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Types of Informative Speeches

A teacher standing in the front of a classroom talking to a group of students.

There are five broad types of informative speeches, based on the subject of the speech, informative speeches about:

  1. objects
  2. processes
  3. concepts
  4. events
  5. place
  6. people

Informative Speeches about Objects

An object is something that has physical existence – it can be perceived with the senses. Examples of objects include institutions such as your workplace, places such as the Grand Canyon, substances such as coffee, and inanimate things such as musical instruments.

Conrad recently bought a piece of artwork during his trip to Puerto Rico.  When his friends dropped by for a visit, he told them all about the painting and the artist. He was making an informal informative speech about an object.

Unlike an informal description of an object, a formal speech about an object needs to have a clear purpose and structure. The audience members need to know why they are learning about this object, and they need to learn about it in a clear and structured way.

One of the most famous speeches about an object is the speech in which Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone.

 

You can view the transcript for “Steve Jobs introduces iPhone in 2007” here (opens in new window).

Here is the video with accurate captions: Steve Jobs introduces iPhone in 2007 (opens in new window).

Informative Speeches about Processes

A process is an action involving a chronological series of changes, phases, or steps. When you give a speech about a process, you inform your audience about how something works or how something is made or done. A speech about how to apply for a scholarship, how to bake bread, or how recycling works would be an examples of an informative speech about a process, as would any speech where you physically demonstrate how to do something, such as how to change a flat tire or how to play a guitar.

The next two videos present professional and student informative speeches about processes.

In “7 Steps to Make your Virtual Event a Hit,” a professional at a company that hosts a video platform talks about how to create strong online events.

The following student video includes a demonstration along with a process explanation.

Here is the video with accurate captions and a transcript: Demonstration Speech Example (opens in new window).

Informative Speeches about Concepts

A concept is an idea, belief, principle, or theory. Human rights, rights, free speech, religious freedom, bioethics, and karma are examples of concepts. What all concepts have in common is that they are abstract or general ideas. As a result, informative speeches about concepts can often be more difficult to prepare and deliver than informative speeches about more concrete subjects such as people or events.

The following student video offers an informative speech about the concept of procrastination.

Here is the video with accurate captions and a transcript: Informative speech: Procrastination (opens in new window).

Informative Speeches about Events

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines an event as “something that happens.” You might give a speech about an event that happens only once or rarely, such as a lunar eclipse, or an event that occurs on a regular schedule, such as the World Cup or an annual professional convention. Many event speeches tell the story of a historical event.

One of the most important considerations in speaking about events is the need to tailor the information to your audience and demonstrate why it might be meaningful for them.

In speaking about events – especially historical events – it can be all too easy to slip into a “just the facts” recounting of what happened. “Frederick I was king, then he died and Frederick William I was king; then he died and Frederick II was king; then he died and Frederick William II was king.” Clearly, this recounting doesn’t help us to understand why we should care about Prussian history.

In this short video, best-selling British Classicist Mary Beard talks about a number of events in ancient Rome. To make it directly meaningful to the modern audience, she compares Roman conceptions of the rights and obligations of citizenship to those of present-day Europe, especially in light of the thousands of displaced migrants entering Europe at the time by way of the Mediterranean Sea or through Southeast Europe.

 

You can view the transcript for “What can ancient Rome teach us about the migrant crisis? Mary Beard – Newsnight” here (opens in new window).

Here is the video with accurate captions: What can ancient Rome teach us about the migrant crisis Mary Beard – Newsnight (opens in new window).

Speaking about events: Press conferences

Press conferences offer many examples of informative speaking about events. Officials hold public health briefings to convey important steps listeners can take to keep themselves safe. Companies hold press conferences to talk about important changes or upcoming events. When mistakes or misdeeds come come to light, public figures or spokespeople might meet with the press to offer an explanation or an apology. After games, sports stars are asked to break down the events of the game, and offer some insight about their thinking and strategy. In each of these cases, the speaker tries to offer the appropriate level of detail and depth for the particular audience. In the following post-game interview with Stephen Curry, for instance, the audience is assumed to have seen the game immediately before, and to know a lot about the teams and the sport. (Curry’s interview also serves as an object lesson in dealing with distractions while speaking publicly!)

You can view the transcript for “Steph Curry’s Daughter Riley Steals the Show” here (opens in new window).

Here is the video with accurate captions: Steph Curry’s Daughter Riley Steals the Show (opens in new window).

Informative Speeches about Places

A speech about a place can range from a historic location to a vacation spot, and the focus should be on a place you can research. When discussing places, you may want to describe them in a spatial, temporal, or topical layout. Here are some sample places you might do an informative speech on – Alaska, Albania, Australia, Catalina, Ukraine, Honolulu, Lake Okeechobee, Las Vegas, Museum of Tolerance, Sanibel Island, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Stonehenge, and Yosemite to name a few.

For example, if your purpose is to inform your audience about Kauai, Hawaii’s regions and locations to explore, you might offer information about Kauai’s 5 different regions, ordered spatially, moving in a circular pattern, or moving from west to east, or whatever spatial organization makes sense given your content and your audience.

Here’s an example of an informative speech about a place.

Informative Speeches about People

Biographical

People, living or dead, can be excellent topics for an informative speech. You can speak about people who are well known to your audience, such as an athlete or celebrity, or someone not well known to your audience, such as a member of your family or an influential mentor of yours like a teacher or coach.

More often than not, a speech about a person is setting them up as an exemplar, which is a way of describing a person or thing that provides an excellent—or at least highly informative—model or example of something. The exemplar doesn’t always have to be a good role model, but does have to demonstrate qualities that can be generalized. You can probably imagine people who illustrate what it is to be a moral person, a great athlete, an empathetic listener, a clever businessperson, or a corrupt politician. When you speak about a person, you’re often telling your audience what this person’s life or actions tell us about how to be a certain kind of human being in the world.

In this short video, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates talks about the physicist Richard Feynman. As the title suggests, Gates portrays Feynman as an exemplary great teacher.

You can view the transcript for “The best teacher I never had” here (opens in new window).

Autobiographical

A speech where you talk about an experience you had is an informative speech about yourself. For this type of speech, you have to remember that the speech is not just about who you are; it is about something you learned from an experience, how you changed from some event, or some growth experience. In some ways, this is the hardest part of the autobiographical speech: trying to build a speech that is about yourself but for the audience. Always ask yourself, how can your audience benefit from your experience? How can your story give the listeners a new line of sight into their own experiences?

In this speech, Jedida Isler talks about her experience of becoming an astrophysicist. However, she does much more than just tell her own story: Isler uses her experience to talk more generally about the concept of “intersectionality” and the remarkable events that happen at the intersection between two things.

 

You can view the transcript for “The Untapped Genius That Could Change Science for the Better | Jedidah Isler | TED Talks” here (opens in new window).

What to watch for

As much as this is an autobiographical speech, it is also a speech about concepts, in particular the extremely complex idea of intersectionality, which describes how aspects of a person’s identity intersect or combine to create different kinds of knowledge and experience, as well as creating complex situations of discrimination and privilege. In the speech, Isler talks about getting a PhD in physics as a Black woman, which required contending with intersecting systems of racism and sexism (at the time of this speech, only 18 other Black women had earned a PhD in a physics-related discipline). Yet, she reminds us, intersectionality is not just about making success doubly challenging. As a metaphor for the incredible productive forces generated at intersections, she talks about astrophysics and the birth of stars: “I’ve lived the entirety of my life in the in-between, in the liminal space between dreams and reality, race and gender, poverty and plenty, science and society. I am both black and a woman. Like the birth of stars in the heavens, this robust combination of knowing results in a shining example of the explosive fusion of identities.”

 

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