effective Delivery Methods
 Practice
 Meet Grading Criteria
Understand: What is an Informative
Speech?

 Conveys Ideas and Information

 Goal is to Increase Audience’s Knowledge
 Provides Thorough Information
 You Assume Role of Teacher or Newscaster
 Understand: Types of Informative
Speeches
 Define a word, process, or idea
– Examples: Internet trends, Eating Healthy
 Describe a person, place, object, or experience
– Examples: Famous Person, Grand Canyon,
McDonalds toys
 Explain an issue or event
– Examples: Animal Rights, Welfare system
Understand: the Informative Speech
Conveys Information That Is . . .

 Easy to Understand
 Accurate
 Interesting
 Relevant
 Objective and Without Bias
Understand: Criteria of Your
Assignment
 Choose Competent Communicator
– At Least One Quote
 Must be 4-7 minutes in length
– Try to hit the 4 min. mark
 Have at Least 3 Sources
– No more than 150 Words from One Source
 Visual Aids
– At Least 5 slides
– 2-3 SAT Words
Research: Secondary Sources

 Books
 Periodicals
 Internet
 Documentary Films and Videos
Research: Recording Information
Accurately

 Copy the Information Exactly as Written

– Misquoting information is sloppy research.
 Include a Complete Source Citation With Each
Piece of Information
– It is unethical to claim someone else’s work as your
own
 Note the Author’s Qualifications
– Establish your source’s credibility
Research: Check the Credentials of
Internet Sources
 Who wrote the site?
– Are they qualified? Do they have credentials?
 What are they saying on the site?
– Is the information factual? Well written?
 When was the site created?
– When was it last revised? Are the links current?
 Where is the site from?
– Is it .com, .org, .edu, or .gov?
Preparation: Setting an Objective

 Why are you speaking?

 What do you want to achieve?
 How do you want your listener’s to feel when
you have finished?
 What is the reaction you most want from your
audience?
Preparation: Your Objective Should
Be . . .

 Written Down
 Specific
 Achievable
Preparation: Research Your
Audience

 Why are they there?

 What do they expect?
 What do they want or need?
– How much do they know about your topic?
– How much do they want to know?
– How much do they need to know for you to achieve
your objective?
Preparation: Draw an Ideas Map

 Draw a circle in the center of your paper

 Write in the subject of your talk
 Place your ideas on lines radiating from the
center
 Add new thoughts and ideas as they occur
 Be creative
Preparation: Selection

 Assess each idea against your objective.

 Refer back to the audience’s needs
 Make it easy for the audience to remember
your speech.
– Don’t overload your talk with too many good points.
– Remember that after a few days, your audience will
have retained approximately one quarter of what
you presented.
Preparation: Parts of a speech

 Introduction (A, B, C, D)
– Attention: Capture the attention of your audience
 Ask a question; Use quotation, Use Anecdotes
– Benefits: Show them what they will gain by listening
– Credentials: Give them your credentials for
speaking
– Direction and Destination: Tell them where you are
going and what you are going to say
 State your Main Thesis
Preparation: Parts of a Speech

 The Body
– Address at least 3 main points
– Use examples that show topic meaning
– Use analogies, descriptions
– Use present information
– Don’t spend too much time on 1 issue…spread
them evenly throughout your speech
Preparation: Parts of a Speech

 Conclusion
– Restate main thesis
– End decisively
– Finish with a bang…make the audience remember
you and your speech
Preparation: Final Draft

 Write out your final draft OR redo your Ideas

Map
 Mark the key points in RED
 Check the links you use to move from one
point to the next and mark these in BLUE
 Mark any anecdotes, quotes, or examples in
GREEN
Delivery Methods: Disadvantages of
Reading

 You cannot keep eye contact – one of the

essential elements of effective speaking
 Your body language is restricted
 You will sound unnatural and therefore
insincere
 Script dependence will mean that you will
never learn to be a convincing speaker or
develop self-confidence
Delivery Methods: Disadvantages
of Memorizing

 Your energy is directed inwards instead of

outwards to your audience
 Your talk will sound mechanical
 You will be unable to adapt to your audience
 Your talk will lack the vital ingredients of
enthusiasm and spontaneity.
Delivery Methods: Advantages of
Speaking Extemporaneously

 Most effective delivery style

 All the benefits of impromptu speaking and
none of the drawbacks of reading
 You sound enthusiastic
 You behave with vitality
 You look at the audience with sincerity
Delivery: 1 - 3x5 note card

 Confidence Cards are your safety net

 You have the key ideas in front of you
– Do not use complete sentences; they are only a
hindrance to your delivery
 You have the freedom to use your own words
to travel from one point to the next
 Your speech is always spontaneous
 Outline only!!
Delivery: How to Write Your
Confidence Cards
 Work from your marked script or ideas map
 Using index cards, write out in capital letters
– Your key points
– Your links
– Your examples
 Use only single key words except for:
– Write out and memorize your opening and closing sentences
– Write out in full any quotations you will use.
Delivery: How to Write Your
Confidence Cards (Continued)

 Number your cards

 Optional: You can hole punch them and tie
them together
 Practice using your cards before your present.
Delivery: Using Confidence Cards
Will Help You To. . .

 Sound Natural
 Be Confident
 Look at the Audience
 Use expressive body language
 Show sincerity, enthusiasm, and vitality.
Delivery: Visual Aids

 Visual Aids can also provide a safety net

 Use key words for a visual prompt
 Use to reinforce your message
 Practice using your visual aids
Delivery: Pitfalls to Avoid . . .

 Don’t shuffle or play with the cards during your

talk
 Don’t’ keep staring at the cards to avoid looking
at the audience
 Don’t use fillers like “Um”, “And”, “You Know”
 Do remember the power of the silent pause
Delivery: Body Language
 Use your eyes to make contact
– Practice looking at each person for at least 2-3 seconds
 Smile
– Look happy to be there and happy to see your audience
 Hands
– Your hands should be empty and still by the sides of your body
 Gestures should be organic and relevant
– Gesture for emphasis as you would naturally
Delivery: Body Language
(Continued)
 Avoid barriers
– Stand to the side of the lectern so that you can refer
to your confidence cards but also gesture naturally
 Stand Tall
– Act confidently
 Balance on both feet
– Image you are standing in weighted boots
– Decide consciously when to move (to flip chart, for
example)
Practicing Your Presentation

 Practice kills panic

 Practice the whole speech
 Practice in front of a mirror or video camera
 Practice in front of a colleague to get feedback
 You WILL be successful if you practice
Summary: Criteria for an “A”
speech
 Achieve the general purpose of the speech
 Stay within time limits
 Clear main thesis & supporting points
 Language is effective & grammatically correct
 Organized structure
 Delivery is clear, direct, & energetic
 Confidence Cards and Visual Aids are well utilized
 All required work in on time
 Be a good audience member
Summary:
Grades will be taken on . . .
 Research-daily
 Ideas Map-daily
 Final Draft-daily
 Confidence Cards-1 test grade
 Visual Aids-daily
 Practice-daily
 Critique (peer)--daily
 Delivery—1 Test Grade
 Audience Etiquette--daily
 On task general grade - daily
Informative Speech Example
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSIppEr0Nws