 We've talked previously about the importance of identifying the purpose of your speech in public speaking We have to identify what it is our goal is what we're there to do and that will help determine a lot of different things So there are a variety of different purposes General purposes that you can identify for a speech some of the common ones and the ones most commonly used are For example to inform or to persuade to entertain or to commemorate Again, it's important to identify which of these is going to be the purpose of your speech because it will determine the the path that you're going to be taking and and impact so many different choices and Decisions that you make regarding how you develop the speech how you deliver the speech and so forth So today we're going to focus on one of those purposes for a speech and that is informative speaking Why do we do when we are speaking to inform and what does that mean and what are some ways that we can do that? More effectively. So let me share with you just a few things. You're on informative speaking First when we speak to inform we are speaking to educate or to enlighten the audience We're just there to share information We sort of act as a teacher kind of like I'm doing here just sharing information with you about informative speaking We're not there to push anybody towards specific action or to persuade them to change a behavior or an idea or anything like that We are simply there to educate and enlighten the audience and share with them Some of the wisdom that we have or some of the information that we have a Couple things that effective informative speakers do Regularly and keep in mind is first of all informative speakers If they're going to be effective need to be as objective as possible now a hundred percent pure objectivity is not really Realistic it's not possible, but as an informative speaker At the end of my speech the audience shouldn't know what side I'm on of a particular Issue or topic or whatever if I'm if I'm just sharing information It's not about my personal beliefs or what I think it's about just sharing factual Information with the audience so when we're doing informative speaking We want to be as objective as possible and keep our own personal Opinions and thoughts and feelings out of the speech then We also want to make sure that we're credible This is true for any speech, but but for an informative speech if the audience is going to Believe the information that you're sharing with them and you want them to take it in and actually You know consider it valid then we need to establish our credibility make sure we're credible as speakers make sure we're using credible information and statistics and and supporting information like that so We just want to prioritize credibility in order to be an effective informative speaker We also want to be knowledgeable and to convey that that sense of Knowledge to the audience that they can be comfortable again and find us to be credible but we ought to share information that is incredible that is valid that is Relevant and that is worthy of the audience's attention and that is new to the audience won't talk about but but we ought to Convey this sense of knowledge and present ourselves as knowledgeable to the audience in order to be effective there When I'll speak on relevant topics topics that the audience is going to be interested in or topics that we can Generate interest within the audience again if they're maybe they're not interested at the very beginning But but we have the ability to get them interested but we ought to speak on topics that are relevant to the audience that are going to Impact them and and have specific relevance in their in their lives I have just a few tips for you for informative speaking for being Again more effective as a public speaker when you're giving an informative speech The first one and we talked about this in introductions and conclusions But we need to generate and maintain interest in the audience and there are a variety of ways we can do this But we need some some way to hold the audience's attention So some of the ways that we do this first of all are to demonstrate intensity You know if we if we have you know we are drawn and our highest drawn our attention is drawn to intense things bright colors loud noises Interesting information, but and and drama when there's tension there's intensity So we want to try and generate some of that intensity for the audience Not necessarily to scare them or bang pots and pans to make loud noises But to convey a sense of urgency and intensity with the audience to maintain their interest Novelty is always more interesting to people and by that we mean something new again If you're sharing an informative speech on how to tie your shoes That's not probably going to maintain the audience's interest because most likely they already know how to do that But we need something that's new something that's interesting something that's different that will help generate and maintain interest within the audience Contrast is always good for for maintaining interest people are interested in what's different So if we can somehow Contrast what we're talking about with something that that they may already think or may already believe or may be different than how They see a particular topic again Sharing that contrast can be something that will help generate and maintain interest with the audience Activity if we can get an audience kind of participating and not necessarily even up and moving around But if we can get them you know participating with some poll questions or even rhetorical questions that get them Engaged in the speech and help them maintain interest that way and then that can be help and be effective in that way Humor is always a good way to to maintain the audience's interest if they're if they're getting engaged mentally in there and Kind of their spirit is engaged through humor They're more likely to stay with you and stay engaged and then using visual aids like maybe a PowerPoint or maybe Something else can be a good way to maintain interest and help the audience Stay focused on what you're talking about so whatever you're going to do We need to somehow generate and maintain that interest to hold that interest throughout the speech as much as possible A few other tips for informative speaking one is organize your speech can't emphasize this enough. We had a whole other Lecture lecture on this or video on this about organizing your speech It's incredibly important that your speech be organized so that the audience can follow along more easily They can understand the information more easily that will help with recall and retention and so forth But your speech needs to be organized again That's true for any speech, but informative speeches in particular need to be really well organized You should use vivid concrete language in an informative speech by that we mean very specific Language create a very detailed picture for the audience. Don't use ambiguous language or generic words that can be interpreted in a variety of ways Really push an idea home specifically with them to an audience by using that vivid and concrete language You should also use simple language to a certain extent in an informative speech If you want the audience to retain this information, especially if it's new information for them Break it down for them a bit. Don't go overboard on the lingo. Don't use fancy terminology Just especially if it's just to make you sound smart use simple language That's that's easier for the audience to digest and to understand immediately We can use repetition I get some of these ideas that I've talked about in this video have come up in others And but we use repetition to drive ideas home when when you're giving a speech For example, you should state your main ideas at least three or four times during the course of that speech Certainly in the preview and the review statements again when you're introducing those main ideas through the transitions and just as much as possible We want to repeat those main ideas because the audience has been again can have better recall better retention Better understanding of what the main ideas are of your speech. So use repetition. Also, you can use repetition, right? That's a little joke, but we can review get just underscore We can repeat things and have them sink in a little more So use that repetition use it wisely. Don't go overboard, but use repetition effectively in an informative speech You can adapt the feedback if you see that you're losing the audience Then we need to maybe take a right turn here and go back or something and cover something else Or you know, we need to have that flexibility if we're losing the audience We need to adapt to that feedback and likewise if we see an audience is really interested in one particular area maybe we expand on that a little bit and adapt to that feedback though that you're getting from the audience pay attention to the feedback you're getting from the audience and then adapt accordingly throughout your speech And we need to appeal to different learners people have different learning styles those different learning styles visual oral Read and writing and kinesthetic learning styles just some categorizations for example that we use for those But whatever, you know You need to understand that the audience is made up of people with different learning styles And so we need to present information in a way that that connects with each of those learning styles and not just one or two of them, but as much as we can broadly up Share information that's going to connect to people in different ways with those different learning styles If you have questions about speaking to inform or giving informative speeches, please feel free to contact me I'd love to hear from you via email and And chat about this more with you, but how you can become a more effective informative speaker in the meantime I hope you'll take these tips and this information and put them to work in your next speech when you're giving an informative speech