Informative Speeches, Speech Example

Some speeches are meant to be inspirational.  These presentations are usually prepared with the intent of eliciting an emotional response from the listener.  Some speeches are persuasive, and are designed to capture the audience with an engaging, logical argument.  Usually, these types of presentations are carefully written and skillfully delivered.  There is however one kind of presentation that is very common and usually poorly done.  This is of course the informative speech.  Whether it is a training class at a business, or a student presentation about international banking (there’s an exciting subject), these types of presentations are absolutely, positively, undeniably, irrevocably, and without question, the worst types of presentations usually delivered.

Insomnia is a significant problem for many Americans these days.  I have a holistic cure that does not involve Jack Daniels, Nyquil, or Lunesta.  Just play a tape recording of an average one hour training class on ergonomics and safe-lifting practices or a 30 minute chapter review delivered by an average college student.  These types of presentations usually rival the best hypnotists on the planet.  Ever have that experience?  You’re listening to some monotonous, un-engaging speaker when suddenly, Your… eyes…are…getting…heavy… You are… very… relaxed…. You are falling into a …deep… sleep.

Well, just because you’re teaching something doesn’t mean you can’t be engaging or inspirational.  To that end, my informative speech is about… informative speeches.

My mission here is to provide you with a few simple – yet effective tips to help you improve your informative speeches.  A lot of people are reluctant to speak in front of others.  Some people are terrified.  Giving an informative talk is even harder than most other kinds of speeches.  If you are giving the toast at a wedding, chances are you have prepared and practiced your speech and know EXACTLY what you are going to say – word for word.  An informative speech is a little different because, you are trying to get your audience to understand the information you are providing.  In essence, you are teaching them.

This kind of presentation requires more flexibility, more techniques, and the ability to think on your feet.  With an informative speech, you can’t simply read a script.  You have to be ready to “read the room” and adjust your speech along the way.  If you get to some part of the talk and people are looking at you with glazed eyes, maybe you need to explain that part better – or differently.  This is why informative speeches are so challenging for so many people – and why so many informative presentations bomb.

But… It doesn’t have to be that way.  I’m going to give you some tips for giving a great informative presentation.   Knowing these tips doesn’t mean that you will automatically become the next Martin Luther King.  Public speaking takes a lot of preparation and hard work.  But if you follow these simple guidelines, you will be on your way to transforming your talks from sleepy to spectacular.

Regardless of the subject matter, good public speaking involves several key components.  We are going to talk about four of them.  When you’re giving a talk, you just need to remember the word talk – T A L K.

The T stands for “take charge.”  When you are instructing or informing an audience, you are the expert.  The class is there to learn from you.  Present your material with confidence!  There is nothing worse than listening to some nervous Nellie who starts a presentation with “I’m really nervous” or some other such whiney dribble.  If you are passionate about your material and confident and excited about delivering it, your learners will learn it.  You have to take charge of the room.  There are several things to keep in mind here.

Taking charge of the room starts with first impressions – like the way you dress.  Imagine going to a 2-hour informative seminar called Understanding the Stock Market.  You arrive early to get a good seat.  Your coffee cup is full and with pen in hand, you open your notebook ready to record words of wisdom, when finally, the speaker arrives – dressed like Larry the Cable Guy.  Now speaker-dude might be the smartest guy in the room, but it’s kind of hard to take stock tips from a guy in a sleeveless flannel shirt! (Unless you are investing in NASCAR – in which case flannel-clad Bubba might be a good choice)  The point is, you should always dress slightly above what you expect the audience to be wearing.

The second tip for taking charge of the room is the way you engage the audience.  You do this in several ways.  Obviously eye contact is important, but keeping an audience’s attention goes beyond that.  You keep the room engaged using both your voice and body.  Be aware of your vocal intonation.  Even in a small room, you should speak from your diaphragm.  Nothing floats a person down the river of slumber more than listening to some soft-spoken lecture they can barely hear.

Body movement is also important as long as it isn’t excessive.  You want to move around a bit and use gestures to help emphasize your message.  Remember, the bigger the room, the more animated you should be.  In a small room, too much animation can come off like a comedy sketch rather than an instructional talk –  kind of like Zig Ziggler does the board meeting.

“A” stands for audience.  You have to know your audience.  What are the characteristics of the audience you are trying to reach?  You should design your informative speech around those characteristics.  This includes the use of humor, illustrations, and metaphors.  For example, a sports metaphor would probably not the best idea if you were speaking to a group of senior women from the garden club.  If you were informing a bunch of psychologists about laws pertaining to the civil rights of patients with personality disorders, a joke about “Sybil-liberties” might be a hoot.  The joke would probably fall flat in a college class full of twenty-somethings who probably never saw the 1976 movie.  Knowing your audience is the key to preparing the best material.

Also remember that you are giving an informative speech.  That means you are trying to teach something, and the people that would normally be considered an “audience” are now learners.  People learn in different ways.  Some are auditory – which means they learn best be hearing someone talk about the subject.  Others are visual – people who learn more by seeing diagrams, pictures or examples of the subject.  The last group includes kinesthetic learners.  These folks learn by getting their hands on the subject material or by watching someone else do that.

So… If you were teaching a class in cake-making, the auditory learners would need clear, concise explanations of what to do.  The visual people would need to see the recipe including little pictures showing two cups of flour, one cup of sugar, two eggs, and etcetera.  The kinesthetic students need to dig in and get their hands on the mixer.  In every instructional talk, it is important to consider all of these learning styles and try to incorporate various components of each in your presentation.

The “L” in TALK stands for language.  We use several forms of language to communicate. We have spoken language, written language and of course the language of non-verbal communication.  With an informative speech, language is everything.  If you were teaching a group of students how to format a journal article reference in APA, you could pass out copies of the article, then demonstrate how to format the reference by writing it on the board.  If you simply showed them without explaining what you were doing, and what goes where, they probably would not learn much.  An instructional speaker needs to master the art of using language – in all its forms – to get the message across.  Good written material with clearly spoken instructions along with engaging body language and demonstrations is a winning combination.

Also remember that to take charge of the room – and keep it, you have to use language authoritatively.  That means if you are using PowerPoint, your slides should be sharp and well-organized.  The fewer words – the better.  It is better to have one or two key words per bullet point and then talk knowledgably about what they mean, than to write long sentences and explanations on the slide.

And by the way, if you can’t spell, stay off the whiteboard.  Just because you can’t spell, doesn’t mean you’re not smart.  It just means you can’t spell.  There’s no sense looking like a moron if you’re not one.  Nothing says “I’m an idiot” better than spelling potato with an “e” at the end.  Just ask Al Gore.

The “K” in talk is probably the most important.  K stands for “know your material.”

This means Know – Your – Material.

I learned how to read in elementary school.  If you are using PowerPoint slides to support your informative speech about some subject, give me a break!  I can read the slides – you don’t have to read them to me.  And believe me, I would much rather have you give me a written handout than to have you stand in front of the training class and read your notes to me.

Good informative speakers know their material and can speak authoritatively about it.  It is perfectly OK to refer to an outline while you’re speaking – especially for a long presentation.  But reading long passages from notes is a sure-fire way to propel your audience into the peaceful bliss of slumber.

When preparing the material for a presentation (which of course you know by heart) it is also important to think about ways to help your audience “get it.”  What are the most important things you want your audience to remember?  How can you emphasize those key points?

In this speech for example, I made up the acronym “talk” to help you remember four key points.  Take charge – Audience, – Language – and Know your material.  Most lists of tips on public speaking have eight or ten bullet points.  Instead of going through a long list of tips, I broke them down to four simple categories and used the “talk” acronym to help you remember the most important things. This is just one example of how to be creative in getting your point across.

Informational speeches are just that – informational.  You’re probably never going to hear a lecture on forklift-safety worthy of “I have a dream” notoriety.  But that doesn’t mean that your speech can’t be passionate and engaging – as well as informative.  So let’s say no to napping, and yes to great, informative presentations.  And don’t forget to T – A – L – K the talk.