Page 301 - Essentials of Human Communication

280 ChaPtEr 13 The Informative Speech

SkIll DEVEloPmEnt ExPErIEnCE

Preparing an Informative Speech

Select a topic in which you’re interested (or consult the Dictionary of Topics at MyCommunicationLab for
ideas) and then follow these steps:
1. Formulate a thesis and a specific purpose suitable for an informative speech of approximately 10 minutes.
2. Analyze this class as your potential audience and identify ways in which you can relate this topic to their
interests and needs.
Working repeatedly with 3. Generate at least two main points from your thesis.
the process of preparing 4. Support these main points with examples, illustrations, definitions, testimony, and so on.
a speech will ultimately 5. Construct a conclusion that summarizes your main ideas and brings the speech to a definite close.
make the process easier, 6. Construct an introduction that gains attention and orients your audience.
more efficient, and more Discuss these outlines in small groups or with the class as a whole. Try to secure feedback from other members
effective. on how you can improve your outline.

Communication Organization Consider using a spatial or a topical organization when describing
Choice Point objects and people. For example, if you were to describe the layout of the center of
speech of description Philadelphia, you might start from the north and work down to the south (using a
As you approach the lectern spatial pattern). If you were to describe the contributions of Steve Jobs, you might se-
to give a speech of description on how a lect the three or four major contributions and discuss each of these equally (using a
child acquires language, you notice a topical pattern).
woman with a one-year-old child in the au- Consider using a temporal pattern when describing events and processes. If you
dience. What are your options in this situation? were to describe the events leading up to the Arab Spring, for example, you might
Would you depart from your plans and com- start with the earliest and work up to the latest. A temporal pattern would also be ap-
ment on the woman and child? If you do decide propriate for describing how a hurricane develops or how a parade is put together.
to comment, what are your options? What The “who, what, where, when, and why” pattern of organization can also be useful to
would you say (if anything)?
describe an event or a process. For example, if you’re going to describe how to pur-
chase a house, you might want to consider the people involved (who?), the steps you have to
go through (what?), the places you’ll have to go (where?), the timing or sequence of the steps
(when?), and the advantages and disadvantages of buying the house (why?).
Here is an example of how the bare bones of a descriptive speech might look. Notice that
the speaker derives the main points from asking a question about the thesis.

General purpose: To inform
Specific purpose: To describe the way fear works in intercultural communication
Thesis: Fear influences intercultural communication. (How does fear influence
intercultural communication?)
I. We fear disapproval.
II. We fear embarrassing ourselves.
III. We fear being harmed.
In delivering such a speech, the speaker might begin with this information:
Three major fears interfere with intercultural communication. First, we fear disapproval—
from members of our own group as well as from members of the other person’s group.
Second, we fear embarrassing ourselves, even making fools of ourselves, by saying the wrong
thing or appearing insensitive. And third, we may fear being harmed—our stereotypes of the
other group may lead us to see its members as dangerous or potentially harmful to us.
Let’s look at each of these fears in more detail. We’ll be able to see clearly how they influ-
ence our own intercultural communication behavior.
Consider, first, the fear of disapproval.