What is an Informative Speech?
This speech provides information concerning any specific topic. It aims to share this valuable information with your audience and address all possible questions. In this type of speech, you may also present your opinion and suggestions.
For this type of speech, you can freely share your thoughts with your audience in a polite and enthusiastic manner.
Briefly About How to Make a Good Informative Speech
The shortest way to make your informative speech good is to take care of its content and clarity.
An informative speech can be helpful only if it contains reliable and correct information. Make sure you are going to present only information that can benefit the lives of your listeners: help to resolve some problems, clarify uncertainties, provide any suggestions, etc. Feel free to include any interesting information, a hook, statistics, and even jokes if and when it is appropriate.
To be on the safe side, you should double-check any information you rely on during the preparation of your speech. Only this way you can gain the trust of your audience and keep your listeners interested.
Taking into account that your target audience will be comprised of people with different life views, it is always necessary to keep clarity and neutrality when presenting your speech. Apart from explicit statements, clarity is also related to the absence of any excessive information and ambiguities.
As you are going to present your topic to other people, make sure you understand their anticipations, preferences, and informational requests. This information is essential for preparing your speech effectively and establishing your contact with the listeners.
What is the Best Topic for a Speech?
Your informative speech topic should be related to some specific areas of interest. This detail matters. If you are interested in some area, your chances of doing any related work easily are much higher. Moreover, you will have better chances to interest your future readers.
Your attention should be forwarded to a topic that moves you in some way. To make your informative speech captivating, it is better to share positive and living emotions with your listeners.
Avoid picking any topic to convince your audience of something. This can create additional tension during your speech. Moreover, excessive arguments may also break your connection with your audience.
Pre-Writing
First of all, you should make a list of subject areas in which you are interested in or aware of.
A general understanding of any field can bring confidence during your speech and show your expertise in this regard. Such knowledge can extremely facilitate making your speech and addressing all possible questions.
For instance, if you are experienced in painting, you can easily choose only relevant information for your audience, bounce any objections, present examples effectively, and answer any question about your craft.
Alternatively, you may focus on some new areas that you love or are interested in. Such emotions will be very useful in the course of your research, preparation, and presentation. On the one side, you will likely prepare your research better. On the other hand, your speech will be much more concise and, therefore, interesting for your readers.
For instance, you may want to become a musician. So, you can tell your readers some interesting but unfamiliar information for them (for instance, about the effect of syncopation on music) or about any distinctive features of this craft.
Think About Your Audience
In the end, you make this speech for your audience. Of course, it is hard to identify for sure all the preferences, anticipations, and requests of these people. However, based on the analysis of their age, tastes, gender, and mindset, you will be able to form at least an approximate view of your target audience. You will be able to correct such in the course of your speaking. So, having this approximate understanding can be of great help.
Avoid clarifying all matters in detail unless you have to do this according to your assignment. There is no need to overload your audience with details. But knowing more can always add confidence to any of your activities.
How Do You Choose Topics?
Afterward, choose the best topic for you at the moment, taking into account your expertise and preferences. Also, define the purpose of your speech. The last thing is important not only for you but also for your audience.
Make sure you choose some interesting topics. General topics can bore your readers. So, try to prefer any topic that has practical importance.
Research
After picking your topic, search for any relevant and interesting information. Try to learn as much as possible about the area of your interest. This will help you to address potential questions from your audience.
While collecting your resources, divide them into separate groups according to their relevance, and think about how this research could make your speech more effective.
Writing
Form the Main Ideas of Your Speech
Making your list of the main points you want to include can help you greatly. You will be able to range all your ideas logically and structure your future text afterward.
These points can help to make your speech clear and informative. And your preparation and writing will be much easier.
Statements you write should be clear and concise. Each statement should be expanded in a separate paragraph of your speech.
Write the Separate Parts of Your Speech
Generally, any informative speech should include the following:
- introduction
- main body
- conclusion
Your introduction should be clear, interesting, and draw your reader’s attention. So, you can include in this part of your speech any interesting information (a hook, statistics, quotes, etc.). If your speech is long, then it is better to list briefly all the points you are going to speak about during your speech. You should also establish your connection with your target audience during this speech. At this point, you may add some jokes or humor if appropriate. In any case, the introduction should not be too general. Otherwise, your speech can become boring. Your target is to make it interesting.
The main body of your speech should cover all the main ideas developed previously. Make sure you describe each one accurately and plainly. Your listeners should grasp the essence of your speech easily. To facilitate this task, your text should flow. This is always the best option for your reader as it helps to perceive the essence of your speech.
In your conclusion, summarize all the important points and indicate in the end your opinion about the subject matter of your topic. Many readers memorize the first and the last points they hear most of all. You may also include to your conclusion any catchy statements, quotes, or humor, if appropriate.
Making Your Speech
Practice Before Your Speaking
The most important thing at this point is how you begin a speech. Your confidence is not only the result of competence and preparation but also the emotional state you should enter into and keep during the entire speaking.
Of course, this skill comes with practice. If you don’t have any companion to practice, you may simply imagine this situation in your mind: how you will feel yourself, think, and act. The important thing at this point is to focus on yourself only.
Avoid anticipations concerning the possible reactions of your listeners. This will prevent you from broken expectations and disappointment. Those mental efforts you pay to such anticipations you may redirect to far more productive things.
Reflections about how your informative speech actually sounds can help to make it better. You may simply pronounce this speech aloud. As reading aloud, but the source of information, in this case, will be not a paper, but your head and memory. Yes, making speeches is very sensitive to many people. Many of them want to reach the hearts and minds of their listeners. Hope you are among these people. For this purpose, there are so many details.
While reading your speech aloud or pronouncing it, you may notice important things and improve them to make your speech better. Alternatively, you may use a video recorder.
Keep in mind that restrictions and limits you have in your mind prevent you from making good speeches. This may be anticipations, your fear of blame or mistake, and other counterproductive things. Giving them any notice will not work. They will continue to exist in your mind. Of course, you may continue to serve them, but you can also address them appropriately. If you need some gentle push at this point, here it is – during your speaking, it will be too late for making anything better. If you strive to get pleasure from your public speaking, your courage can eliminate any restrictions and make your practice more successful.
Also, it is important to slow down during your speech to articulate all words clearly. If you speak too fast, your audience can misunderstand you or miss some important things.
Of course, if you have somebody who can listen to your speech and give some neutral feedback (!this is important), it is better to take this chance. Such a practice can bring you additional confidence and strength to make a better speech.
Tips for Making Your Speech
For your convenience, here is a short list of tips for making your informative speech:
- remember that your speech is not persuasive but only informative
- make your outline properly to organize your speech
- be aware of your time and its flowing
- speak comprehensively and clearly
- don’t speak too fast
- practice with somebody who can encourage you and provide his/her feedback;
