Page 398 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 13 Informative Speaking 365

is demonstrating. If you plan to demonstrate a process in your speech, rehearse
it carefully. Also, it is sometimes useful to prepare various steps of the process
in advance. Watch any cooking show demonstration on TV. The onions are al-
ready chopped, the fl our is already sifted and measured, and an example of the
fi nished product is near at hand. We don’t want the audience drifting off as we
measure ingredients or sift the fl our. Providing a written recipe in a handout or
as a visual will save a lot of time and let the audience focus on watching the dem-
onstration. In short, a demonstration requires extra preparation.
In addition, we should be sure that the demonstration is an accurate re-
creation. If we misinform an audience, we have done more harm than good. De-
pending on what we are demonstrating, we might even be inviting injury to the
audience members or someone else. We must make certain, therefore, that we
can accurately demonstrate the process in the time allowed.
Finally, we should make sure the demonstration is visible to the audience.
A demonstration speech on making sushi, or small origami paper fi gures, may
initially seem like a good idea. Unless there is a way to magnify the demonstra-
tion so that all the audience can see what the speaker is doing, making sushi or
origami fi gures isn’t a very good idea.

Speeches That Describe

Another function of informative speeches is description. Using visuals can en-
hance a descriptive speech. Not only can visuals be useful; you may also want
to provide a word picture of the subject. Consider the following description of a
familiar character, Mickey Mouse, provided by student speaker Jennie Rees:

They designed him using a circle for his head and oblong circles for his nose and
snout. They also drew circles for his ears and drew them in such a way that they
appeared to look the same any way Mickey turned his head. They gave him a pear-
shaped body with pipe-stem legs, and stuffed them in big, oversized shoes, making
him look like a little kid wearing his father’s shoes. 8

Can’t you almost picture Mickey from that description? Visual language is key
to effective description.
Examples of speech topics for each type of informative speech are offered in
Exhibit 13.2 on page 368.

Tips and Tactics
Informative Speaking

When putting an informative speech together, we need to do the following:
• Use words that appeal to the different learning styles of audience members.
• Use techniques that make the speech involving, appropriate, accessible, and
potentially life enriching.
• Establish whether the speech purpose is to explain a concept or a process,
instruct, demonstrate, or describe.
• Maximize observability through the use of appropriate visual aids.