Page 384 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 13 Informative Speaking 351

Informative Speaking and Persuasion

When you were assigned to read this chapter, it is likely that your instructor also
required you to prepare and deliver an informative speech. When is a speech
primarily informative, as opposed to being persuasive? Depending on whom
you ask, you are likely to get a different answer to this question. Some peo-
ple would argue that a speech can be exclusively informative—with no purpose
other than one person passing information along to an audience. Still others
argue that while the line between what is informative and what is persuasive is
blurred, it is nevertheless there.
Our position is based on a simple premise. An informative speech is not worth
giving unless it is designed to reasonably ensure that it won’t go in one ear and
then right out the other. What good, for example, is an informative speech on
the proper equipment to safely roller blade if it doesn’t increase the probability
of the audience seriously considering the information? Similarly, what good is to
be gained by an informative speech on preventive health practices such as using
sunscreen regularly if it has no motivational value for an audience?
Instead of looking at the relationship between informative and persuasive
speeches as a dichotomous one, we want you to think about the two in terms of
a continuum (Exhibit 13.1). On one end of the continuum is knowledge; on the
other end is behavior. Given the poles of this continuum, persuasion is seldom
the result of one powerful speech delivered by a singularly credible and charis-
matic speaker. More typically, persuasion is a process comprised of a series of
interdependent messages over time. In the so-called real world, this process—this
campaign—begins with someone or some agency providing people with informa-
tion designed to stimulate them. This information, then, is used as a base from
which a more explicitly persuasive campaign can be built to infl uence people’s
behavior.
At the same time, we recognize that messages primarily intended to persuade
are often couched in the language of information. For example, during World
War II, both sides presented their propaganda in the guise of information. In

Speaker connects Repetition
information to of appeals
audience needs over time

Audience
Information
compliance
Speaker brings Overt appeals
information to to audience
audience’s attention attitudes/
beliefs/values

The Typical Persuasive Process of
Informative Speech Persuasion
Speech
Exhibit 13.1
Continuum of Informative to Persuasive Speaking