Page 287 - Essentials of Human Communication

266 ChaPtEr 13 The Informative Speech

An illustration is a longer and more detailed example:

Pat has always been an athlete but at the same time has always maintained an outstanding
academic record, and there are many others on the varsity that have been both athletes and
scholars, effectively destroying the stereotype of the dumb jock.
A narrative is longer still and presented in the form of an anecdote or brief story. The
parables in many religious works are good examples of narratives used to illustrate a general
principle.
Examples, illustrations, and narratives may be factual or imaginary. Thus, in explaining
friendship, you might tell about an actual friend’s behavior, or you might formulate a compos-
ite, ideal friend and describe how this person would act in a particular situation. In using these
forms of support, be sure to include only those details that are needed to help your audience
understand the point you’re making. Don’t clutter up an otherwise pointed example with un-
necessary details. Also, because it is the example, illustration, or narrative that listeners will re-
member most clearly, be sure to connect this very explicitly to the proposition in your speech.

Communication testIMOny
Choice Point Testimony is a form of supporting material consisting of experts’ opinions or of wit-
testimony nesses’ accounts. Testimony supports your ideas by adding a note of authority. So,
You want to present the testi- for example, if one of your main points was that the deficit is increasing, you might
mony of a retired judge to explain the prob- cite an economist’s predictions concerning the increasing size of the deficit. Or if one
lems that probation causes. For your pur- of your main points was that today’s prisons are inhumane, you might cite the eye-
poses, what would be the ideal qualifications of
this judge? How might you weave these qualifi- witness testimony of a former inmate or prison guard.
cations into your speech? What are some of the In presenting the testimony, stress the person’s credibility. When you cite an au-
things you might say? thority, make sure the person is in fact an authority. Tell the audience who the author-
ity is, and state the basis for the individual’s expertise. The testimony will be much
more effective when your audience is convinced that this person is worth listening to.

nuMerICaL data
Numerical data are useful for supporting a wide variety of statements. For example, if you
want to show that significant numbers of people now get their news from the Internet, you
could give the total number of online users for each of the last 10 years and compare that
with the numbers of newspaper readers and television news viewers in those same years.
These data would then allow you to show that the number of people who get their news from
the Internet is increasing while the number of those getting the news from papers and televi-
Information about phone inter- sion is declining. Or, you might compare the percentage of a tuition increase at your school
views and cheat sheets can be
found at tcbdevito.blogspot.com. with the national average or with the rate of inflation. To illustrate the growth of instant mes-
saging or social networking as a means of communication, you might note the percentage
that usage has grown in each of the last five years.

SkIll DEVEloPmEnt ExPErIEnCE

Evaluating testimony

If you were presenting someone’s testimony on one of the following issues, how would you establish the per-
son’s qualifications so that your audience would accept what he or she said?
● Nutritionist, on proper diet
Testimony is likely to be
more effective if you ● Real estate agent, on the advantages and disadvantages of condos and co-ops
establish the person’s ● Psychiatrist, on the nature of bipolar disorder
qualifications to the ● Biologist, on how to feed your pet
audience’s satisfaction. ● Drama teacher, on how to write a play