Advanced Oral CommunicationYi-chen Chen

About Informative Speech• Any speech is an informative speech if it

presents information to an audience.• When do we make informative speech? • All the time.• What is the goal of giving an informative

speech? • To state ideas simply, clearly, and interestingly.

Preparing for the Informative Speech

• Blueprint: a vision of what you want to build.– Analyzing your audience– Choosing your topic– Narrowing your topic– Gathering information – Preparing visual aids– Organizing your speech

Step 1: Analyzing your audience

• Demographics: the population’s needs, interests, knowledge.– Age range– Gender– Occupation(s)– Economic level(s)– General background

• P.63-64: Personal Information Survey.• P.65: Analysis of Audience

Step 2: Choosing your topic

• Choose sth that you know a lot about or sth that really interests you.– An experience that you remember vividly

and are enthusiastic about.– Sth you care a lot about.– Sth at which you are skilled or experienced.– Sth about which you are knowledgeable.

Step 3: Narrowing your topic

• Not to tell everything you know about the topic.– It’s impossible to say

everything in a short amount of time.

– Your audience can’t remember too many details after a speech.

How to narrow an informative speech topic effectively?

• A good informative speech topic is specific, contains only one idea, and is achievable.

• General topic: – Food culture.

• Width: – Food cultures in western countries – Food cultures in western and eastern countries.– Food cultures in the US and Taiwan.

• Depth: – Taiwanese food culture.– Food culture of Japan.

Too broad~

Too broad~

More specific. But why?

Specific. But need insights.

Overview. Need width and depth.

Step 4: Gathering information

• Two ways to look for material for your speech: – Within yourself– Outside yourself

• Interview• Library and Internet research

• Find more information than you can use!– Choose what to include instead of stretching the

facts to fill time.– Extra knowledge may be helpful for Q&A session.

Step 5: Preparing visual aids

• Why use visual aids? – Help make a speech clear and interesting.– Add variety, capture attention, illustrate concepts,

and provide entertainment.• Chalkboard. Poster. Objects or models. Audiovisual

equipment. Handouts.• General tips of using visual aids:

– Clear and simple! – Use them skillfully and right on time!– Don’t distract your audience!