Page 62 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 2 Your First Speech 29

The specifi c purpose of a speech is typically expressed in terms of an infi ni-
tive phrase that begins with “to.” Specifi c purposes usually fall under one of the
general purposes: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. If you were to give an
informative speech on preventing identity theft, for example, you might express
your specifi c purpose as “to inform my audience about the methods of prevent-
ing identity theft.” This purpose, however, is somewhat vague. More specifi cally,
you might express it as “to have my audience members demonstrate knowledge
of the steps they should take to prevent their identity from being stolen.” Because

this specific purpose includes a way of measuring your results—by having audi-
ence members actually demonstrate the knowledge of how to prevent identity
theft—it will point you toward a specifi c goal. The level of audience understand-
ing should be realistic: One speech cannot make them experts at identity pro-
tection, but it should give them the basic steps they need to protect themselves
from the most common sources of the problem.
On the same topic, you might have a persuasive purpose, for example, “to
convince my audience members to sign up for a monthly credit protection ser-
vice.” A successful speech matching this goal would lead to a number of au-
dience members actually enrolling in the recommended credit protection pro-
gram. Of course, there is a difference in content as well as purpose between
these two speeches. The persuasive speech would require you to compare credit
protection services, prices, and ease of use. The informative speech would not.
Both speeches would have to explain the threat of identity theft; only the per-
suasive speech would need to motivate audiences to actually sign up for a credit
protection service.
Speeches to entertain have the advantage of instantaneous feedback. Speak-
ers know by the audience’s laughter or applause whether they have succeeded.

So, a speaker might express a specific entertainment purpose as “to entertain
my audience with the story of my worst computer nightmares.” It is not neces-
sary to state how you will measure whether this goal has been met because suc-
cess or failure is immediately evident. Often our students use their storytelling
speeches as an opportunity to entertain, as did one student who described his
driver’s license test with “Scary Larry”—his town’s most feared examiner.
As you continue to give speeches in your class, work on developing specifi c
purposes that are realistic, that are worthwhile for the audience, and that fulfi ll
your goals as a speaker. Realistic specifi c purposes are those that can be accom-
plished in the brief time you have to present your speech considering the views
of the audience you are addressing. For example, you might well motivate your
audience to drink alcohol responsibly—something that is noncontroversial for
most people. But to convince an audience that disagrees with your point of view
to change its opinion on a topic like gun control or abortion is unrealistic. On
such topics your specifi c purpose should be more modest—perhaps to have the
audience become more open to your point of view.

Thus, examples of realistic specific purposes for persuasive speeches would
include:
• To persuade audience members to avoid binge drinking.
• To persuade audience members to consider that a prison sentence is not
always the best punishment for fi rst-time drug offenders.
• To persuade the audience that embryonic stem cell research is or isn’t a
good idea.