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50+ Informative Speech Topics to Engage Your Audience

We’ve all been there, staring at a blank page or empty presentation slide, trying to think of a good, informative speech topic that will engage our audience and stop them from staring numbly at their phones. Presentations and speeches can be a difficult task to tackle, especially if you lack a solid idea to get the ball rolling. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Today, we’ll dive into 50+ fresh and creative ideas for informative speech topics to help you capture your audience’s attention and give them something to engage with. Keep reading and you won’t be stuck with a dull speech topic ever again!

Interesting Informative Speech Topics

When it comes to selecting an interesting informative speech topic , there is no shortage of ideas. Choosing a topic that is engaging for both your audience and yourself can make the difference between giving a successful speech or not. There are many topics that have the potential to captivate listeners from politics to health, to relationships, and even to entertainment . The most important thing when deciding on a topic is to pick one that resonates with the interests of your audience, as well as being informative. Interesting topics should be specific enough for the speaker to cover in depth. For example, discussing the history of the American constitution would be too broad for a single speech, whereas discussing the second amendment could provide enough information for a full speech. It is also important to consider controversial topics as these can often be very interesting and engaging for listeners. When debating either side of an argument, it is important to do research and be aware of both sides of the issue. This will ensure that you are properly informed before taking part in any online debates or conversations surrounding the issue at hand. Whether you decide to discuss issues relating to current events or those that focus on more personal interest topics, there is no lack of inspiring ideas out there to create an effective informative speech. No matter what you decide, your goal should be to create an informative, engaging atmosphere that encourages others to learn from and appreciate your message.

What are some good topics for an informative speech?

1. The History of Space Exploration: Discuss the timeline from the first satellite in space to present day space exploration missions and their significance. 2. Advances in Artificial Intelligence: Examine how knowledge processing tools such as machine learning and neural networks have changed society. 3. Plastic Pollution: Outline the types of plastic pollution, explain their effects on ocean life, and provide solutions for reducing plastic waste. 4. Eating Disorders: Explain types of eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, their psychological impacts, and methods of treatment. 5. Alternative Energy Sources: Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using renewable energy sources (e.g., solar power), future potential developments, and environmental issues associated with traditional methods of generating electricity. 6. Cancer Research: Explore modern cancer detection techniques, how genetics play a role in cancer development, and advances in research leading to new treatments or cures. 7. Food Waste Reduction: Describe current levels of food waste, its environmental costs, innovative strategies being employed to reduce waste production, and practical steps individuals can take to conserve resources. 8. Online Privacy: Investigate data security threats posed by technology companies or other entities and discuss strategies for protecting personal information online. 9. Climate Change: Review current scientific evidence demonstrating the accelerating rate of global climate change, discuss possible societal implications if warming trends continue unabated, and present potential solutions that would limit global temperature increases going forward.

10. The benefits and challenges of sustainable living 11. The history and significance of the world’s ancient wonders 12. The psychology of decision making and how to improve it 13. The evolution and impact of social media on our society 14. The importance of mental health and strategies for self-care 15. The benefits and potential risks of artificial intelligence 16. The role of technology in modern education 17. The history and significance of the Olympic games 18. The science behind climate change and solutions for a sustainable future 19. The benefits and drawbacks of globalization on culture and economy. 20. The art and science of lucid dreaming and how it can be used for personal growth and problem-solving.

Reasons to Give an Informative Speech

Informative speeches are often challenging and rewarding to give, as they not only require that the speaker become knowledgable about the topic at hand, but also that they also have the ability to persuade and engage with their audience. Informative speeches are essential elements in both education and industry, helping to promote engagement with a structured presentation and specialized topic or topics. On the one hand, giving an informative speech is beneficial for both the speaker and the audience being addressed. It gives the speaker an opportunity to sharpen their public speaking skills through research and careful preparation of the information being shared. Similarly, the audience members gain knowledge into a specialty field or area of interest, learning more about what they already knew or studying something completely new. Exploring abstract concepts while uncovering hidden facts can also be an invigorating experience for both parties involved in a discussion on an informative topic. However, some may argue that giving an informative speech is burdensome for the speaker for various reasons. Researching for a subject matter can prove difficult when there is limited access to factual information available online or offline. Additionally, informatic speakers must take into account the attention span of their audiences which often means having to parse down large amounts of data quickly or risk having a struggling audience lost in information overload. Despite potential obstacles associated with preparing and delivering an informative speech, opportunities abound when it comes to discovering new conversations and stimulating dialogue among participants. As such, it’s important for speakers to capitalize on these chances by researching thoroughly and honing in on key cornerstones of each topic that bring out its beauty and complexity. With this in mind, we will now move on to exploring best practices for researching an informing speech in the next section.

10 More Unique Informative Speech Topics: 41. The science and psychology of addiction and recovery 42. The history and cultural significance of tattoos in different societies 43. The benefits and challenges of homeschooling versus traditional education 44. The history and significance of different forms of dance, such as ballet, salsa, and hip hop 45. The impact of mindfulness and meditation on mental health and well-being 46. The role of music therapy in improving physical and emotional health 47. The science behind sleep and the importance of a good night’s rest 48. The history and cultural significance of different types of martial arts, such as karate, judo, and kung fu 49. The benefits and drawbacks of remote work and how it’s changing the way we work 50. The science behind alternative medicine and its effectiveness in treating different health conditions.

How to Research for an Informative Speech

When researching for an informative speech, it is important to equip yourself with accurate and trusted sources in order to effectively convey trustworthy information to your audience. It’s important to seek out authoritative sources who possess the most up-to-date details and facts about the chosen topic in order to give an informed and enlightening talk. Resources such as journals, books, websites are all valid places. For example, researching scientific topics may require more reliable resources such as scholarly articles or medical journals instead of online blog posts. It is also recommended that speakers research both sides of an argument if possible before forming their opinion and presenting it on a matter. That way you are well versed in understanding points beyond your own perspective and can provide insight into those perspectives as well. After compiling sufficient data, the next step is organizing them into a coherent message that can be easily digested by your audience. This includes preparing visual aids such as PowerPoint slides or props to both help audiences retain information better but also make the presentation more engaging than solely speaking alone. Questions throughout the presentation can also prompt your audience to become interactive while giving yourself a chance to gauge how well they understand the material presented. Now that you are armed with data from credible sources along with potential organizational tools, you are now ready for the final step which is presenting an informative speech.

How to Present an Informative Speech

When delivering an informative speech, it’s important to provide the audience with an engaging and interactive experience. To do this, speakers should focus on effective structure , clear speaking, and relevant content. Structuring an Informative Speech: Beginning with a strong introduction is essential for getting the attention of the audience. A powerful opening can be done with a joke, story, or quote. It’s also important to end the introduction with a “hook” that entices the audience to want to continue listening. The body of the speech should contain facts, evidence, and statistics to back up the content. Finally, conclude with a memorable statement that reinforces the main idea and encourages thought in the audience. Delivering an Informative Speech: When giving an informative speech, confidence is key. Strive to appear self-assured so that you can persuade your audience into listening. It’s also important to keep a steady pace while addressing the points rather than racing through them quickly – doing so will ensure that the listeners fully comprehend all of your information. Also make sure to clearly articulate each word and pause when necessary in order for certain points to set in before continuing on with other details. Utilizing Relevant Content: When selecting material for your informative speech be sure to pick topics that are not too mundane or complicated…you don’t want this presentation turn into a snooze-fest session! Keep your message lighthearted but still intriguing by offering anecdotes and examples of how this issue has been brought up in life experiences or news stories outside of its primary context. Although using humor is great for captivating an audience make sure you avoid offending anyone since this will not reflect positively on your talk. Lastly, strive to select a subject area that can prompt interesting conversations between you and your attendees. In conclusion, when crafting and delivering an informative speech remember that organization and confident delivery are two key components to getting across your message effectively. Supporting facts and data should also be included within your talk as well as relevant material related to the topic at hand which will allow listeners easily connect with what you are saying and receive value from it.

Creative Ideas to Grab the Audience’s Attention

When giving an informative speech, it is important to grab the audience’s attention right away. This can be done through creative and unique ideas that make the speech more interesting. To start, it is important to create a powerful opening by calling out common myths or misconceptions in the industry that are relevant to your topic. Focusing on one compelling fact can also help introduce the subject and get the listener engaged with your talk. Additionally, you can use personal stories or anecdotes that relate to the topic being discussed in order to draw your audience in and give them further context. Humor is also a great way to engage with an audience. Using jokes or funny stories can lighten any tense conversations and keep listeners engaged throughout the duration of the speech. By making your narrative relatable, instead of focusing on complex ideas, it will help break down difficult concepts and make people relate more closely to your experience and thoughts pertaining to the topic. A simple idea such as this could develop into an interactive experience for all in attendance. Furthermore, using visuals aids like graphics, images and videos can help tell a story for harder-to-grasp topics . This helps break up long passages of text and creates lasting impressions among viewers so they remember the points being put forth more easily. Providing visual representations from different angles of a specific concept makes abstract matters easier to comprehend since they are able to retain those visuals better than long sentences of words alone. These creative ideas should be used strategically so as not to move too far away from the main focus of an informative speech; however, they can be effective tools in engaging an audience when used correctly.

Responses to Common Questions with Explanations

How can i make an informative speech interesting.

Making an informative speech interesting starts with thoroughly researching the topic and understanding what areas of the topic will be most engaging for your audience. Take time to practice delivering the content, paying attention to how you present and pace your speech – vary the speed and style for different points in your presentation. Use humor and storytelling to liven up your delivery and make it more relatable. Incorporate visuals , as well as sound effects or music, to emphasize key points of your speech. Lastly, if you show enthusiasm when you speak and are truly passionate about what you’re presenting, that energy and emotion will be picked up on by your audience and will likely make them more engaged with your speech.

What are the best strategies for research for an informative speech?

The best strategies for research for an informative speech are to start by gathering as much reliable and accurate information as possible. It is essential to have sufficient evidence and facts to back up your claims. Therefore, begin by reading the latest reports on the topic available in books , journals, and articles. Additionally, consider conducting interviews with experts or people who can provide insight into the topic. When you’re researching, make sure you take notes accurately and quickly and that your material is properly organized for easy reference when writing your speech. Also, ensure all sources are up-to-date, credible, and unbiased. To ensure accuracy, cross-check the facts from other sources such as articles from reputable news outlets or interviews with knowledgeable professionals. Finally, anticipate counterarguments and understand different points of view that may exist about the topic. This will ensure you are able to effectively address potential debates during your presentation.

How can I effectively structure an informative speech?

When structuring an informative speech, it is important to keep in mind the goal of providing detailed and accurate information. This begins by understanding your audience and then narrowing the focus of your speech. Here are some key tips to help you effectively structure your informative speech: 1. Create an outline – Start by writing down a few main points you want to get across in your speech. Be sure you know what information each point covers and how it supports your overall message. 2. Make an introduction – Introduce yourself and the topic of your speech, as well as any relevant background information that the audience needs to understand the topic better. 3. Present facts and evidence – Use facts and evidence to support the points you make in your speech. Be sure to cite any sources used for accuracy. 4. Speak clearly – Speak at a steady pace and with a clear, strong voice so that everyone can hear you and understand what you are saying. 5. Reiterate main points – Remind the audience of the main points at least once during the speech, so that they remember them when they think back on what they have heard later on. 6. End with a summary – Summarize the main points of your speech quickly before signing off, again so that everyone remembers them before they leave the room..

Are there any tips for selecting an informative speech topic?

Yes, there are many tips for selecting an informative speech topic. First, pick something that interests you. When the topic is something that you find fascinating or enjoyable to research, it will make it easier to stay motivated while preparing your speech . Second, think of a topic that is broad enough to explore in detail but narrow enough to cover in the allotted time. If your topic is too vague or too specific, you may have difficulty finding information and sticking within the given time limit. Third, aim for a current topic so your speech remains relevant and engaging to your audience. But be sure not to go over topics that are too technical or complex—remember to keep your language accessible. Finally, do some research into any existing material available on the subject so you can avoid repeating information that has already been covered. This will also give you an opportunity to look at the different ways the subject has already been explored and form your own unique angle for presentation.

Informative Speech Topics and Ideas: The Ultimate Guide

Before proceeding to the main topic, let us get some idea on Informative speech. Well, it is the type of speech that gives information about a particular subject to audiences.

Its main goal is to help audiences to recognize the information presented by you. Additionally, it makes a complex topic simple to understand providing different opinions and perspectives.

It also provides engaging information which is unique and desired by the audience.

Besides, informative speech can include objects, procedures, events, and other innovative ideas. This does not include the limited list as it is the topic plan that every useful speech contains. Speech can only be handy if it delivers genuine and informative information.

Informative speech describes the topic of your interest. For an instance, if you are giving an informative speech on coffee, focus on the topic.

Think about, what does coffee do, why do you love coffee, and how does it affect your health.

Also, to get rid of the health effect how much coffee do you need to drink per day. You can also conclude by summarizing all these things in a creative way. This makes your speech more interesting.

When you present, you might like to expand some topics or reduce the others. Here, you should be sensitive to your audience and think too much like this can distract the topic.

So focus on your plan and subject. Keep in mind, informative speech just to inform audiences. Do not pick up the topic based on your view as it is a convincing speech.

Remember, too much argumentative speech attempting to influence might take your audiences away.

These kinds of speech are polemical and are wrongly argumentative. You can also find places and time to make an appropriate polemical speech. But, it is not good to include it in the middle of the speech.

You can mention like “Coffee encourages me to work, giving me company during the work. I start my day with a cup of coffee.

It also inspires me to carry out research well. Yet, it can affect my health as well. So, I need to be conscious and drink coffee to the limit”. You can add more here describing different circumstances.

Table of Contents

Informative Speech Topics in History:

Informative speech topics in health and medicine:, informative speech topics in teaching, education, and students:, informative speech topics in music:, informative speech topics in food:, informative speech topics on environment:, informative speech topics in technology:, informative speech topics on economy:, informative speech topics in life:, other informative speech topics, 1. introduction, body, and conclusion, 2. clear, influential, and grabbing introduction, 3. seamless transitions, 4. do not forget to summarize at last, sample of informative speech, a) note list of wide-ranging subject area corresponding your knowledge and expertise, b) focus on the subject area relevant you don’t know yet but would love to, c) pick up the particular purpose of your speech, d) from the list of your topics, pick the one you can express clearly, a) carry out the initial research, b) think about how your research might change your topic, a) think about your audiences earlier than writing the speech, b) summarize your speech, c) elaborate the key points to make it interesting, d) write an introduction, e) write conclusion, a) make sufficient time to practice your speech, b) practice slowing down, c) if possible practice your speech with your friends, 1) make sure you do not speak fast, 2) practice speaking clearly and comprehensibly, 3) speak with your parents and friends, 4) get help from the internet, 5) carry out the outline properly, 6) understand the difference between persuasive and informative speech, 1) the audiences, 2) languages, 4) try to become clear and concise, 5) use audio or visuals if possible, informative speech topics.

The Great Depression
Famous riots
The British Royal Family
Women in the military
Unique funeral customs across the world
The origin of alphabets
The history of tobacco use
The evolution of marriage
Top secret government experiments
The most fascinating accidental inventions
History of witchcraft
The history of language
History of beauty products
The Industrial Revolution
The Middle Ages
How did the Olympics come to be?
Albert Einstein’s Contributions to Science
Helen Keller’s Life
History of art and expression
Civil disobedience
Why do we celebrate Valentine’s day?
Where did fortune cookies come from
A look into World wars
Understanding cults
Evolution of comic books
Most exciting prison breaks of history
Why have street gangs been so prevalent?
Life and Works of Mahatma Gandhi
Most shocking murders the world has seen
Evolution of immigration in the US
Life and Works of Mother Teresa
People Who Changed the World
How the Earth was formed
How antibiotics came to be
The history of greyhound dogs
Different philosophical perspectives
Evolution of movies
How Modern art came to be
Understanding Millenials and Gen-Z
History of Superstitions
History of Genocide
Indian Culture
Haitian Music
The trucking industry
The 80’s: more than just denim and hairdos
The funniest inventions ever
An analysis of smoking in movies through the years
Women in space
World’s most wanted criminals
Most ridiculous laws throughout history
Medicines from nature
Memory loss
How the brain works
Mental illnesses
Fast food culture
Basic first aid
Lucid dreams
Organ donation
Medicinal properties of ginger
Why I am better than you: A look into Narcissistic Disorder
Are home remedies actually worth it?
How DNA testing changed the world
How vitamins can enrich your everyday life
Why you need to stretch before your workout
Different personality disorders
The true horror of chemical warfare
How makeup affects your skin
Birth control and its negative effects
Leaps made by stem cell research
Signs of early on-set Alzheimers
How vaccines work
How to avoid wrinkles
Understanding insomnia
Understanding addiction
How nicotine deteriorates your life
Herbs as medicine
Life as a child of a drug addict
Why do we itch?
Botox: the good and the bad
Human cadavers – history of, uses of
How to have a better memory
DNA evidence.
The intelligence of dolphins
Is dark chocolate healthy?
Importance of vitamins and minerals
Pros and cons of LASIK surgery
Weight Issues.
Teen pregnancy
How stress can cripple your health
How a vegan diet can better your life
Why understanding health is vital to your weight loss journey
Unique medical conditions
Crazy things people have done on an adrenaline rush
Why does our body crave danger?
How to make an income while a student
How to survive freshman year
How to take the GRE
How to get a student job on campus
How to save money while in college
Virtual learning and its impact on Modern Education
Education and its role in unemployment
Great vacation bargains for students
Ethnic diversity for a more open learning experience
What to do in your senior year
Why do you need a college degree?
Moving out of the dorm to an apartment off-campus
Freebies and discounts for students
How to pay off your student loans in 10 years
Graduation checklist
How to pick a major you care about
The evolution of testing
The basics of financial aid
How to get that great internship
Current issues in education and what we can do about them
Basics of getting a fellowship
Learning disabilities teachers should be aware of
Banned books
Why travel is beneficial to education.
Diploma mills
Poverty and its impact on students
A look at the different testing methods
Online learning: A breakthrough in Modern Education
What to do on spring break?
Is homeschooling an effective learning method?
The history of your favorite musical group
How music has changed the world
What music has been to society
Classical and Modern Music: A comparison
The benefits of Music Therapy
Music and its effects on mood
Music and its effects on plant growth
Music and its effects on the psychological response of infants
The impact your favorite artist has had in the music world
The evolution of music
How different genres of music promote empowerment through self-expression
Modern earphones and tinnitus
Music and devotion explained through the life of an artist
How our brain reacts to music
How music can be used in rehabilitation
Does our music tastes define our personality?
What really makes a rockstar?
Strangest musical instruments across the world
Food additives: What are they and how they affect us
Food etiquettes across different countries
The food crisis
We are what we eat
Culinary modernism
The most exotic foods you can eat
Different types of coffee
Can peanut butter and jelly get any better than it is?
Understanding the food chain
Understanding food allergies
Understanding nutrition
Playing matchmaker: Condiments in foods
Baking your own bread
Wedding cakes: The bigger the better?
How to plan a diet that works
How to make the perfect cocktail
A quick guide to wine tasting
Junk food: More than just a packet of chips
Food disorders: What we can do to help
What is better than sliced bread?
How branding is shaping our perception of food
Cereal, soda, and obesity
Eggs: the most versatile food
How to go green in our eating habits
A practical guide to balanced eating
Are superfoods all that they claim to be?
How to master herbs and spices
How to make your own pasta
How to pair your wine with your food?
How to plan a culinary itinerary?
Ocean pollution and how serious the issue has become
Organic agriculture: Why the switch is worth it
The true impact of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Pollution laws and who it is actually protecting
Is it over for coal?
Plant species that have gone extinct
Animal species that have gone extinct
Our environment is dying and here’s why
Water shortage across the globe
How much of what we eat is pesticides and insecticides?
Domestic wastes and how to better manage it
What we can do to protect our environment?
COVID-19 as a blessing to Mother Nature
How a meat-based diest impacts the environment
How to preserve finite resources?
How we are contributing to global pollution
How Global Warming is coming for us
How corporations are destroying our environment
Are rainforests going extinct?
Genetically modified crops: Boon or curse?
How would life adjust without electricity?
3D printers have been a game-changer
Evolution of computer programming
Gadgets I love most
Useful websites
The internet as a boon or curse for human interaction
How Google became the widespread power that is is
Choosing a digital camera
New technologies
Biometrics: New development or a threat to biological data?
Pros and cons of going electric
How do 3D glasses work?
Violence and Video Games: Is this still a thing?
Evolution of content consumption
How to stay safe online?
How the content we consume makes us
How to start a good personal inventory
How search engines work
Social Networking
The Evolution of video games
VR gaming: Blurring the line of reality
The downside of smartphones
Pros and Cons of Smartphones
Is freedom of speech real over the Internet?
How technology has compromised our safety
Are blogs the new diaries?
How to build better credit
What you need to know about online banking security
Is your money safe?
Taxing the rich: Is that the solution?
The best investment tactics
How to beat the market
How to get a credit card
Price hike in the agricultural field
Where does our currency come from?
The ever-increasing cost of education
How education affects economy
Economic impacts of people growing their own foods
Why you need to save money
How to eat well on just $5 a day?
The budgeting secret you’ve needed all your life
How to get along with your roommate
Some inexpensive places to take your date
What to do when your roommate moves out
Being Confident.
Believing in Yourself.
Breaking Bad Habits.
Being Optimistic in Life.
Being a Positive Talker.
Types of birth control
How to fall for the right person
Choosing the right tires for your car
How to perform a magic trick
How a single parent upbringing affects the child
How to build your own brand?
How to achieve Goals
How Does Self-motivation Work?
Different leadership styles and how they help employee productivity
Handling Responsibility
Importance of Discipline
Importance of Meditation
Powerful Communication
The most dangerous jobs
Should assisted suicide be legalized?
The secret for a lasting marriage
How to grow your own home garden
How to retain good employees
How to recognize toxic behaviors
How to master negotiations
Become a more persuasive speaker
The benefits of reading every day
Differences in male and female communication
Muscle cars
Antique collecting
Dog training
My first job
Overcoming conflict
Favorite place
My favorite food
Prohibition
Airplane stunts
Model railroading
Roadside attractions
Multi-Level marketing
Why are smiles contagious
Is it love or simply a habit?
Interesting world records
Favorite TV Shows
The Welfare system
City planning
Reality TV shows
Coin collecting
Ice cream making
Reality of a dream
What winners do to win?
Near-death experiences
The beauty of wolves
Funeral oration
Pesticide use in agriculture
How to change a flat tire
How to drive a stick shift

What to include in informative speech?

Know what to include in an informative speech.

Usually, an informative speech contains an introduction, an informative body, and a meaningful and convincing conclusion. You have to follow the format one after another.

While working on the introduction part, you have to be clean to draw the attention of the audience. Generally, an introduction is a gateway to the key points.

The way you present the introduction part of the speech can influence the audience. It should have a clear relationship between the presenter and the topic.

Add some interesting example that attracts them and does not get bored. Focusing more on the body, develop the speech. Make sure your audiences will listen with an interest from the start.

While delivering an informative speech, the body should harmonize the main points. It must also present the information. Better follow the given time limit and convey information in an understandable way. This makes the audience convenient to engage and understand.

You need to think about a comfortable and natural way of presenting the speech. This way your speech gets appreciated by the audience. Here, the presenter should reveal a vibrant interest or desire for the topic. Keep the correct eye contact. The advancement from one point to another should not look uncomfortable.

In the conclusion part, do not forget to summarize your previous points. The main goal of the conclusion is to end with the main points of the speech. This will set your information in the mind of audiences. The ending should be the medium speaker signals the speech is heading towards an end.

Besides, analyze and repeat the most projecting ideas, innovations, or features of the speech. You should conclude the speech in a similar flow used during the speech. The essential thing to note down is that ending the speech is important. It needs to take the attention of the audience until the last hour.

For your ease, here are some samples that can be helpful for efficient informative speech.

How to write informative speech?

1) pick up the the topic.

The informative speech should cover all the procedures and ideas focusing on the topic. Better to start with a larger image and convincing points that you are confident to speak on.

For an instance, work on the subjects that you usually do or love to do. You can also include the activities that you have been practicing for years. The more you understand the topic, the easier it will be to carry out the useful speech.

Spend some time on the speech that builds up the confidence to deliver the speech. Prepare and come with a long-tail list. This benefits you with more choices to improve the speech that you love to present.

For example, if you like traveling, you might have lots of interesting travel experiences. You will feel comfortable speaking on that topic. Also, you love researching more on the topic of your interest.

Better include these kinds of topics in the list of your subject area. For an instance, you can say that you want to become a tech blogger. But you might not know much about the subject.

You can show it, saying you need to research more on the topic to pursue your aim. This makes your speech and subject influential.

First of all, find out the time you take to cover the topic and focus on completing the speech within the allocated time.

Pick up the particular purpose of the speech to direct the attention of your audience.

Think about making your speech influential. Only delivering the important speech is not going to help to attract your audiences.

Delivering the thing that your audiences already know might bore them. So make it interesting including the practical things and add your experience as well.

Be precise with the topic, do not move away from the topic. Suppose, you are speaking on the National animal of a country.

Focus on the topic of national animals, do not divert your speech explaining more about the country. Your speech may look meaningless.

Deep research and understanding of the topic make your speech more remarkable and appealing.

Better focus on a particular topic that you can express without too much work. If you try to speak about an unfamiliar topic, you might be in trouble later. Better pick up the topic workable for you to speak.

2) Research on the topic

One of the rules to write an informative speech is -Know your subject. Carry out your research with proper understanding and honesty. You can do this by utilizing trustworthy resources to write the notes.

While gathering research elements, divide the resources that you will use in the speech. Also, try to learn more about the subject area related to the topic. You may have to respond to the queries about the speech topic. Better learn the things that are helpful to answer the queries.

For an instance, you are speaking about European culture. If the audience asks about it, you should be smart enough to answer to the query.

Once you complete your research, find something new that makes your speech more effective. Instead of ignoring it, take some time to prepare it.

When preparing an informative speech on social media, you understand different things during the research. You may find the research on Social media Myth more interesting. If you have more confidence to speak on the social media myths, you can pursue it. You have done lots of research that makes you able to deliver the speech in an interesting way.

3) About writing the speech

It is ideal to expect your audiences are a little familiar with your topic. Keeping in mind, you may still deliver the background information of the related topic. Beware of the shortcuts you use while explaining the topic. Until your task says otherwise, do not rush to clarify anything.

Nobody desires to know about the actors and actresses when you are giving a speech in the movie. You do not need to provide lots of background information as they are already familiar with the topic.

List out the information you are willing to include and keep it in logical order. To carry out how to informative speech, including the reason for what you are doing and how you do it will be fine.

For example, if your speech is on preparing hamburgers, you should explain every step you carry out. Additionally, do not forget to explain how you use the ingredient for the perfect result. This makes your speech interesting.

Better elaborate on the main points to make your informative speech more interesting and informative. The common method to carry out the speech is to emerge with the key points. These key points for a speech should be in sequential order or spatial order.

This procedure helps to give a useful, informative, and engaging speech. For an instance, start the speech on My trip to Lumbini with a short introduction of Lumbini. Then, your experience while visiting Lumbini and conclude with summarizing them.

The introduction is the main gateway to your speech. It should take the attention of audiences and let them understand what you are talking about. Usually, if your speech is long or complicated, make sure to provide the points you aim to cover.

Better start the speech with interesting jokes or quotes related to your topic. Make sure you will not speak out of the topic. This will be useful to build a strong connection between your speech and the audience. Yet, it might go wrong if you prefer unpleasant statements or meaningless jokes.

For an instance, starting the speech as “I just came from the universe” might sound weird. This can make your speech boring and unimpressive. Better try some relevant sentences and speech.

The conclusion should sum up the key points of your speech. Better conclude the speech with your opinion. The audience usually remembers the first and last things they hear.

Thus, be sure, you are in the right sequence to deliver your message to your audiences. It will help to start and conclude your speech with some essential memorizing messages.

Attempt to put your conclusion into the introduction. Emerging with a complete circle provides will make your speech in the heart of your audience.

For an instance, you used some precise jokes or quotes making the speech impressive. If your movie speech started with a story about an actor struggling to make his career.

It might sound useless and inappropriate with the topic. So, talk about the thing that is necessary and appropriate.

4) Practicing your speech

Practice makes us perfect so make enough time to practice your speech. Include or cut off the points as necessary.

Try completing your speech in the precise time. Even if you are not assigned the time limitation, do not make the speech long and boring. You might not know this while delivering the speech. Better think about it earlier than you give the speech.

If you are speaking for some event, be sure that it does not cross the time limitation. Audiences might get your speech boring if you take a too long time or you may have to end with an incomplete speech. So, be sure that it works according to the time.

While presenting in a mass of people, you might f try to end the speech instantly. You may also speak quickly and in that way, audiences might not understand you.

To be sure the audiences enjoy what you present, attempt to slow down. Better use, video recorder while practicing. This way you can analyze your speech by yourself. It will be effective if you point out the mistakes and work to fix that.

Try to include dramatic pauses to make your speech more attractive. Dramatic pauses can strike a particular bit of information providing the audience time to reflect.

Best speakers use them carefully with great consequence. You have to be alert about the list of information. Make some time to practice after you list out the information.

You might be nervous to present in front of a huge mass of people. So, try practicing in front of your friend. This makes you able to build confidence.

Being nervous will mess up your speech. Better prepare well by working with your friends. Get feedback from them as an audience and work on the drawbacks. If you go with the wrong plan then recover from the mistake. This gives you the strength to deliver an interesting speech.

So, these are some effective ways to write informative speeches. Following these points will help to deliver an interesting speech.

Tips for Informative Speech

Now, let us proceed towards the tips to make your informative speech more efficient

While presenting in front of lots of people, it is likely to get nervous. When you get nervous, you try to complete the speech by talking quickly.

This might make the speech confusing and unimpressive. Think about it, while practicing try to slow down and make your speech clear and loud.

Even if you are good at writing the speech, it will not be effective unless you speak clearly. If you mumble while speaking, it might sound unclear. So, practice more and more until you speak clearly and comprehensibly.

You are most likely good at informative speech but you might not realize that. You can speak with your parents and friends about different topics of your interest. This builds up your confidence to speak in public.

If you are having a problem deciding on the topic of your speech, get help from the internet. There, you can find lots of websites with a list of prospective and interesting topics.

Or else, you can also think about the time you spend the most. For an instance, you spend most of your time cooking. Talk about cooking the dishes that you are proficient at.

Your outline plays a significant role to help you take your speech in an organized way. Yet, you should not take it lightly.

When you work on the speech, you might get that some points mentioned in the outline is unnecessary. You can add essential points and remove the points which you do not need. As outline helps to find necessary points, do it properly.

Persuasive and informative speeches are two different things. You should know that. Persuasive speech is convincing while informative speech gives information about a particular topic.

Simple ways to approach an informative speech

Think about your audience. This is the most challenging as the speaking circumstances, forums, and topics can vary. Before presenting the speech, analyze who your audiences are? Why are they present in your speech? Focusing on these details, you can explore the best ways to present your speech.

If you are speaking about lung cancer, you should know its basics as well. Some audiences might not understand the depth.

So start your speech from the basics. Do not presume that audiences are familiar with the background of your topic. Again, do not assume they do not know. This is the main reason, knowing the audience is essential. Besides, it depends on the situation of the speech.

Use proper language. Speak the language that audiences desire to listen to. You deliver the speech with the goal to provide useful information to the audience.

If audiences do not understand what you speak, the speech becomes useless. The main target of an informative speech is to give knowledge about a particular topic.

If you can explain well the topic in simple language better use it. Try to make the speech simple and understandable.

Do not rush to complete the speech quickly. Instead, think about educating your audiences with your speech. Explain the term if necessary.

Understanding the time flow of the speech will be helpful to make your speech effective. Speakers should create a link between their topic and the interest of audiences.

Here describe the significance of the topic. Also, express the main points with some interesting examples and quotes.

A speaker confessing their own experience encourages the audiences to share the same interest.

To become a good speaker, you have to be clear and concise at first. Spend lots of time on simple concepts instead of the harder ones.

Since giving many examples to prove a single point might not work well. This way your audiences may find your speech boring.

Better, explore some new ideas and prepare the topic well. Try to provide detailed information. Most of the audience gets influenced by details and descriptive presentation.

Try practicing using audio or visuals if possible. They help to find out your mistake. You can improve after you know where the mistake is.

Additionally, informative speech can be effective with demo presentation and visual support. So, using them properly helps to deliver your speech in a proper way.

The above-mentioned topics and tips for informative speech should help you prepare and deliver a powerful informative speech. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know in the comment below.

50 Interesting Informative Speech Topics for College

26 September, 2020

15 minutes read

Author: Mathieu Johnson

Informative speeches grant speakers a responsible mission of educating people about significant ideas and themes. They’re also about sharing thoughts and opinions on this or that topic, aimed at expanding understanding and providing listeners with relevant insights for further deliberation. Therefore, it’s a particular type of speeches given to put things into sharp focus and offer food for thought. Read up to know which informative speech topics have the most impact.

What is an informative speech?

As mentioned above, it’s a kind of speech that, well, informs the audience about your topic. Sounds simple enough, but simplicity is deceptive, and there are enough secrets behind this science. Specifically, not all people are fully aware of the fact that the “what” question is a key element that needs to be answered, for with informative speeches, you want to choose a topic most likely to be well received.

Of course, you can speak about something you already know, but you can also talk about the topic which is absolutely new to you. In this case, however, you must make sure that the theme will be relatively easy to research and studied before speech delivery. Another important point worth noticing is that organizational requirements and type of information for informative speech usually intertwines with those for an informative essay, for the latter is often an extension of the first.

How to write an informative speech?

So, now it’s time to move from theory to practice and write an informative speech. But where do you start from?

Although there are many different processes involved in the process, we’ll narrow them to essentials to help you better grasp the idea of how a perfect speech should be tailored.

Stage 1. Research and Brainstorming

Think about the topic.

The first and most crucial step is about choosing the right topic. We’ve mentioned before that it’s vital to select the issue you feel free to talk about. However, there are also cases when professors assign a specific task for you. Either way, the point here is to conduct thorough research based on the given or chosen topic.

If you want to explain the history of some company, band or event, for example, make sure to deliver the message clearly, without going here and there. For this, consider talking about particular points which will cover the whole speech and help the audience quickly digest it. Otherwise, your speech will depart from the topic, and listeners will find it challenging to follow your thoughts.

Gather Evidence

Every scholarly work proves its credibility by the inclusion of relevant sources to show both the audience and the instructor that you’ve put enough effort into the work to sound authoritative. This is a great chance to get a good mark, but more importantly, earn trust from listeners. To cite the evidence correctly, you can search for some facts, stats, or numbers in a variety of sources. These include textbooks, books, and encyclopedias (online ones work as well), scholarly articles, reputable news bureaus, and government documents. If these are hard to find for you, think of alternatives, like online journals and magazines. But be careful and don’t use sources from there if they are not credible and reputable. As an example, use The New York Times, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, SAJE journals, Forbes, etc.

Also, keep in mind that the evidence you’ll use should depend on the subject of your talk. If it’s about science, check scientific publications. If it’s about medicine – embark upon texts on this specific sphere. Finally, don’t forget to create a works cited page at the end of your speech and put all your sources there. Even if your instructor does not specify such a requirement, create a list anyways. This will help you keep references organized, and you will be able to pick a suitable one from the list.

Generate a Nice Thesis

A thesis is the core of impactful speech that tells listeners about its focal points. It also reveals the purpose of your speech and provides the audience with an insight into what the speech is all about. Notably, your thesis should not exceed the length of one-two sentences and be as precise as possible. More so, thesis, like the speech itself, is not about convincing people to take your topic stance immediately. Rather, it’s about informing listeners about significant events or cases which they could analyze and make relevant conclusions themselves. No need to push them or force to change the perspective, just try to be genuine and honest with people you’re talking to. Considering that it’s a scholarly piece of work, there’s no room for appealing to emotions or subjective claims. So in informative speeches, objectivity is the key player.

How to Start Informative Speech Writing?

Informative speech outline

The outline is a skeleton of your speech that briefly explains each of your points. This is basically a list of short sentences which reveal the meaning of your main speech ideas. Remember that this list is not for the audience; it’s for your own use. So the task here is to write about every point in a way you’ll understand. You can also use notecards instead of paper so that it’ll be much easier for you not to get lost in a sea of ideas and organize the speech properly. Tip: include numbers and capital letters for headings, and bullet points or other figures to mark subheadings.

If you are still unsure on whether you can cope with your task – you are in the right place to get help. Our essay writers will easily answer the to the question “Who can write my speech?”

Stage 2. Writing

Once the sketches are ready and you have a clear understanding of what to speak about, move on straight to writing.

Craft an Engaging Intro

What does engaging stand for in this case? It denotes some speech elements which will be enticing for listeners from the first sentence. It’s a common practice to start speeches with different hooks to call for more people’s attention. There are a plethora of techniques you can use to make an unforgettable first impression: jokes, anecdotes, examples from personal life, interesting statistics, rhetorical questions, quotes of famous people. You can even invent your own attention-grabber which will help you knock down listeners.

Give More Detail in the Main Body

Once you managed to create impact by the introduction and made sure everyone will be eager to listen to you further, you need to expand the explanation of key speech ideas in a well-structured, organized manner. Like in regular life, you start a story from the beginning to the end, while gradually moving from one idea to another. The same goes for informative speech – you need to ensure that the flow of your narration is logical and concise, fully elaborated, and precise. Also, don’t forget about making transitions between sentences. They will make your speech flow naturally, helping the audience to process the information much easier and effortlessly.

Wrap Everything Up in Conclusion

The ending of your informative speech should restate the main idea and the thesis you’ve mentioned in the introduction. There’s no need to say new things that will only confuse your audience. Instead, all the conclusion needs is a nice wrapping of the already stated claims.

So basically you want to review your main points and thereby deliver listeners a message which they will perceive as a major takeaway from what you’ve just told them. However, the introductory part should by no means repeat previous information word by word. It’s just a short restatement that covers up the main points.

Proofread and Edit the Final Version

Once the text is written entirely, it’s a must for you to double check it to avoid possible mistakes. If your informative speech turns out not as informative as expected due to grammatical or lexical errors, you’ll not be taken seriously, which we bet is not the purpose of delivering your talk. So, to prevent casualties from happening, you’ll need to use reliable editing and proofreading tools. Grammarly is an excellent source for this. Its accurate algorithm detects all kinds of mistakes and fixes them on the fly in a matter of seconds. And you can also check the text for plagiarism to make sure that it has no analogs anywhere on the web.

The Writing Process of Informative Speech

Stage 3. Perfecting Speech Delivery

Memorize your speech.

Half work is done – you have a writing piece. Now it’s time to learn it. Of course, it’ll take you time to do this, but with a little patience and enough time, you can memorize it even faster than expected. Besides, it’s not recommended to learn the speech from A to Z, inside out and upside down by heart. If your instructor is indulgent enough, feel free to memorize your talk in a way that allows you to explain your ideas clearly and consistently. To facilitate the process of learning, you can memorize sentence by sentence until you’re confident. And even if you forget something during delivery, you can always count on the outline that’ll give you a hint on what to talk about next.

Practice Reading Speech Aloud

When the final product is finally ready and polished, you need to concentrate on reading it.

Practice the speech in a mirror, to a friend/relative/pet, or record yourself to trace the tone and intonation. This way, you’ll make sure that your informative speech is brilliant and you deliver it just the way you wanted. Besides, this practice can help you critically evaluate the flaws and correct them before the actual delivery. Have enough time for this, because even experienced speakers always rehearse their speeches. Finally, focus on the way you use gestures, the way you stand and look at the audience, and facial expressions.

List of informative speech topics

There are lots of easy informative speech topics to choose from, but we offer you to review our topics list with some of the most alluring ones to get you started. Let’s examine pro informative topics that’ll help you write a memorable speech.

Topics for informative speech about music

Frank Sinatra – a beloved father of music
The drastic evolution of french music
Deep house – the most popular music style among youngsters
Why did rock and roll became an epitome of popular dance music
Why does reggae music most known under the name of Bob Marley
The psychological and physical benefits of listening to music
Chill, lounge and electronica has market the era of progressive sound
The impact of rap music on society at large
The art of playing the violin
The evolution of jazz music and its connection to historical movements

Informative speech topics about animals

Why are so many animals under extinction today and how do we fix it?
Why dogs are considered as humans best friend?
The history and evolution of polar bears
Why does rhinos horn trimming in South Africa still allowed
How to properly raise chinchillas
The most dangerous types of dogs on the planet
Staggering intellectual abilities of elephants baffle even scientists
How to keep snakes away and save your life
Different types of butterflies
The history of bees and their role in the world

Topics for informative speech about global warming

Patterns in climate change: rising temperatures and flooding
What Effects does Climate Change have on the Earth and its Inhabitants?
What are the practical solutions to global warming
What is global warming and what causes it?
The future of global warming: dismal predictions and statistics
Controversial opinions about global warming
The greenhouse effect as the top one reason of climate change
The global issue of global warming: what’s next?
Humans are responsible for the emergence and progress of global warming
Sanctions against generation of greenhouses: will they ever take place?

Informative speech ideas about sports

How sports improve human physical and psychological health
Is golf the game of the past?
The real life of sport teams: from trainings to furious games
Can roller skating be considered a kind of sport?
What’s more dangerous: white water rafting or ice diving?
The history of sports: whom do we owe respect?
Hockey 101: gear, playing techniques, team spirit
Why is boxing the most dangerous type of sports
The most unusual kinds of sports humans have invented
The importance and potential threat of football for the world

Interesting speech topics about food and drinks

How to bake a cake and not put on weight
Why does alcohol bring so much trouble to contemporary youth?
There are no superfoods, the study shows
Does fast food really cause addiction?
The secret ingredient of Coca Cola and why you’ll never want to drink it again
If the fruit diet useful for health?
Why bananas can save the world
Eating vegetables and olive oil is a golden ticket to rejuvenation
What’s the difference between natural and processed foods?
Why eating pizza is the worst way to get away with cooking

As you can see from the list of topics for speeches, informative speech is a perfect occasion to explore interesting themes in depth and share your knowledge with people who are most likely to learn new things with you. Discovering a variety of topics and writing them on paper is perhaps the most engaging task your instructor has ever assigned you. And if you find it challenging to come with the right idea for a good topic, just send a “ write my speech ” request, and we’ll complete your order in no time.

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100+ Informative Speech Topics & Ideas for All Students

Post category: Uncategorized
Reading time: 30 mins read

As a student tasked with delivering an informative speech, finding the right topic can be a difficult first step. The challenge doesn’t just end with selecting a topic; it extends to researching, preparing, and effectively presenting it. We’ve got you covered.

Our selection of informative speech topics is filled with captivating and relevant ideas to keep your audience engaged while educating them. You can choose any of these topics as a starting point for an informative and memorable speech.

List of Informative Speech Topics for Students

When selecting informative speech topics for students, the aim is to find subjects that are educational, engaging, and relevant to their interests and experiences. Here are some diverse and thought-provoking informative topic ideas that college students can explore for their informative speeches:

Good Informative Speech Topics for Students

First Aid Basics and Their Importance
Cold and Flu: Symptoms and Prevention
Pediatric Nursing: Caring for Children
Mental Health Awareness in Adolescence
Essentials of Nutritional Health
The Science and Importance of Vaccines
Hygiene Practices to Prevent Illness
The Role of Sleep in Maintaining Health
Understanding and Managing Allergies
An Introduction to Human Anatomy
Special Considerations in Geriatric Nursing
Effective Stress Management Techniques
The Health Benefits of Regular Exercise
Ethical Considerations in Nursing
Managing and Understanding Diabetes
Fundamentals of Wound Care
Common Skin Conditions and Treatments
The Diverse Role of Nurses in Healthcare
Basics of Pain Management
Promoting Cardiovascular Health

Best Informative Speech Topics for College

Advanced First Aid and Crisis Management
In-depth Analysis of Mental Health Disorders
Pediatric Oncology: Challenges and Care
Lifestyle’s Impact on Chronic Diseases
Nutritional Therapy in Healthcare Settings
Vaccine Development and Effectiveness
Infection Control Techniques in Hospitals
Sleep Psychology and Related Disorders
Comprehensive Allergy Management
Detailed Study of Human Physiology
Geriatric Nursing and Age-Related Diseases
Advanced Stress and Anxiety Management
Exercise Physiology in Disease Prevention
Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing
In-depth Look at Diabetes and Endocrine Health
Advanced Techniques in Wound Healing
Dermatology from a Nursing Perspective
Leadership and Management in Nursing
Comprehensive Approaches to Pain Management
Cardiac Care and Rehabilitation Techniques

Easy Informative Speech Topics

Basic First Aid Techniques Everyone Should Know
The Importance of Hand Hygiene in Preventing Infections
Understanding Common Cold: Symptoms and Treatment
Introduction to Healthy Eating and Nutrition
Basic Steps for Blood Pressure Monitoring
Sleep Hygiene: Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep
Stress Management: Simple Relaxation Techniques
Basics of Diabetes: Types and Management
Understanding and Preventing Seasonal Allergies
Basic Wound Care: Do’s and Don’ts
The Role of Vaccinations in Public Health
The Impact of Smoking on Health
Introduction to Mental Health and Well-being
Basic Skin Care and Sun Protection
The Importance of Regular Exercise
Understanding Asthma: Basics and Management
Principles of Healthy Weight Management
Dehydration: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention
Introduction to Geriatric Health Issues
Pediatric Health: Common Childhood Illnesses

Short Informative Speech Topics

Handwashing: The Best Way to Prevent Germs
Quick Tips for a Healthy Heart
Introduction to CPR: Basic Steps
The Dangers of Antibiotic Resistance
Understanding Migraines and Headache Management
Basic Nutrition: Vitamins and Minerals Essentials
The Significance of Breast Cancer Awareness
Recognizing and Responding to a Stroke
Basic Eye Care and Common Eye Problems
Importance of Vaccines in Disease Prevention
Ear Health and Preventing Hearing Loss
Simple Techniques for Anxiety Relief
Oral Hygiene and Dental Health Basics
Foot Care for Diabetics
Dealing with Common Digestive Disorders
Bone Health: Preventing Osteoporosis
Overview of Common Respiratory Diseases
Basic Understanding of Arthritis
Skin Cancer Awareness and Prevention
Basics of Maternal and Child Health

Interesting/ Fun Informative Speech Topics

The Evolution of Nursing Throughout History
Fascinating Medical Discoveries and Innovations
The Role of Pets and Animals in Healing
Bizarre but True: Unusual Medical Conditions
Medical Miracles: Remarkable Recovery Stories
How Laughter Benefits Physical Health
Exploring the Power of the Placebo Effect
Myths and Facts About the Human Brain
Pioneering Women in the Field of Nursing
The Science Behind Love and Its Health Benefits
Unique Traditional Healing Practices Around the World
The Future of Telemedicine and Virtual Healthcare
The Psychology of Pain: Perception vs. Reality
The Weird World of Rare Genetic Conditions
How Music Therapy Enhances Health and Well-being
The History and Significance of World Health Day
Famous Medical Experiments in History
The Impact of Space Travel on Human Health
The Influence of Social Media on Health Trends
Nursing in War: Stories from the Frontline

Unique Informative Speech Topics

The Link Between Climate Change and Public Health
The Future of Genetic Engineering in Medicine
Exploring the World of Rare Diseases
Nursing Practices in Different Cultures
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
The Psychology of Color in Healing Environments
The Impact of Globalization on Healthcare
Revolutionary Medical Treatments Under Development
The Ethical Dilemmas of Modern Medicine
The Role of Nutrition in Chronic Disease Management
Virtual Reality and its Application in Healthcare
The Evolution of Surgical Techniques
The Role of Nurses in Disaster Response
Breakthroughs in Brain-Computer Interfaces
The Connection Between Art and Healing
The Growing Field of Gerontechnology
The Science of Sleep Disorders
The Challenges of Healthcare in Remote Areas
The Effects of Social Isolation on Mental Health
The Role of Robotics in Modern Surgery

Informative Speech Topics – 2024 Ideas

The Role of Nursing in Global Health Initiatives
Advances in Stem Cell Research and Therapy
The Future of Personalized Medicine
The Ethics of Assisted Reproductive Technologies
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Patient Care
The Growing Trend of Plant-Based Diets and Health
The Use of Big Data in Healthcare
The Challenges of Providing Healthcare in Conflict Zones
The Role of Mental Health First Aid
The Impact of Climate Change on Infectious Diseases
Innovations in Wound Care and Healing
The Future of Nursing Education
The Role of Nurses in Palliative and End-of-Life Care
The Effects of Pollution on Respiratory Health
The Importance of Global Vaccine Equity
The Challenges of Rural Healthcare Delivery
Emerging Trends in Healthcare Technology
The Psychology Behind Chronic Pain Management
The Importance of Cultural Competence in Nursing
The Growing Field of Nursing Informatics

Creative Informative Speech Topics

The Art and Science of Nursing
The Role of Storytelling in Patient Care
Innovative Approaches to Patient Education
The Impact of Urban Design on Public Health
The Intersection of Fashion and Medical Wearables
Creative Therapies in Mental Health Care
The Use of Gamification in Health Education
The Role of Nurses in Health Policy Development
Exploring the World of Holistic Nursing
The Future of 3D Printing in Medicine
The Importance of Empathy in Healthcare
The Use of Augmented Reality in Surgical Training
The Role of Nutrition in Cancer Prevention
Innovations in Home Health Care Technology
The History and Future of Epidemics and Pandemics
The Role of Nurses in Climate Change Advocacy
The Use of Social Media in Health Awareness Campaigns
The Evolution of Maternal and Neonatal Care
Exploring the Benefits of Alternative Medicine
The Role of Nurses in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

What Is An Informative Speech?

An informative speech is a type of speech that aims to educate the audience on a specific topic, providing them with facts, insights, and information in a clear and understandable manner. Its main objective is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the listeners about the subject being discussed.

What are the 4 Types of Informative Speeches?

Informative speeches are a cornerstone of effective communication, especially in educational and professional settings. They serve the crucial purpose of educating and enlightening audiences on various topics. Broadly categorized, there are four distinct types of informative speeches, each serving a unique role in conveying information.

The four types of informative speeches are:

Descriptive Speeches: These speeches aim to provide a detailed, vivid, and clear picture of a person, place, object, or event. The goal is to make the audience feel as if they are familiar with the subject through the use of descriptive language.

Explanatory Speeches: These focus on explaining a concept, idea, or phenomenon. The objective is to clarify the subject matter and help the audience understand it better, often involving the breaking down of complex ideas into simpler parts.

Demonstrative Speeches: These speeches are about showing or demonstrating how to do something. They are often accompanied by visual aids and step-by-step instructions, making them particularly useful for teaching processes or procedures.

Definition Speeches: This type involves explaining the meaning, context, or background of a specific term, concept, or issue. It’s about providing a clear and precise definition that enhances the audience’s understanding of a subject that might be abstract or complex.

Choosing Informative Speech Ideas

When writing an informative speech, one of the most critical steps is selecting a compelling and appropriate topic. Choose an informative speech topic that is interesting and can captivate your audience and ensure your message is conveyed and understood. Here’s how to choose a topic using the Five W’s – Who, What, When, Where, and Why – approach:

Who: Consider your audience. Who are they? What are their interests, age group, and educational background? Selecting an interesting topic that resonates with the specific demographics of your audience will make your speech more impactful.

What: Determine the subject of your information speech. What topic do you want to address? Ensure it’s informative, interesting, and something you’re passionate about. The ‘what’ should also align with the purpose of your speech – are you aiming to educate, explain, demonstrate, or define?

When: Timing can be crucial. When is the best time to talk about these essay topics? Choose a subject that is timely and relevant. For instance, discussing technological advancements would be more engaging if aligned with recent breakthroughs.

Where: The setting or context where your professional speech will be delivered can influence your choice. Where will you be speaking? In a classroom, a business meeting, or a community event? The environment and occasion can dictate the appropriateness and tone of your topic.

Why: Finally, consider why this topic is essential. Why should your audience care about it? The ‘why’ is crucial for creating a compelling speech that informs and connects with the audience on a deeper level.

How to Write a Killer Informative Speech

Writing a good informative speech involves several key steps, each designed to ensure that your speech is engaging, informative, and memorable. Here’s a guide to help you craft an effective informative speech:

Choose a Topic

When selecting a topic for an informative speech essay, choose one that aligns with your interests and expertise, ensuring a passionate and knowledgeable presentation that resonates with your audience. The topic should be engaging, offering new insights or a deeper understanding of a subject, and appropriately scoped to be thoroughly covered within the time allotted for your speech. This balance ensures that your speech is informative, interesting, relevant, and impactful to those listening.

Understand Your Audience

Understanding your audience is a crucial aspect of preparing an informative speech. This involves analyzing their interests, background knowledge, and expectations to tailor your presentation for maximum engagement and relevance. For instance, a speech aimed at industry professionals should differ in complexity and terminology compared to one intended for high school students.

Knowing the audience’s baseline understanding of the topic helps avoid oversimplification or excessive complexity. Additionally, understanding their interests can guide you in choosing which aspects of the topic to emphasize, making the speech more appealing and relatable. A well-tailored speech, cognizant of its audience, delivers information effectively and ensures that the audience remains engaged and interested throughout the presentation.

Gather Evidence and Facts From Credible Scholarly Sources

Gathering evidence and facts from credible scholarly sources is fundamental in preparing an informative speech. This process involves extensive research to ensure the information you present is accurate, current, and authoritative. Utilizing sources such as academic journals, books, and reputable online databases adds depth and credibility to your speech. It’s important to critically evaluate these sources for their reliability and relevance to your topic.

Incorporating well-researched facts and evidence strengthens your arguments and enhances your speech’s overall quality. It demonstrates to your audience that you thoroughly understand the subject and are committed to providing them with trustworthy and informative information. This careful attention to source selection and fact verification is key to delivering a speech that is engaging and intellectually robust.

Deconstruct the Topic to Select the Best Ideas

Deconstructing the topic involves brainstorming and breaking down the overarching subject into its constituent components or key ideas. By identifying these core elements, you can structure your speech in a logical and organized manner.

This ensures you cover all relevant aspects of the topic and enables you to prioritize and emphasize the most significant and compelling ideas. Through this deconstruction and selection process, you can create a clear, focused, and engaging speech, providing your audience with a well-structured and informative presentation.

Write a Thesis Statement for Your Informative Speech

A thesis statement serves as the compass that guides the entire public speaking presentation. It encapsulates the main message you aim to convey and provides a roadmap for both you as the speaker and your audience.

A well-constructed thesis statement should state the topic and indicate the specific angle, perspective, or key points you plan to cover. It’s the nucleus around your informative essay speech, ensuring your content remains focused and relevant. Moreover, a strong thesis statement provides your audience with a clear understanding of what to expect, enhancing their comprehension and engagement throughout your speech.

Inform Rather Than Persuade the Audience

Here, the primary objective is to inform and educate the audience rather than to persuade or convince them. This key distinction underlines the importance of objectively presenting facts, data, and information without bias or attempting to sway opinions. The aim is to give the audience a well-rounded understanding of the topic, enabling them to form opinions and make informed decisions.

While persuasive speeches focus on advocating for a particular viewpoint, informative speeches prioritize clarity, objectivity, and the dissemination of knowledge. By adhering to this principle of informing rather than persuading, speakers can build trust with their audience and ensure that their message is received as credible and unbiased.

Write the First Draft of Your Speech

Here, you transform your research, unique ideas, and thesis statement into a cohesive and structured narrative. Focusing on getting your ideas down on paper without being overly concerned about perfection is important. Start with a strong introduction that grabs the audience’s attention and presents your thesis statement. In the body of the speech, present your key points or ideas logically, providing supporting evidence and examples.

Finally, craft a conclusion summarizing the main points and leaving a lasting impression. While the first draft may be rough around the edges, it serves as the foundation for refining and improving your speech in subsequent revisions. It’s a critical step in turning your knowledge and insights into an informative and engaging presentation.

Start Writing Your Essay with Power Words

Power words can include compelling statistics, vivid anecdotes, thought-provoking questions, or impactful quotations. The goal is to grab your audience’s attention immediately, piquing their curiosity and drawing them into your speech. They set the tone for your presentation and create an initial impression that can linger throughout the speech.

They also serve as hooks, enticing the audience to listen attentively and setting the stage for the valuable information you are about to impart. Starting your speech with such impactful words creates an engaging opening that sets the tone for the rest of your presentation.

Develop the Body of the Speech

The body of your informative speech is where you delve into the core content, presenting your key points, supporting evidence, and explanations. Each key point should be organized logically, and transitions between them should be smooth to maintain the flow of your speech. To ensure clarity, providing examples, statistics, and relevant facts that bolster your main ideas is essential. Visual aids, if applicable, can enhance comprehension and engagement.

Remember to maintain an objective and informative tone, steering clear of persuasion or bias. By developing the body of your speech with a clear structure and comprehensive content, you enable your audience to follow along easily and gain a deep understanding of the topic. This is where the substance of your speech lies, and a well-structured body ensures that your informative message is effectively conveyed to your audience.

End Your Informative Speech with a Bang

Concluding your informative speech with impact is essential to leave a lasting impression on your audience. This closing section is where you summarize your main points, reinforcing the key takeaways for your listeners. It’s also an opportunity to make a final statement or leave the audience with something to ponder.

An effective conclusion can involve a powerful quote, a thought-provoking question, or a call to action, depending on the nature of your speech. By ending your speech with a “bang,” you ensure that your audience departs with a clear understanding of the topic and a sense of closure, making your presentation memorable and impactful.

Proofread and Edit, Then Present

Proofreading and editing your informative speech is the final critical step before the presentation. Carefully review your speech for clarity, coherence, and grammatical accuracy. Check for any factual inaccuracies or inconsistencies in your content. Ensure that your speech flows smoothly, with logical transitions between ideas. Pay attention to your pacing and tone to ensure a natural and engaging delivery.

If using visual aids, ensure they are well-prepared and integrated seamlessly into your presentation. You must practice your speech multiple times to refine your delivery and become comfortable with the content. Effective proofreading and editing, followed by diligent rehearsal, contribute to a polished and confident presentation that will effectively inform and engage your audience.

Bottom Line

Selecting topics for an informative speech requires thoughtful consideration to ensure the audience is engaged, informed, and enlightened. The key is to choose subjects that are not only interesting and relevant but also rich in content, allowing for a deep dive into facts, data, and insights. A compelling informative speech topic should entertain and cater to the audience’s interests and knowledge level while offering new perspectives or information.

Balancing complexity with clarity is crucial, ensuring the topic is neither too esoteric nor overly simplistic. Whether the speech aims to educate, raise awareness, or provide a fresh outlook on a familiar subject, the topic should spark curiosity and invite further exploration. Ultimately, the success of an informative speech lies in its ability to convey knowledge in a compelling and accessible manner.

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My Speech Class

Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

509 Informative Speech Ideas and Topics

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

How to Choose the Right Informative Topic

Half the battle of presenting a speech or writing an essay is choosing the right topic. Choosing a good informative speech topic or informative essay topic can keep your audience entertained, your reader interested, and your own work process more enjoyable. Here are a few tips to help you choose a topic:

Know your audience or reader: Your informative presentation – whether through speech or essay – should cover a subject not already well known to your audience, but still relevant to them. If you do choose a topic they’re familiar with, then present new and exciting information. Consider the age, knowledge level, and interests of your audience when preparing your informational speech or essay.

Consider your own interests: Think of your own passions and areas of expertise that you think people could benefit from learning more about. Choosing a topic you care about will help your speech or essay be better received. Your passion will keep them engaged and curious to learn more.

Consider length requirements : How much time are you allotted for your informative speech? What is the page requirement for your informative essay? You should be able to thoroughly cover the topic in the amount of time you are given. If you don’t think you have enough knowledge or personal interest to talk about illegal drug use among teens, saving money as a college student, or another informative topic for 20 minutes, you may need to consider a different subject.

The good news is that there are countless options available. Below are lists of informative topics for speeches and essays. Remember that, in order to choose the best informative topic for you, you need to consider your audience, your interests, and your time and length requirements. Then, customize the central idea to suit your situation.

Best 10 Informative Speech Topics

Don’t have time to read our full list of 500+ topic ideas? Here is our list of 10 best informative speech topics.

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How to adopt a dog
The history of motorcycles
The best sales tactics
The differences between male and female communication
America’s fastest growing cities
The importance of education for the economy
Different stages of poverty
How to cook vegetarian
How to keep your skin looking young and wrinkle free
The different types of poetry

List of Informative Speech Topics

Communication
Current Events
Environment
Food and Drink
International Relations
National Security

Relationships

Supernatural
Demonstration
Easy / Simple
Interesting
Legislation
Pop Culture

10 Animal Informative Speech Topics

The role of cats throughout history.
Caring for hermit crabs.
What are the best pets?
The lives of ants.
The different types of tropical fish.
The different exotic breeds of cats.
How to raise rabbits.
The beauty of wolves.
How to adopt a dog.
Raising pet snakes.

See this page for a full list of Speech Topics About Animals .

10 Automotive Informative Speech Topics

Is it better to buy or lease a car?
How to choose the right tires for your car.
How to make your car run better.
What to look for in a new car.
How to change your car’s oil.
Dirt bike riding safety tips.
How to drive a stick shift.
The history of motorcycles.
How to change a flat tire.
The best muscle cars.

14 Business Informative Speech Topics

Taking your brand to the next level with three easy steps: promoting, advertising and marketing.
How business owners’ personal characteristics impact their business.
What is the impact of training and development on employee job performance?
Leadership styles and their effects on employee productivity.
Engaged employees result in high retention.
Developing personal power in an organization.
Impacts of incentives on employee performance.
Psychological tactics in marketing.
How to create a successful brand.
The importance of accounting research.
The benefits of enterprise resource planning.
The benefits of multilevel marketing.
The best sales tactics.
How to nail the negotiation in your first meeting.

See this page for a full list of Informative Speech Topics for Business .

8 Communication Informative Speech Topics

Young brothers talking with tin can telephone on grunge backgrou

How deaf people talk with emotion.
The differences between male and female communication.
How to be a persuasive speaker.
How to improve your conversation skills.
Some simple conversation tips.
What is neural linguistic programming (NLP)?
Why smiles are contagious.
How to manage communicative disorders.

4 Current Events Informative Speech Topics

America’s fastest growing cities.
The Occupy Wall Street movement.
Poverty in New York City.
What is the national happiness rate?

6 Economy Informative Speech Topics

The history of taxes on carbon dioxide emissions.
What would be the impact on economic growth if everyone produced their own food?
The impact of progressive taxation on the provision of social services.
Economic growth of the People’s Republic of China.
The effects of price and demand of agricultural products.
The importance of education for the economy.

10 Education Informative Speech Topics

How EFL teachers can use the internet as a classroom aid.
Should teachers and students be friends on social networks?
Why is our education system only based on theory and not practical knowledge?
Should students be permitted to eat during classes?
The importance of formal education for building a successful career.
The pros and cons of teaching students three languages in school.
What materials work best in a sandbag for blocking floodwaters?
Hypnosis: its misconceptions and common uses.
Learning disabilities and their effects on learning in college.
Are test scores a good indication of a school’s competency?

See this page for a full list of Informative Persuasive Speech Topics .

10 Environment Informative Speech Topics

Should politicians bring more pollution to our country?
What would happen if finite resources were not used wisely?
Four main reasons for generating genetically modified crops.
The effect of organic and inorganic fertilizer on maize.
Are we going to lose the rainforest?
The best ways to protect the environment.
Commercial crops and their effect on the water table.
The environmental impact of a meat based diet.
Recycling helps mitigate the greenhouse effect.
Why we should stop global warming.

See this page for a full list of Environmental Informative Speech Topics .

3 Ethics Informative Speech Topics

Is it sometimes better to tell a lie than to tell the truth?
Is tolerance the same as love?
Is hunting morally acceptable?

10 Family Informative Speech Topics

Adopted children should always have the option to see their biological parents.
The impact of single parenting and its effects on children.
The appropriate penalties for parental negligence.
What it is like being the youngest of a family of 19 kids.
The importance of the parent-child relationship.
My father is my hero.
How to pick a name for your children.
Cases of domestic violence against men.
The importance of family.
The history of foster care.

See this page for a full list of Family Informative Speech Topics . We also have a page with Speech Topics for Kids .

18 Financial Informative Speech Topics

How banks are getting paid twice for your mortgage.
How to save money in college.
How to build credit.
How to save money on your income taxes.
How to apply for a credit card.
The basics of financial aid.
The importance of saving money.
How to recognize stock market trends.
The process of buying a house.
The basics of internet banking safety.
The best investment strategies.
How to live on $5 a day/ Eating well on $5 a day.
Tips on how do deal with money problems.
The history of our currency.
How the US Dollar affects the Euro.
Debt relief programs.
Does China have a serious stock market?

9 Food and Drink Informative Speech Topics

The difference between Gatorade and Powerade.
How to cook a delicious dinner.
How to grow your own food.
The different types of coffee.
How to cook vegetarian.
How to make a cocktail.
The best types of cheese.
The best exotic fruits.
How to make Chinese food.

See this page for a full list of Speech Topic Ideas On Food, Drink, and Cooking .

11 Fun Informative Speech Topics

The history of Valentine’s Day, the celebrations in different cultures.
Some laugh, but there are many courageous people who overcome stuttering.
Funny Saint Patricks Day parades, pub decorating, Irish fun runs.
Differences between apes and monkeys, monkeys in space programs, how they live in groups in the zoo.
Your hand: what your signature, handwriting and your hand palm lines say about your character.
Amphibian vehicles – search for information about those rare car-boat vehicles, and you have lots of fun informative speech topics to talk about!
Cartoons in relation to our Freedom of Speech and Expression principles.
Show the listeners to your public speaking speech some flags of unknown countries, ask them what nation you mean and explain colors and symbols.
The extraterrestrial life stories and future theories from French author Jules Verne.
Etiquette and manners, how to cope with special situations, how to behave at official ceremonies you see enough public speaking speeches spicing humor.
Fashion styles and dress codes at parties and ceremonies.

See this page for a full list of Fun Informative Speech Topics .

5 Geography Informative Speech Topics

The antipodes – Places on Earth which are diametrically opposite to each other.
Cartography – How terrestrial globe spheres are crafted.
Climatology – Patterns in climate change, like rising temperatures and flooding.
Coasts – Types of coasts, deltas, sea cliffs and beaches.
What does the continental drift theory mean in vulcanology?

See this page for a full list of Speech Topics On Geography .

9 Government Informative Speech Topics

The role of accounting in the control of public expenditures in Nigeria.
What factors affect community participation in public meetings?
How difficult is it to run a country of 1.2 billion people?
Speeding cameras are meant to provide government money.
Should the President be paid while being in office?
The Federal government’s separation of powers.
Journalism is our weapon against corruption.
How a bill passes in state government.
The best city planning practices.

10 Health Informative Speech Topics

Steroids, antibiotics, sprays: are these things hurting us?
The effects of dissociative identity disorder or multiple personality disorder.
Bigger isn’t always better: the effect fast food has on America.
The importance of proper stretching before a workout.
How to keep your skin looking young and wrinkle free.
The different types of insomnia.
The causes and effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
The psychosocial aspects of organ transplantation.
Controversial ideas about whooping cough vaccines.
The reasons why stress and depression should be taken seriously.

See this page for a full list of Informative Speech Topics on Health and Fitness . We also have a page with Medical Topics and Psychology topics.

10 History Informative Speech Topics

past, present, future, time concept on blackboard

The beauty of ancient Egyptian art.
The most beautiful paintings in history.
The history of fashion.
The history of high heels.
The history of cosmetic makeup.
The history of Tibetan burial practices.
What Olympic events did ancient Greece have?
The history of swear words and their impact on society.
Words and their meanings that have changed with time.
Why dragons perform in Chinese New Year celebrations.

See this page for a full list of History Speech Topics .

16 International Relations Informative Speech Topics

Economic development and the role of the private sector in reducing poverty in Lesotho.
Tourism and remittances are the solutions for Tonga’s economic growth.
The military of the Philippines.
Is South Africa ready for a female president?
Can democracy bring stability to Pakistan?
South Africa is an amazing country.
The impact of U.S drone strikes.
The discovery of oil in Equatorial Guinea.
How to help refugees.
Why everyone should live in China.
The status of trade relations in East Africa.
The effects of the Dowry system in India.
Sri Lanka after thirty years of war.
Why Africa is underdeveloped.
The political system of India.
The purpose of the United Nations.

2 Language Informative Speech Topics

English is a link language for many parts of the world.
The origins of cliches.

6 Literature Informative Speech Topics

Inside the mind of Edgar Allen Poe.
How to write a book.
The three trials of Oscar Wilde.
The meaning of The House on Mango Street.
The history of vampires in literature.
The different types of poetry.

21 Media Informative Speech Topics

What steps are involved in creating a movie or television show?
How Spotify hurts new artists.
The benefits of watching less TV.
How the media has hurt our body image.
Books that were turned into terrible movies.
The benefits of reading a newspaper.
The basics of photography.
The history of the Titanic movie.
Some famous advertising campaigns.
The effects of misleading advertisements.
Some important women in the media.
The best foreign TV shows.
The benefits of satellite radio.
The best TV sitcoms.
Al Jazeera, the largest Arabic news channel is the Middle East.
How Disney produces and distributes short animated films.
The amazing stage performance of Christina Aguilera.
The love life of Jennifer Aniston,
The story of CNN International reporter, Christiane Amanpour.
The ten actors who played James Bond.
Top three worst Woody Allen movies.

9 Music Informative Speech Topics

The different types of marching bands.
The history of french horns.
The history of house music.
The evolution of rock and roll.
The beauty of reggae music.
Music as a “lifestyle”.
The best electronic dance music.
How to play the kazoo.
The beauty of Haitian music.

4 National Security Informative Speech Topics

How illegal things are smuggled into the country.
The United States military branches.
The importance of the Air Force.
The branches of the military.

10 Politics Informative Speech Topics

Should the U.S. restrict immigration?
The benefits of communism.
The most important women in politics.
Define the term foreign policy and offer current examples.
The delicate position of women and children in war torn societies and countries on the globe.
How issues on oil in Nigeria lift the oil prices worldwide.
How a free trade agreement works.
The major environmental problems in Australia.
National gun control statistics compared to the statistics of other countries.
The function of the Federal Reserve Board in maintaining a stable financial system.

See this page for a full list of Speech Topics about Politics .

10 Psychology Informative Speech Topics

The benefits of greeting people.
Positive thinking is the key to peaceful living.
The meaning of dreams.
How to explain child geniuses.
Difference between empathy and sympathy.
How to be more sensitive for an emotionally insensitive person.
How to know a person’s true personality when we are so good at disguise nowadays.
Secrets about quiet people.
How to respond or take a compliment.
Why do people lie and how to deal with that.

See this page for a full list of Psychology Speech Topics .

12 Relationships Informative Speech Topics

How marriages today differ from marriages from the 60’s.
The secrets of happy and successful relationships.
How to choose the right relationship.
How to get along with your roommate.
The guidelines for military marriages.
How to make long distance relationships work.
The average age to get married.
How to talk to people when you have nothing to say.
How to recognize toxic friends.
Your Brain Falls in Love Not Only Your Heart.
Who Was and Is Cupid and Co.
All You Wanted to Know About Engagement.

10 Religion Informative Speech Topics

A comparison of Genesis and Revelation in the Bible.
Modern values are violating religious values.
How Christ is present in our world.
What percentage of the world’s population are Christians?
Why worshipping Satan isn’t a bad thing.
Why the bunny symbolizes Easter.
God helps those who help themselves.
A comparison of different religions.
The history of the Christian church.
The main principles of Christianity.

See this page for a full list of Speech Topics on Religion and Spirituality .

10 Science Informative Speech Topics

The difference between an alligator and a crocodile.
Why whales should not be hunted for food.
Transhumanism and the evolution of the human race.
How we can create geniuses.
Falabella horses are the smallest in the world.
Why is the colonization of Mars important?
Albert Einstein’s contributions to science.
The isolation of nicotinic acid from tobacco.
The journey to becoming a nuclear physicist.
Some interesting facts about the human brain.

See this page for a full list of Informative Science Speech Topics .

31 Self-Help Informative Speech Topics

The difference between boundaries and limits.
The benefits of affirmation.
Three goals to strive for in life.
How to present yourself with confidence.
Why it’s important to be yourself.
How to manage your anger.
How to make a good first impression.
How to prepare for a job interview.
Your actions determine your future.
How to set goals and achieve them.
How to enhance your public speaking skills.
How to increase your motivation.
What makes life meaningful?
How to take your next big step in life.
How to construct an argument.
How to boost your self-esteem.
How to be happy being single.
How to avoid procrastination.
How to improve your manners.
How to be a good leader.
The importance of a good attitude.
How to be more romantic.
How to break bad habits.
How to overcome conflict.
Happiness: The thing we all look for but never really understand.
What it’s like to be falling in love.
What is love and what’s not.
The secret to resolving conflicts.
Dancing is your secret weapon for happiness and health.
Things to remember if you don’t want to die with any regrets.

10 School Informative Speech Topics

Schools should not make money by selling unhealthy candy and soft drinks to students.
Music with foul language in it should not be allowed at school dances.
Students should be able to listen to their MP3 players during class.
Students who commit cyberbullying should be suspended or expelled from school.
Boys and girls should be taught in separate classrooms.
Homeschooling produces better results than public schools.
High School will be the best time of your life.
Boys are lazier than girls.
All students should wear school uniform.
It is possible to Ace your way through High School.

See this page for a full list of School Speech Topics for All Grades .

10 Society Informative Speech Topics

Why it is bad to judge people by their appearance.
The lives of isolated indigenous people.
How to tell someone they are annoying you without being rude.
How human behavior affects society.
Left handed people: the underrepresented minority group.
Is the military a fulfilling career choice for women?
The effects of discrimination.
The importance of newspapers in our daily life.
Do actors and athletes make too much money?
Why I’m optimistic about our nation’s future.

See this page for a full list of Informative Society Speech Topics .

10 Sport Informative Speech Topics

Should female students be allowed to play on male sports teams?
How to do a walking handstand or a cartwheel into the splits.
Is netball or hockey more dangerous?
The benefits of sports for all ages.
Why the spelling bee shouldn’t be on ESPN.
The worst professional sports teams.
The importance of sports and games.
What you should have in your golf bag.
The history of professional fighting.
The worst trades in sports history.

See this page for a full list of Informative Sports Speech Topics .

3 Supernatural Informative Speech Topics

The mystery of the Bermuda triangle.
The evidence that bigfoot exists.
The existence of telepathy.

41 Technology Informative Speech Topics

How roads are built.
Is wind energy cheap, effective, and practical?
Why college students should be careful about what they put on social media.
The uses for artificial intelligence computer networks.
The danger of putting too much personal information on social networks.
Modes of communication are constantly changing.
How has social media impacted our daily lives?
The line between the human brain and a computer.
Why technology is a bad thing for growing minds.
How technology has destroyed human interaction.
How is text messaging affecting teen literacy?
The advantages and disadvantages of social media.
The effects of violent video games on children.
The decline of interpersonal communication due to technology.
The difference between hardware and software.
Antivirus software: beware of malware functions.
The history of programming languages.
How voice over IP works.
What would we do without electricity?
The benefits of 3D printing.
The major technological changes since 1990.
The negative effects of cellphones.
How to avoid computer viruses.
The evolution of the internet.
Computers through the decades.
How airport biometrics systems work.
Robots now and in the future.
How satellites help communication.
How a water plant operates.
How watches work.
The evolution of video games.
How cellular phones work.
The evolution of the iPhone.
How to build a computer.
How nuclear power works.
How search engines work.
How air pressure works.
The best new technologies.
The future of electric cars.
How to practice cyber safety.
A guide to different social media sites.

15 Travel Informative Speech Topics

How students can find great vacation bargains.
The best cruise vacations.
Famous parliament buildings
How to test the quality of water when traveling.
Interesting underground railroad systems in capital cities.
Investigation shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea.
The benefits of wind tunnels on transport.
The discovery of the famous temples in the Maya culture.
The influence of global warming on Alpine skiing.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Wright Brother’s first flight.
Totem poles and obelisks are symbols of unity, tradition, and pride.
What you need to know about the Principality of Andorra.
Why is there a Titanic replica?
Why the unsinkable and invincible Titanic sank.

9 Workplace Informative Speech Topics

I Love to Work Pin Button Enjoy Job Career

The benefits of break time for nursing mothers in the workplace.
The prevalence of dangerous chemicals in the workplace.
How to survive working in a restaurant.
Why underwater welding is dangerous.
How it is to work in the fast food industry.
How to get a great internship.
How to become a comedian.
The most dangerous jobs.
What are the fastest growing careers?

List of Informative Essay Topics

14 college informative essay topics.

young student girl with books in library

Benefits of a college degree
Crimes on college campuses
Healthiest foods in the campus cafeteria
How students can stay safe on a college campus
How students can use eLibrary Curriculum Edition for research
How to beat senioritis
How to find cheap textbooks
How to pick a major
How to study for and pass a test
Saving money as a college student
The story of how your school was founded
Ways of preventing college dropout
Whether binge drinking is a problem on your college campus
Your favorite club or organization on campus

5 Demonstration Informative Essay Topics

How to bake a cake
How to knit a scarf
How to organize a closet
How to swing a golf club
How to train your dog

7 Easy / Simple Informative Essay Topics

A genre of music
America’s fastest growing cities
Breeds of dogs
How a computer works
Interesting cultures
Lesser known presidents
Natural disasters

9 Education Informative Essay Topics

How to choose a persuasive speech topic
How to deliver a funny informative speech
How to deliver a persuasive speech
How to maintain audience attention during a speech
How to win your audience with descriptive speech
How to write a persuasive essay
How to write an argumentative essay
How to write an expository essay
The difference between a thesis statement and a topic sentence

10 Fun Informative Essay Topics

An impressive world record
Fun games to play at the beach.
The history of ice cream
The revolution of the selfie
Ways different cultures celebrate Valentine’s Day
What do people do when they win the lottery?
What people don’t know about Disneyland
What you can learn from grade K students
What your horoscope means
Why people get tattoos

6 Funny Informative Essay Topics

funny kitten portrait with smile on card

Everything you need to know about skinny jeans
Funny St. Patrick’s Day parades
How to be nice to people you don’t like
How to cheat in poker
How to look attentive when you’re actually not
Things you can learn from your pet

See this page for a full list of Funny Informative Speech Topics .

10 Health Informative Essay Topics

All about gluten
Cause-and-effect relationship of air pollution
Causes of cancer
How caffeine works
How stress affects your body
How to make exercise a habit
How to quit smoking
Symptoms of Alzheimer Disease
Symptoms of depression
How to get rid of bad habits

6 Hobbies Informative Essay Topics

Hand made scrapbooking post card and tools lying on a table

Best places for scuba diving
Choosing your next book to read
Peace lily care tips
Professional baseball stadiums
The history of your favorite sport
Types of tropical fish

9 Interesting Informative Essay Topics

Effects of global warming
Exotic pets
How to perform an attention-getting first dance at your wedding
Near-death experiences
Places to see in northern Nevada
The biography of Clyde Tombaugh
The history of a cliche marriage ritual
What is your dog actually thinking?
What your handwriting says about you

See this page for a full list of Informative Interesting Speech Topics .

7 Life Informative Essay Topics

How to drive a stick-shift
How to pay off your student loans in under 10 years
How to succeed in multi-level marketing
The process of buying a car
Tips for being an effective networker
Traveling the world for cheap
Why people lie

7 Legislation Informative Essay Topics

Fees and taxes for an electric car
Minimum wage laws
The history of drinking age rules
What dogs are affected by breed specific legislation?
Anti-trust crimes.
Benefits of pleading guilty.
Felony penalties for aggravated stalking.

See this page for a full list of Legal Speech Topics .

10 Pop Culture Informative Essay Topics

A biography of your favorite celebrity
All about your favorite author
All about your favorite television show
Former childhood stars
History of your favorite product brand
Instances where the movie is better than the book
The Miss America pageant
The pop art movement during the 20th century and the changes it brought about
What makes a pop sensation
Your favorite form of public broadcasting

7 Relationships Informative Essay Topics

How to be a good friend

How to choose your friends
How to get along with your in-laws
How to make a marriage work
How to survive a blind date gone wrong
The different types of friendships
The history of online dating

Picking Your Topic

At first glance, an informative speech may seem like the simplest type of presentation . The basis of an informative speech is to introduce a topic to the audience and then describe or explain it . It sounds fairly straightforward, but special care must be given to selecting a topic or the entire speech may not be well received.

Informative speeches can easily become boring for an audience for several reasons. First, the speaker should be sure not to present a topic which is already well known, or the audience will quickly lose interest. The topic should be something the audience has never encountered, or at least include new and exciting information on a familiar topic. Speakers should remember, when preparing the speech, that their own level of interest will become apparent during delivery of the presentation. In other words, if the speaker is bored by the topic, the audience will feel bored as well.

Knowing the audience is a primary factor in choosing an informative speech topic. The speaker should consider the age, knowledge level, subculture, and other demographics of his listeners when preparing the speech. It is important to present information which is neither too elementary nor too difficult for the audience to comprehend. The chosen topic should reflect the interests of the audience, and should be intriguing to them without rehashing information they already know. For example, college students may be interested in a topic on alcohol use, but they are already very familiar with a topic like the dangers of drinking and driving. In this case the speaker might concentrate his topic on the health benefits of red wine. This way, he has chosen a topic which interests the audience, but is likely to present new information which will not bore his listeners.

Finally, speakers should consider time limits when choosing an informative speech topic. A topic should be covered thoroughly enough that the audience feels as if most of their questions on the topic have been answered. On the other hand, a tight time restriction may prevent the speaker from adequately covering a very intricate topic. When time is limited, a subject which requires lengthy explanation should be avoided. The audience should leave an informative speech feeling as if they’ve gained new insight on a topic. It is good if they are interested in doing their own research to learn more about the subject, but they should never leave the presentation feeling confused or unclear about what they have just heard.

Informative Speech Idea In 5 Steps

1. step one – make a list.

Make a short list of your personal interests and informative speech topic ideas. To help you determine your interests on an informative speech topic, think about your favorite objects, products, people, animals, events, places, processes, procedures, concepts, policies, theories, and so on. Answer these important questions:

Is there something you love to talk about, always have wanted to research?
What interests you very much, or do you like or love at first glance?
Do you have developed special skills in personal or professional life?
What interesting informative topics do you know a lot of or want to know more about?
What are some personal or professional experiences and skills in certain situations related to your favorite subjects?
Can you reveal hidden secrets, new perspectives or insights on some topics?

2. Step Two – Analyze Your Audience

Determine the interests and needs of your audience. What do they want to learn? Can you teach them on a subject you like?

3. Step Three – Check Your Interests

Review the short list of your interests and make a decision. Choose the informative speech topic that is also interesting to your audience. Take care of their interests, questions and needs.

4. Step Four – Research and Write

Research just one new single aspect of that informative speech idea. Look for valuable or amazing information that surprises your listeners. Fresh data, facts, intelligence, and advice will catch their attention immediately! To help you researching: look for new facts, figures, stories, statistics, surveys, personal experiences, professional experiences, quotations, comparisons and contrasts.

5. Step Five – Add Help Props

Demonstrate steps, stages, pros and cons, and remarkable effects by the use of public speaking software or other visual aids , that display the material you want them to be understood or remembered.

Informative Speeches FAQ

1. Speeches About Objects 2. Speeches About Processes 3. Speeches About Events 4. Speeches About Concepts

An informative speech is one that provides information and educates the audience on a specific topic. An informative speech should help your audience learn, understand, and remember information you are presenting.

1. Know your audience or reader 2. Consider your interests 3. Consider length requirements

You can see this page with speech examples .

Vote of Thanks Examples

613 Original Argumentative Speech Topics Ideas

15 thoughts on “509 Informative Speech Ideas and Topics”

Demonic Possession

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Informative Speech Topics on Concepts

Alex barski.

Informative speeches about concepts include theories, ideas and major themes that attempt to inform people about their history and function. Explaining how concepts work can help audiences understand their place in society. To make speeches more effective, speakers can use charts, graphs and multimedia presentation software to get their messages across.

Explore this article

Social Issues

1 Government

Speeches about concepts in government can focus on how nations govern using different forms, such as tyranny, monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Informing people about each government’s process -- how it passes laws and how it rules the media, for example -- can all make interesting topics to discuss. Topics can include nations that use such systems today, nations that changed their systems of governments and the effectiveness of each. Topics can also focus on the best and worst practices of each form of government along with the triumphs and struggles of each throughout history.

Informative speeches about religion cover the major religious concepts of the world, including Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Islam. Informative speeches explaining the major beliefs, major holidays and times of the year considered most holy can all help audiences understand the religion's concepts. Topics can include the major struggles of each religion, including wars and conflicts caused by religious strife; they can also speak about trends including growth of membership. Speakers can also address some of the biggest religious leaders and their impact on both their own followers and the political world.

3 Social Issues

Throughout American history, people organized for different causes and beliefs and fought for changes in society that stemmed from social problems, thus supporting the growth of concepts such as feminism and civil rights. Topics can include the history and beginnings of each of these movements, discussing the laws passed thus far and the work yet to be done. Speeches can also focus on the major leaders that emerged from each of these movements as well as key battles, victories and losses along the way. Topics about how the media covers each can also work.

Speeches about concepts in business can include entrepreneurship, economics, capitalism, marketing and advertising. In the area of entrepreneurship, topics can focus on starting a business, key strategies in successful ownership and hiring employees. Topics about marketing and advertising can explain some of the best campaigns used to sell products as well as some of the worst. Speakers can address how each works and some of the major hurdles each area faces in both a good and bad economy. Topics can also include business functions outside the United States and how foreign companies make adaptations to concepts. Speakers can also address ethical issues within each area.

1 Colorado State University: Example Topics
2 Georgia Perimeter College: Classical Concepts of Government
3 BBC: Religion
4 Del Mar College: Social Problems

About the Author

Alex Barski began writing professionally in 2006. He is a former television news reporter now working in news management and has written for regional magazines and business journals in Pennsylvania. Barski has also served as a college professor, teaching courses in mass media and writing. He has a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications and English from King's College.

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Informative speech examples

4 types of informative speeches: topics and outlines

By: Susan Dugdale | Last modified: 08-05-2023

The primary purpose of an informative speech is to share useful and interesting, factual, and accurate information with the audience on a particular topic (issue), or subject.

Find out more about how to do that effectively here.

What's on this page

The four different types of informative speeches, each with specific topic suggestions and an example informative speech outline:

description
demonstration
explanation

What is informative speech?

The 7 key characteristics of an informative speech

Image - Label: 4 Informative speech example outlines: definition, description, explanation, demonstration

We all speak to share information. We communicate knowledge of infinite variety all day, every day, in multiple settings.

Teachers in classrooms world-wide share information with their students.

Call centers problem solve for their callers.

News outlets (on and offline) issue reports on local, national and international events and issues, people of interest, weather, traffic flow around cities...

Health care professionals explain the treatment of addictive behaviors, the many impacts of long Covid, the development of new treatments...

Specialist research scientists share their findings with colleagues at conferences.

A pastry chef demonstrates how to make perfect classic croissants.

The range of informative public speaking is vast! Some of us do it well. Some of us not so well - largely because we don't fully understand what's needed to present what we're sharing effectively.

Return to Top

The key characteristics of an informative speech

So, what are the key characteristics or essential elements, of this type of speech? There are seven.

1. Objectivity

The information you give is factual, neutral and objective. You make no attempt to persuade or push (advocate) a particular viewpoint.

Your personal opinions: feelings thoughts, or concerns about the topic you're presenting are not given. This is not a persuasive speech.

As an example, here's an excerpt from a Statistics Department report on teenage births in New Zealand - the country I live in.

Although it's a potentially a firecracker subject: one arousing all sorts of emotional responses from outright condemnation of the girls and their babies to compassionate practical support, the article sticks to the facts.

The headline reads: "Teenage births halved over last decade"

"The number of teenage women in New Zealand giving birth has more than halved over the last decade, Stats NZ said today.

There were 1,719 births registered to teenage women (those aged under 20 years) in 2022, accounting for around 1 in every 34 births that year. In 2012, there were 3,786 births registered to teenage mothers, accounting for around 1 in every 16 births that year."

For more see: Statistics Department NZ - Teenage births halved over last decade

You present your information clearly and concisely, avoiding jargon or complex language that may confuse your audience.

The candidate gave a rousing stump speech , which included a couple of potentially inflammatory statements on known wedge issues .

If the audience is familiar with political jargon that sentence would be fine. If they're not, it would bewilder them. What is a 'stump speech' or a 'wedge issue' ?

Stump speech: a candidate's prepared speech or pitch that explains their core platform.

Wedge issue: a controversial political issue that divides members of opposing political parties or the same party.

For more see: political jargon examples

3. Relevance

The content shared in your speech should be relevant and valuable. It should meet your audience's needs or spark their curiosity.

If the audience members are vegetarians, they're highly unlikely to want to know anything about the varying cuts of beef and what they are used for.

However, the same audience might be very interested in finding out more about plant protein and readily available sources of it.

4. Organizational pattern

The speech should have a logical sequential structure with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.

If I am giving a demonstration speech on how to bake chocolate chip cookies, to be effective it needs to move through each of the necessary steps in the correct order.

Beginning with how to spoon the mixture on to the tray, or how to cool the cookies on a wire rack when you've taken them out of the oven, is confusing.

5. Research and credibility

Informative speeches are based on thorough research and reliable sources to ensure accuracy and credibility. And sources need to be properly cited.

My friend told me, my mother says, or I saw it on Face Book is neither authoritative nor enough. ☺

Example: My speech is on literacy rates in USA. To be credible I need to quote and cite reputable sources.

https://www.apmresearchlab.org/10x-adult-literacy
https://www.thinkimpact.com/literacy-statistics/

6. Visual aids

Slides, charts, graphs, or props are frequently used to help the audience fully understand what they're being told.

For example, an informative speech on the rise and fall of a currency's daily exchange rate is made a great deal easier to follow and understand with graphs or charts illustrating the key points.

Or for a biographical speech, photos of the person being talked about will help hold the attention of your audience.

7. Effective delivery

To be effective your speech needs to be delivered in a way that captures and hold the audience's attention. That means all aspects of it have been rehearsed or practiced.

If you're demonstrating, you've gone through every step to ensure you have the flow of material right.

If you're using props (visual aids) of any sort you've made sure they work. Can they be seen easily? Do they clearly illustrate the point you're making?

Is your use of the stage (or your speaking space) good? Does your body language align with your material? Can your voice be heard? Are you speaking clearly?

Pulling together a script and the props you're going to use is only part of the task of giving a speech. Working on and refining delivery completes it.

To give a successful speech each of these seven aspects needs to be fine-tuned: to hook your audience's interest, to match their knowledge level, your topic, your speech purpose and, fit within the time constraints you've been given.

Types of informative speeches

There are four types of informative speeches: definition, description, explanation and demonstration. A speech may use one, or a mix of them.

1. Informing through definition

An informative speech based on definition clearly, and concisely, explains a concept * , theory, or philosophy. The principal purpose is to inform the audience, so they understand the main aspects of the particular subject being talked about.

* Definition of concept from the Cambridge dictionary - an abstract principle or idea

Examples of topics for definition or concept speeches

A good topic could be:

What is global warming?
What are organics?
What are the core beliefs of Christianity?
What is loyalty?
What is mental health?
What is modern art?
What is freedom?
What is beauty?
What is education?
What are economics?
What is popular culture?

These are very broad topic areas- each containing multiple subtopics, any of which could become the subject of a speech in its own right.

Example outline for a definition or concept informative speech

Speech title:.

What is modern art?

- people who want an introductory overview of modern art to help them understand a little more about what they're looking at - to place artists and their work in context

Specific purpose:

- to provide a broad outline/definition of modern art

Image: The Scream - Edvard Munch Text: What is modern art? An example outline for a concept or definition informative speech

Modern art refers to a broad and diverse artistic movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continued to develop throughout the 20th century.

It is characterized by a radical departure from traditional artistic styles and conventions and encompasses a wide range of artistic styles, techniques, and media, reflecting the cultural, social, and technological changes of the time.

Key characteristics or main points include:

Experimentation and innovation : Modern artists sought to break away from established norms and explore new ways of representing the world. They experimented with different materials, techniques, and subjects, challenging the boundaries of traditional art forms.
Abstraction : Modern art often features abstract and non-representational elements, moving away from realistic depictions. Artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian explored pure abstraction, using shapes, lines, and colors to convey emotions and ideas.
Expression of the inner self : Many modern artists aimed to convey their inner emotions, thoughts, and experiences through their work. This led to the development of various movements like Expressionism (See work of Evard Munch) and Surrealism (See work of Salvador Dali).
Rejection of academic conventions : Artists sought to break free from the rigid rules of academic art and embrace more individualistic and avant-garde approaches. For example: Claude Monet, (1840 -1926) Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet
Influence of industrialization and urbanization : The rapid changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization in the 19th and 20th centuries influenced modern art. Artists were inspired by the dynamics of the modern world and its impact, often negative, on human life.
Multiple art movements : Modern art encompasses a wide array of movements and styles, for example Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art... Each movement brought its own unique perspective on art and society.
Focus on concept and process : Modern artists began to emphasize the underlying ideas and concepts behind their work, giving greater importance to the creative process itself.

Modern art should not be confused with contemporary art. While modern art refers specifically to the artistic developments of the early to mid-20th century, contemporary art encompasses art created by artists living and working in the present day. The transition from modern art to contemporary art happened around the late 20th century- 1950s onward.

References:

mymodernmet.com/abstract artists
differencess.com/expressionism vs surrealism
lorimcnee.com/artists who died without recognition
industrial revolution the influence on art
mymodernmet.com/important art movements
theartstory.org/conceptual-art
Image: The Scream, Edvard Munch

2. Informing through description

Informing through description means creating detailed, vivid verbal pictures for your audience to make what you're talking about come to life in the minds of those listening which in turn, will make your subject matter memorable.

Examples of good informative speech topics that could be used for descriptive speeches

How I celebrate Christmas
My first day at school
My home town
A time I feared for my life
A time when I felt contented and happy

My first car

An object I find fascinating: lotus shoes, bustles, corsets, panniers (These are historical items of women's clothing.)
Working from home: the joys, the hazards
My dream home, job, or holiday
An event I'll never forget
The most valuable or interesting thing I own
Martin Luther King, Benjamin Franklin, President Lincoln... a notable person from the past or present, including someone you may know: a family member, friend or yourself, or a public figure (an artist, singer, dancer, writer, entrepreneur, inventor...)

Example outline for a descriptive informative speech

- to take the audience with me back to the time when we bought our first car and have them appreciate that car's impact on our lives

Central idea:

Our Austin A50 was a much-loved car

Image: Austin A50 advertising picture Text: Austin A50 Cambridge - the car that gives you more

About the car:

- English, Austin A50, 1950ish model - curvy, solid, a matron of cars

Background to purchase:

1974 - we were 20 and 21 - young and broke
The car cost $200 - a lot of money for me at that time. I raided my piggy bank to buy it.
It was a trade up from the back of the motorbike - now I could sit side by side and talk, rather than sit behind and poke my husband, when I wanted to say important things like, 'Slow down', or 'I'm cold'. The romance of a motorbike is short-lived in winter. It diminishes in direct proportion to the mountain of clothes needing to be put on before going anywhere - coats, scarf, boots, helmet... And this particular winter was bitter: characterized by almost impenetrable grey fog and heavy frosts. It was so cold the insides of windows of the old house we lived in iced up.
It was tri-colored - none of them dominating - bright orange on the bonnet, sky blue on the rear doors and the roof, and matt black on the front doors and the boot. (Bonus - no one would ever steal it - far too easily identified!)
The chrome flying A proudly rode the bonnet.
The boot, (trunk lid) was detachable. It came off - why I can't remember. But it needed to be opened to fill the tank, so it meant lifting it off at the petrol station and leaning it up against the boot while the tank filled, and then replacing it when done.
There were bench seats upholstered in grey leather (dry and cracked) front and back with wide arm rests that folded down.
The windows wound up and down manually and, in the rear, there were triangle shaped opening quarter-windows.
The mouse-colored lining that had been on the doors and roof was worn, torn and in some patches completely missing. Dust poured in through the crevices when we drove on the metal roads that were common where we lived.
It had a column gear change - 4 gears, a heater that didn't function, proper old-school semaphore trafficators indicators that flicked out from the top of the door pillars and blinked orange, a clutch that needed a strong push to get it down, an accelerator pedal that was slow to pick up and a top speed of around 50 mph.

Impact/benefits:

We called her Prudence. We loved, and remember, her fondly because:

I was taught to drive in her - an unforgettable experience. I won the bunny hopping record learning to coordinate releasing the clutch and pressing down on the accelerator. Additionally, on metal roads, I found you needed to slow before taking corners. Sliding on two wheels felt precarious. The bump back down to four was a relief.
We did not arrive places having to disrobe - take off layers of protective clobber.
We could talk to each without shouting and NOW our road trips had a soundtrack - a large black portable battery driven tape player sat on the back parcel shelf blasting out a curious mix of Ry Cooder, Bach, Mozart's Flute Concerto, Janice Joplin... His choice. My choice. Bliss.
My father-in-law suggested we park it down the street rather than directly outside his house when we visited. To him Prudence was one eccentricity too many! An embarrassment in front of the neighbors. ☺
austinmemories.com/styled-33/styled-39/index.html
wikipedia.org/Austin_Cambridge
archive.org/1956-advertisement-for-austin-a-50

3. Informing through demonstration

Informing through demonstration means sharing verbal directions about how to do a specific task: fix, or make, something while also physically showing the steps, in a specific chronological order.

These are the classic 'show-n-tell', 'how to' or process speeches.

Examples of process speech topics:

How to bake chocolate chip cookies
How to use CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) correctly
How to prepare and plant a tub of vegetables or flowers
How to read a topographic map
How to make a tik-tok reel
How to knit a hat

How to brainstorm material for a speech

For literally 100s more demonstration topic ideas

A demonstrative informative speech outline example

To demonstrate the brainstorming process and to provide practical strategies (helpful tips) for freeing and speeding up the generation of ideas

Main ideas:

Understanding brainstorming - explanation of what brainstorming is and its benefits

Preparing for brainstorming - the starting point - stating the problem or topic that needs brainstorming, working in a comfortable place free from distractions, encouraging open-mindedness and suspension of judgment.

Techniques for brainstorming : (Show and tell on either white board or with large sheets of paper that everyone can see) mind mapping, and free writing. Take topic ideas from audience to use.

Example : notes for maid of honor speech for sister

Example of brainstorming notes - free writing - ideas for a maid of honor speech for my sister

Benefits : Demonstrate how mind maps can help visually organize thoughts and connections, how free writing allows ideas to flow without stopping to judge them

Encourages quantity over quality - lots of ideas - more to choose from. May generate something you'd never have thought of otherwise.

Select, refine, develop (show and tell)

For more see: brainstorm examples

4. Informing through explanation

Informing through explanation is explaining or sharing how something works, came to be, or why something happened, for example historical events like the Civil War in the United States. The speech is made stronger through the use of visuals - images, charts of data and/or statistics.

Examples of explanatory informative speech topics

How did the 1919 Treaty of Versailles contribute to the outbreak of World War Two?
What led to The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865)?
Why is there an increase in type two diabetes and problems associated with obesity in first world countries, for example, in UK and USA?
How do lungs work?
What causes heart disease?
How electric vehicles work?
What caused the Salem witch trials?
How does gravitation work?
How are rainbows formed?
Why do we pay taxes?
What is cyberbullying? Why is it increasing?

Example explanatory informative speech outline

The Treaty of Versailles: how did it contribute to the outbreak of World War Two

Image: Signing The Treaty of Versailles 1919 - dignitaries gather in the Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles to sign the treaty, June 28, 1919

- to explain how the Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a significant causal factor leading up World War two

Central ideas:

Historical context : World War One, 'the war to end all wars' ended in 1918. The Allied Powers: USA, UK, France, Italy and Japan, met in Paris at the Paris Peace Conference 1919 to work out the details and consequences of the Treaty of Versailles, which would impact the defeated Central Powers, principally Germany.

These included:

territorial boundary changes which stripped Germany of land in Europe, and established new nations - e.g. Poland and Czechoslovakia
military restrictions - the disarmament of the German military, restrictions on weapons and technology, demilitarization of the Rhineland
reparations - demands that they were unable to meet, plus being forced to accept a "war guilt" clause (Article 231) had an enormous impact, economically and psychologically. The country plunged into deep recession - albeit along with many other countries. (The Great Depression 1929-1939 which ended with the beginning of World War Two.)

The League of Nations - The League of Nations was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. Despite being active in its set up, USA refused to join it - a stance that weakened its effectiveness.

Controversies within Germany: Public anger and resentment, plus political instability as result of reparations, territory loss and economic hardships

Controversies with Treaty partners: The Treaty's perceived fairness and effectiveness: Italy and Japan felt their settlements were inadequate compared to what had been taken by UK, USA and France.

The rise of 'isms' Simmering discontent eventually emerged as the rise of Fascism in Italy, Nazism in Germany and Statism (a mix of nationalism, militarism and “state capitalism”) in Japan.

Expansionist Nationalism Spread of expansionist nationalism - a state's right to increase its borders because it is superior in all ways. Therefore, Hitler was 'right' to take back what had previously been regarded as German territory (Czechoslovakia and Austria), and to go after more, all the while goading the Allied Powers to act. When his armies went into Poland, Britain declared war against Germany - 21 years after the end of the last.

history.com/treaty-of-versailles-world-war-ii-guilt-effects
tinyurl.com/Treaty-of-Versailles
Image: tinyurl.com/signing-Treaty-of-Versailles

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Informative Speeches — Types, Topics, and Examples

What is an informative speech?

An informative speech uses descriptions, demonstrations, and strong detail to explain a person, place, or subject. An informative speech makes a complex topic easier to understand and focuses on delivering information, rather than providing a persuasive argument.

Types of informative speeches

The most common types of informative speeches are definition, explanation, description, and demonstration.

A definition speech explains a concept, theory, or philosophy about which the audience knows little. The purpose of the speech is to inform the audience so they understand the main aspects of the subject matter.

An explanatory speech presents information on the state of a given topic. The purpose is to provide a specific viewpoint on the chosen subject. Speakers typically incorporate a visual of data and/or statistics.

The speaker of a descriptive speech provides audiences with a detailed and vivid description of an activity, person, place, or object using elaborate imagery to make the subject matter memorable.

A demonstrative speech explains how to perform a particular task or carry out a process. These speeches often demonstrate the following:

How to do something

How to make something

How to fix something

How something works

How to write an informative speech

Regardless of the type, every informative speech should include an introduction, a hook, background information, a thesis, the main points, and a conclusion.

Introduction

An attention grabber or hook draws in the audience and sets the tone for the speech. The technique the speaker uses should reflect the subject matter in some way (i.e., if the topic is serious in nature, do not open with a joke). Therefore, when choosing an attention grabber, consider the following:

What’s the topic of the speech?

What’s the occasion?

Who’s the audience?

What’s the purpose of the speech?

Common Attention Grabbers (Hooks)

Ask a question that allows the audience to respond in a non-verbal way (e.g., a poll question where they can simply raise their hands) or ask a rhetorical question that makes the audience think of the topic in a certain way yet requires no response.

Incorporate a well-known quote that introduces the topic. Using the words of a celebrated individual gives credibility and authority to the information in the speech.

Offer a startling statement or information about the topic, which is typically done using data or statistics. The statement should surprise the audience in some way.

Provide a brief anecdote that relates to the topic in some way.

Present a “what if” scenario that connects to the subject matter of the speech.

Identify the importance of the speech’s topic.

Starting a speech with a humorous statement often makes the audience more comfortable with the speaker.

Include any background information pertinent to the topic that the audience needs to know to understand the speech in its entirety.

The thesis statement shares the central purpose of the speech.

Demonstrate

Include background information and a thesis statement

Preview the main ideas that will help accomplish the central purpose. Typically, informational speeches will have an average of three main ideas.

Body paragraphs

Apply the following to each main idea (body) :

Identify the main idea ( NOTE: The main points of a demonstration speech would be the individual steps.)

Provide evidence to support the main idea

Explain how the evidence supports the main idea/central purpose

Transition to the next main idea

Review or restate the thesis and the main points presented throughout the speech.

Much like the attention grabber, the closing statement should interest the audience. Some of the more common techniques include a challenge, a rhetorical question, or restating relevant information:

Provide the audience with a challenge or call to action to apply the presented information to real life.

Detail the benefit of the information.

Close with an anecdote or brief story that illustrates the main points.

Leave the audience with a rhetorical question to ponder after the speech has concluded.

Detail the relevance of the presented information.

Before speech writing, brainstorm a list of informative speech topic ideas. The right topic depends on the type of speech, but good topics can range from video games to disabilities and electric cars to healthcare and mental health.

Informative speech topics

Some common informative essay topics for each type of informational speech include the following:

Informative speech examples

The following list identifies famous informational speeches:

“Duties of American Citizenship” by Theodore Roosevelt

“Duty, Honor, Country” by General Douglas MacArthur

“Strength and Dignity” by Theodore Roosevelt

Explanation

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” by Patrick Henry

“The Decision to Go to the Moon” by John F. Kennedy

“We Shall Fight on the Beaches” by Winston Churchill

Description

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Pearl Harbor Address” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“Luckiest Man” by Lou Gehrig

Demonstration

The Way to Cook with Julia Child

This Old House with Bob Vila

Bill Nye the Science Guy with Bill Nye

Planning and Presenting an Informative Speech

In this guide, you can learn about the purposes and types of informative speeches, about writing and delivering informative speeches, and about the parts of informative speeches.

Purposes of Informative Speaking

Informative speaking offers you an opportunity to practice your researching, writing, organizing, and speaking skills. You will learn how to discover and present information clearly. If you take the time to thoroughly research and understand your topic, to create a clearly organized speech, and to practice an enthusiastic, dynamic style of delivery, you can be an effective "teacher" during your informative speech. Finally, you will get a chance to practice a type of speaking you will undoubtedly use later in your professional career.

The purpose of the informative speech is to provide interesting, useful, and unique information to your audience. By dedicating yourself to the goals of providing information and appealing to your audience, you can take a positive step toward succeeding in your efforts as an informative speaker.

Major Types of Informative Speeches

In this guide, we focus on informative speeches about:

These categories provide an effective method of organizing and evaluating informative speeches. Although they are not absolute, these categories provide a useful starting point for work on your speech.

In general, you will use four major types of informative speeches. While you can classify informative speeches many ways, the speech you deliver will fit into one of four major categories.

Speeches about Objects

Speeches about objects focus on things existing in the world. Objects include, among other things, people, places, animals, or products.

Because you are speaking under time constraints, you cannot discuss any topic in its entirety. Instead, limit your speech to a focused discussion of some aspect of your topic.

Some example topics for speeches about objects include: the Central Intelligence Agency, tombstones, surgical lasers, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the pituitary gland, and lemmings.

To focus these topics, you could give a speech about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and efforts to conceal how he suffered from polio while he was in office. Or, a speech about tombstones could focus on the creation and original designs of grave markers.

Speeches about Processes

Speeches about processes focus on patterns of action. One type of speech about processes, the demonstration speech, teaches people "how-to" perform a process. More frequently, however, you will use process speeches to explain a process in broader terms. This way, the audience is more likely to understand the importance or the context of the process.

A speech about how milk is pasteurized would not teach the audience how to milk cows. Rather, this speech could help audience members understand the process by making explicit connections between patterns of action (the pasteurization process) and outcomes (a safe milk supply).

Other examples of speeches about processes include: how the Internet works (not "how to work the Internet"), how to construct a good informative speech, and how to research the job market. As with any speech, be sure to limit your discussion to information you can explain clearly and completely within time constraints.

Speeches about Events

Speeches about events focus on things that happened, are happening, or will happen. When speaking about an event, remember to relate the topic to your audience. A speech chronicling history is informative, but you should adapt the information to your audience and provide them with some way to use the information. As always, limit your focus to those aspects of an event that can be adequately discussed within the time limitations of your assignment.

Examples of speeches about events include: the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, Groundhog's Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the World Series, and the 2000 Presidential Elections.

Speeches about Concepts

Speeches about concepts focus on beliefs, ideas, and theories. While speeches about objects, processes, and events are fairly concrete, speeches about concepts are more abstract. Take care to be clear and understandable when creating and presenting a speech about a concept. When selecting a concept, remember you are crafting an informative speech. Often, speeches about concepts take on a persuasive tone. Focus your efforts toward providing unbiased information and refrain from making arguments. Because concepts can be vague and involved, limit your speech to aspects that can be readily explained and understood within the time limits.

Some examples of topics for concept speeches include: democracy, Taoism, principles of feminism, the philosophy of non-violent protest, and the Big Bang theory.

Strategies for Selecting a Topic

In many cases, circumstances will dictate the topic of your speech. However, if the topic has not been assigned or if you are having difficulty figuring out how to frame your topic as an informative speech,the following may be useful.

Begin by thinking of your interests. If you have always loved art, contemplate possible topics dealing with famous artists, art works, or different types of art. If you are employed, think of aspects of your job or aspects of your employer's business that would be interesting to talk about. While you cannot substitute personal experience for detailed research, your own experience can supplement your research and add vitality to your presentation. Choose one of the items below to learn more about selecting a topic.

Learn More about an Unfamiliar Topic

You may benefit more by selecting an unfamiliar topic that interests you. You can challenge yourself by choosing a topic you'd like to learn about and to help others understand it. If the Buddhist religion has always been an interesting and mysterious topic to you, research the topic and create a speech that offers an understandable introduction to the religion. Remember to adapt Buddhism to your audience and tell them why you think this information is useful to them. By taking this approach, you can learn something new and learn how to synthesize new information for your audience.

Think about Previous Classes

You might find a topic by thinking of classes you have taken. Think back to concepts covered in those classes and consider whether they would serve as unique, interesting, and enlightening topics for the informative speech. In astronomy, you learned about red giants. In history, you learned about Napoleon. In political science, you learned about The Federalist Papers. Past classes serve as rich resources for informative speech topics. If you make this choice, use your class notes and textbook as a starting point. To fully develop the content, you will need to do extensive research and perhaps even a few interviews.

Talk to Others

Topic selection does not have to be an individual effort. Spend time talking about potential topics with classmates or friends. This method can be extremely effective because other people can stimulate further ideas when you get stuck. When you use this method, always keep the basic requirements and the audience in mind. Just because you and your friend think home-brew is a great topic does not mean it will enthrall your audience or impress your instructor. While you talk with your classmates or friends, jot notes about potential topics and create a master list when you exhaust the possibilities. From this list, choose a topic with intellectual merit, originality, and potential to entertain while informing.

Framing a Thesis Statement

Once you settle on a topic, you need to frame a thesis statement. Framing a thesis statement allows you to narrow your topic, and in turns allows you to focus your research in this specific area, saving you time and trouble in the process.

Selecting a topic and focusing it into a thesis statement can be a difficult process. Fortunately, a number of useful strategies are available to you.

Thesis Statement Purpose

The thesis statement is crucial for clearly communicating your topic and purpose to the audience. Be sure to make the statement clear, concise, and easy to remember. Deliver it to the audience and use verbal and nonverbal illustrations to make it stand out.

Strategies For Framing a Thesis Statement

Focus on a specific aspect of your topic and phrase the thesis statement in one clear, concise, complete sentence, focusing on the audience. This sentence sets a goal for the speech. For example, in a speech about art, the thesis statement might be: "The purpose of this speech is to inform my audience about the early works of Vincent van Gogh." This statement establishes that the speech will inform the audience about the early works of one great artist. The thesis statement is worded conversationally and included in the delivery of the speech.

Thesis Statement and Audience

The thesis appears in the introduction of the speech so that the audience immediately realizes the speaker's topic and goal. Whatever the topic may be, you should attempt to create a clear, focused thesis statement that stands out and could be repeated by every member of your audience. It is important to refer to the audience in the thesis statement; when you look back at the thesis for direction, or when the audience hears the thesis, it should be clear that the most important goal of your speech is to inform the audience about your topic. While the focus and pressure will be on you as a speaker, you should always remember that the audience is the reason for presenting a public speech.

Avoid being too trivial or basic for the average audience member. At the same time, avoid being too technical for the average audience member. Be sure to use specific, concrete terms that clearly establish the focus of your speech.

Thesis Statement and Delivery

When creating the thesis statement, be sure to use a full sentence and frame that sentence as a statement, not as a question. The full sentence, "The purpose of this speech is to inform my audience about the early works of Vincent van Gogh," provides clear direction for the speech, whereas the fragment "van Gogh" says very little about the purpose of the speech. Similarly, the question "Who was Vincent van Gogh?" does not adequately indicate the direction the speech will take or what the speaker hopes to accomplish.

If you limit your thesis statement to one distinct aspect of the larger topic, you are more likely to be understood and to meet the time constraints.

Researching Your Topic

As you begin to work on your informative speech, you will find that you need to gather additional information. Your instructor will most likely require that you locate relevant materials in the library and cite those materials in your speech. In this section, we discuss the process of researching your topic and thesis.

Conducting research for a major informative speech can be a daunting task. In this section, we discuss a number of strategies and techniques that you can use to gather and organize source materials for your speech.

Gathering Materials

Gathering materials can be a daunting task. You may want to do some research before you choose a topic. Once you have a topic, you have many options for finding information. You can conduct interviews, write or call for information from a clearinghouse or public relations office, and consult books, magazines, journals, newspapers, television and radio programs, and government documents. The library will probably be your primary source of information. You can use many of the libraries databases or talk to a reference librarian to learn how to conduct efficient research.

Taking Notes

While doing your research, you may want to carry notecards. When you come across a useful passage, copy the source and the information onto the notecard or copy and paste the information. You should maintain a working bibliography as you research so you always know which sources you have consulted and so the process of writing citations into the speech and creating the bibliography will be easier. You'll need to determine what information-recording strategies work best for you. Talk to other students, instructors, and librarians to get tips on conducting efficient research. Spend time refining your system and you will soon be able to focus on the information instead of the record-keeping tasks.

Citing Sources Within Your Speech

Consult with your instructor to determine how much research/source information should be included in your speech. Realize that a source citation within your speech is defined as a reference to or quotation from material you have gathered during your research and an acknowledgement of the source. For example, within your speech you might say: "As John W. Bobbitt said in the December 22, 1993, edition of the Denver Post , 'Ouch!'" In this case, you have included a direct quotation and provided the source of the quotation. If you do not quote someone, you might say: "After the first week of the 1995 baseball season, attendance was down 13.5% from 1994. This statistic appeared in the May 7, 1995, edition of the Denver Post ." Whatever the case, whenever you use someone else's ideas, thoughts, or words, you must provide a source citation to give proper credit to the creator of the information. Failure to cite sources can be interpreted as plagiarism which is a serious offense. Upon review of the specific case, plagiarism can result in failure of the assignment, the course, or even dismissal from the University. Take care to cite your sources and give credit where it is due.

Creating Your Bibliography

As with all aspects of your speech, be sure to check with your instructor to get specific details about the assignment.

Generally, the bibliography includes only those sources you cited during the speech. Don't pad the bibliography with every source you read, saw on the shelf, or heard of from friends. When you create the bibliography, you should simply go through your complete sentence outline and list each source you cite. This is also a good way to check if you have included enough reference material within the speech. You will need to alphabetize the bibiography by authors last name and include the following information: author's name, article title, publication title, volume, date, page number(s). You may need to include additional information; you need to talk with your instructor to confirm the required bibliographical format.

Some Cautions

When doing research, use caution in choosing your sources. You need to determine which sources are more credible than others and attempt to use a wide variety of materials. The broader the scope of your research, the more impressive and believable your information. You should draw from different sources (e.g., a variety of magazines-- Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, National Review, Mother Jones ) as well as different types of sources (i.e., use interviews, newspapers, periodicals, and books instead of just newspapers). The greater your variety, the more apparent your hard work and effort will be. Solid research skills result in increased credibility and effectiveness for the speaker.

Structuring an Informative Speech

Typically, informative speeches have three parts:

Introduction

In this section, we discuss the three parts of an informative speech, calling attention to specific elements that can enhance the effectiveness of your speech. As a speaker, you will want to create a clear structure for your speech. In this section, you will find discussions of the major parts of the informative speech.

The introduction sets the tone of the entire speech. The introduction should be brief and to-the-point as it accomplishes these several important tasks. Typically, there are six main components of an effective introduction:

Attention Getters

Thesis statement, audience adaptation, credibility statement, transition to the body.

As in any social situation, your audience makes strong assumptions about you during the first eight or ten seconds of your speech. For this reason, you need to start solidly and launch the topic clearly. Focus your efforts on completing these tasks and moving on to the real information (the body) of the speech. Typically, there are six main components of an effective introduction. These tasks do not have to be handled in this order, but this layout often yields the best results.

The attention-getter is designed to intrigue the audience members and to motivate them to listen attentively for the next several minutes. There are infinite possibilities for attention-getting devices. Some of the more common devices include using a story, a rhetorical question, or a quotation. While any of these devices can be effective, it is important for you to spend time strategizing, creating, and practicing the attention-getter.

Most importantly, an attention-getter should create curiosity in the minds of your listeners and convince them that the speech will be interesting and useful. The wording of your attention-getter should be refined and practiced. Be sure to consider the mood/tone of your speech; determine the appropriateness of humor, emotion, aggressiveness, etc. Not only should the words get the audiences attention, but your delivery should be smooth and confident to let the audience know that you are a skilled speaker who is prepared for this speech.

The crowd was wild. The music was booming. The sun was shining. The cash registers were ringing.

This story-like re-creation of the scene at a Farm Aid concert serves to engage the audience and causes them to think about the situation you are describing. Touching stories or stories that make audience members feel involved with the topic serve as good attention-getters. You should tell a story with feeling and deliver it directly to the audience instead of reading it off your notecards.

Example Text : One dark summer night in 1849, a young woman in her 20's left Bucktown, Maryland, and followed the North Star. What was her name? Harriet Tubman. She went back some 19 times to rescue her fellow slaves. And as James Blockson relates in a 1984 issue of National Geographic , by the end of her career, she had a $40,000.00 price on her head. This was quite a compliment from her enemies (Blockson 22).

Rhetorical Question

Rhetorical questions are questions designed to arouse curiosity without requiring an answer. Either the answer will be obvious, or if it isn't apparent, the question will arouse curiosity until the presentation provides the answer.

An example of a rhetorical question to gain the audiences attention for a speech about fly-fishing is, "Have you ever stood in a freezing river at 5 o'clock in the morning by choice?"

Example Text: Have you ever heard of a railroad with no tracks, with secret stations, and whose conductors were considered criminals?

A quotation from a famous person or from an expert on your topic can gain the attention of the audience. The use of a quotation immediately launches you into the speech and focuses the audience on your topic area. If it is from a well-known source, cite the author first. If the source is obscure, begin with the quote itself.

Example Text : "No day dawns for the slave, nor is it looked for. It is all night--night forever . . . ." (Pause) This quote was taken from Jermain Loguen, a fugitive who was the son of his Tennessee master and a slave woman.

Unusual Statement

Making a statement that is unusual to the ears of your listeners is another possibility for gaining their attention.

Example Text : "Follow the drinking gourd. That's what I said, friend, follow the drinking gourd." This phrase was used by slaves as a coded message to mean the Big Dipper, which revealed the North Star, and pointed toward freedom.

You might chose to use tasteful humor which relates to the topic as an effective way to attract the audience both to you and the subject at hand.

Example Text : "I'm feeling boxed in." [PAUSE] I'm not sure, but these may have been Henry "Box" Brown's very words after being placed on his head inside a box which measured 3 feet by 2 feet by 2 1\2 feet for what seemed to him like "an hour and a half." He was shipped by Adams Express to freedom in Philadelphia (Brown 60,92; Still 10).

Shocking Statistic

Another possibility to consider is the use of a factual statistic intended to grab your listener's attention. As you research the topic you've picked, keep your eyes open for statistics that will have impact.

Example Text : Today, John Elway's talents are worth millions, but in 1840 the price of a human life, a slave, was worth $1,000.00.

Example Text : Today I'd like to tell you about the Underground Railroad.

In your introduction, you need to adapt your speech to your audience. To keep audience members interested, tell them why your topic is important to them. To accomplish this task, you need to undertake audience analysis prior to creating the speech. Figure out who your audience members are, what things are important to them, what their biases may be, and what types of subjects/issues appeal to them. In the context of this class, some of your audience analysis is provided for you--most of your listeners are college students, so it is likely that they place some value on education, most of them are probably not bathing in money, and they live in Colorado. Consider these traits when you determine how to adapt to your audience.

As you research and write your speech, take note of references to issues that should be important to your audience. Include statements about aspects of your speech that you think will be of special interest to the audience in the introduction. By accomplishing this task, you give your listeners specific things with which they can identify. Audience adaptation will be included throughout the speech, but an effective introduction requires meaningful adaptation of the topic to the audience.

You need to find ways to get the members of your audience involved early in the speech. The following are some possible options to connect your speech to your audience:

Reference to the Occasion

Consider how the occasion itself might present an opportunity to heighten audience receptivity. Remind your listeners of an important date just passed or coming soon.

Example Text : This January will mark the 130th anniversary of a "giant interracial rally" organized by William Still which helped to end streetcar segregation in the city of Philadelphia (Katz i).

Reference to the Previous Speaker

Another possibility is to refer to a previous speaker to capitalize on the good will which already has been established or to build on the information presented.

Example Text : As Alice pointed out last week in her speech on the Olympic games of the ancient world, history can provide us with fascinating lessons.

The credibility statement establishes your qualifications as a speaker. You should come up with reasons why you are someone to listen to on this topic. Why do you have special knowledge or understanding of this topic? What can the audience learn from you that they couldn't learn from someone else? Credibility statements can refer to your extensive research on a topic, your life-long interest in an issue, your personal experience with a thing, or your desire to better the lives of your listeners by sifting through the topic and providing the crucial information.

Remember that Aristotle said that credibility, or ethos, consists of good sense, goodwill, and good moral character. Create the feeling that you possess these qualities by creatively stating that you are well-educated about the topic (good sense), that you want to help each member of the audience (goodwill), and that you are a decent person who can be trusted (good moral character). Once you establish your credibility, the audience is more likely to listen to you as something of an expert and to consider what you say to be the truth. It is often effective to include further references to your credibility throughout the speech by subtly referring to the traits mentioned above.

Show your listeners that you are qualified to speak by making a specific reference to a helpful resource. This is one way to demonstrate competence.

Example Text : In doing research for this topic, I came across an account written by one of these heroes that has deepened my understanding of the institution of slavery. Frederick Douglass', My Bondage and My Freedom, is the account of a man whose master's kindness made his slavery only more unbearable.

Your listeners want to believe that you have their best interests in mind. In the case of an informative speech, it is enough to assure them that this will be an interesting speech and that you, yourself, are enthusiastic about the topic.

Example Text : I hope you'll enjoy hearing about the heroism of the Underground Railroad as much as I have enjoyed preparing for this speech.

Preview the Main Points

The preview informs the audience about the speech's main points. You should preview every main body point and identify each as a separate piece of the body. The purpose of this preview is to let the audience members prepare themselves for the flow of the speech; therefore, you should word the preview clearly and concisely. Attempt to use parallel structure for each part of the preview and avoid delving into the main point; simply tell the audience what the main point will be about in general.

Use the preview to briefly establish your structure and then move on. Let the audience get a taste of how you will divide the topic and fulfill the thesis and then move on. This important tool will reinforce the information in the minds of your listeners. Here are two examples of a preview:

Simply identify the main points of the speech. Cover them in the same order that they will appear in the body of the presentation.

For example, the preview for a speech about kites organized topically might take this form: "First, I will inform you about the invention of the kite. Then, I will explain the evolution of the kite. Third, I will introduce you to the different types of kites. Finally, I will inform you about various uses for kites." Notice that this preview avoids digressions (e.g., listing the various uses for kites); you will take care of the deeper information within the body of the speech.

Example Text : I'll tell you about motivations and means of escape employed by fugitive slaves.

Chronological

For example, the preview for a speech about the Pony Express organized chronologically might take this form: "I'll talk about the Pony Express in three parts. First, its origins, second, its heyday, and third, how it came to an end." Notice that this preview avoids digressions (e.g., listing the reasons why the Pony Express came to an end); you will cover the deeper information within the body of the speech.

Example Text : I'll talk about it in three parts. First, its origins, second, its heyday, and third, how it came to an end.

After you accomplish the first five components of the introduction, you should make a clean transition to the body of the speech. Use this transition to signal a change and prepare the audience to begin processing specific topical information. You should round out the introduction, reinforce the excitement and interest that you created in the audience during the introduction, and slide into the first main body point.

Strategic organization helps increase the clarity and effectiveness of your speech. Four key issues are discussed in this section:

Organizational Patterns

Connective devices, references to outside research.

The body contains the bulk of information in your speech and needs to be clearly organized. Without clear organization, the audience will probably forget your information, main points, perhaps even your thesis. Some simple strategies will help you create a clear, memorable speech. Below are the four key issues used in organizing a speech.

Once you settle on a topic, you should decide which aspects of that topic are of greatest importance for your speech. These aspects become your main points. While there is no rule about how many main points should appear in the body of the speech, most students go with three main points. You must have at least two main points; aside from that rule, you should select your main points based on the importance of the information and the time limitations. Be sure to include whatever information is necessary for the audience to understand your topic. Also, be sure to synthesize the information so it fits into the assigned time frame. As you choose your main points, try to give each point equal attention within the speech. If you pick three main points, each point should take up roughly one-third of the body section of your speech.

There are four basic patterns of organization for an informative speech.

Chronological order
Spatial order
Causal order
Topical order

There are four basic patterns of organization for an informative speech. You can choose any of these patterns based on which pattern serves the needs of your speech.

Chronological Order

A speech organized chronologically has main points oriented toward time. For example, a speech about the Farm Aid benefit concert could have main points organized chronologically. The first main point focuses on the creation of the event; the second main point focuses on the planning stages; the third point focuses on the actual performance/concert; and the fourth point focuses on donations and assistance that resulted from the entire process. In this format, you discuss main points in an order that could be followed on a calendar or a clock.

Spatial Order

A speech organized spatially has main points oriented toward space or a directional pattern. The Farm Aid speech's body could be organized in spatial order. The first main point discusses the New York branch of the organization; the second main point discusses the Midwest branch; the third main point discusses the California branch of Farm Aid. In this format, you discuss main points in an order that could be traced on a map.

Causal Order

A speech organized causally has main points oriented toward cause and effect. The main points of a Farm Aid speech organized causally could look like this: the first main point informs about problems on farms and the need for monetary assistance; the second main point discusses the creation and implementation of the Farm Aid program. In this format, you discuss main points in an order that alerts the audience to a problem or circumstance and then tells the audience what action resulted from the original circumstance.

Topical Order

A speech organized topically has main points organized more randomly by sub-topics. The Farm Aid speech could be organized topically: the first main point discusses Farm Aid administrators; the second main point discusses performers; the third main point discusses sponsors; the fourth main point discusses audiences. In this format, you discuss main points in a more random order that labels specific aspects of the topic and addresses them in separate categories. Most speeches that are not organized chronologically, spatially, or causally are organized topically.

Within the body of your speech, you need clear internal structure. Connectives are devices used to create a clear flow between ideas and points within the body of your speech--they serve to tie the speech together. There are four main types of connective devices:

Transitions

Internal previews, internal summaries.

Within the body of your speech, you need clear internal structure. Think of connectives as hooks and ladders for the audience to use when moving from point-to-point within the body of your speech. These devices help re-focus the minds of audience members and remind them of which main point your information is supporting. The four main types of connective devices are:

Transitions are brief statements that tell the audience to shift gears between ideas. Transitions serve as the glue that holds the speech together and allow the audience to predict where the next portion of the speech will go. For example, once you have previewed your main points and you want to move from the introduction to the body of the Farm Aid speech, you might say: "To gain an adequate understanding of the intricacies of this philanthropic group, we need to look at some specific information about Farm Aid. We'll begin by looking at the administrative branch of this massive fund-raising organization."

Internal previews are used to preview the parts of a main point. Internal previews are more focused than, but serve the same purpose as, the preview you will use in the introduction of the speech. For example, you might create an internal preview for the complex main point dealing with Farm Aid performers: "In examining the Farm Aid performers, we must acknowledge the presence of entertainers from different genres of music--country and western, rhythm and blues, rock, and pop." The internal preview provides specific information for the audience if a main point is complex or potentially confusing.

Internal summaries are the reverse of internal previews. Internal summaries restate specific parts of a main point. To internally summarize the main point dealing with Farm Aid performers, you might say: "You now know what types of people perform at the Farm Aid benefit concerts. The entertainers come from a wide range of musical genres--country and western, rhythm and blues, rock, and pop." When using both internal previews and internal summaries, be sure to stylize the language in each so you do not become redundant.

Signposts are brief statements that remind the audience where you are within the speech. If you have a long point, you may want to remind the audience of what main point you are on: "Continuing my discussion of Farm Aid performers . . . "

When organizing the body of your speech, you will integrate several references to your research. The purpose of the informative speech is to allow you and the audience to learn something new about a topic. Additionally, source citations add credibility to your ideas. If you know a lot about rock climbing and you cite several sources who confirm your knowledge, the audience is likely to see you as a credible speaker who provides ample support for ideas.

Without these references, your speech is more like a story or a chance for you to say a few things you know. To complete this assignment satisfactorily, you must use source citations. Consult your textbook and instructor for specific information on how much supporting material you should use and about the appropriate style for source citations.

While the conclusion should be brief and tight, it has a few specific tasks to accomplish:

Re-assert/Reinforce the Thesis

Review the main points, close effectively.

Take a deep breath! If you made it to the conclusion, you are on the brink of finishing. Below are the tasks you should complete in your conclusion:

When making the transition to the conclusion, attempt to make clear distinctions (verbally and nonverbally) that you are now wrapping up the information and providing final comments about the topic. Refer back to the thesis from the introduction with wording that calls the original thesis into memory. Assert that you have accomplished the goals of your thesis statement and create the feeling that audience members who actively considered your information are now equipped with an understanding of your topic. Reinforce whatever mood/tone you chose for the speech and attempt to create a big picture of the speech.

Within the conclusion, re-state the main points of the speech. Since you have used parallel wording for your main points in the introduction and body, don't break that consistency in the conclusion. Frame the review so the audience will be reminded of the preview and the developed discussion of each main point. After the review, you may want to create a statement about why those main points fulfilled the goals of the speech.

Finish strongly. When you close your speech, craft statements that reinforce the message and leave the audience with a clear feeling about what was accomplished with your speech. You might finalize the adaptation by discussing the benefits of listening to the speech and explaining what you think audience members can do with the information.

Remember to maintain an informative tone for this speech. You should not persuade about beliefs or positions; rather, you should persuade the audience that the speech was worthwhile and useful. For greatest effect, create a closing line or paragraph that is artistic and effective. Much like the attention-getter, the closing line needs to be refined and practiced. Your close should stick with the audience and leave them interested in your topic. Take time to work on writing the close well and attempt to memorize it so you can directly address the audience and leave them thinking of you as a well-prepared, confident speaker.

Outlining an Informative Speech

Two types of outlines can help you prepare to deliver your speech. The complete sentence outline provides a useful means of checking the organization and content of your speech. The speaking outline is an essential aid for delivering your speech. In this section, we discuss both types of outlines.

The Complete Sentence Outline

A complete sentence outline may not be required for your presentation. The following information is useful, however, in helping you prepare your speech.

The complete sentence outline helps you organize your material and thoughts and it serves as an excellent copy for editing the speech. The complete sentence outline is just what it sounds like: an outline format including every complete sentence (not fragments or keywords) that will be delivered during your speech.

Writing the Outline

You should create headings for the introduction, body, and conclusion and clearly signal shifts between these main speech parts on the outline. Use standard outline format. For instance, you can use Roman numerals, letters, and numbers to label the parts of the outline. Organize the information so the major headings contain general information and the sub-headings become more specific as they descend. Think of the outline as a funnel: you should make broad, general claims at the top of each part of the outline and then tighten the information until you have exhausted the point. Do this with each section of the outline. Be sure to consult with your instructor about specific aspects of the outline and refer to your course book for further information and examples.

Using the Outline

If you use this outline as it is designed to be used, you will benefit from it. You should start the outline well before your speech day and give yourself plenty of time to revise it. Attempt to have the final, clean copies ready two or three days ahead of time, so you can spend a day or two before your speech working on delivery. Prepare the outline as if it were a final term paper.

The Speaking Outline

Depending upon the assignment and the instructor, you may use a speaking outline during your presentation. The following information will be helpful in preparing your speech through the use of a speaking outline.

This outline should be on notecards and should be a bare bones outline taken from the complete sentence outline. Think of the speaking outline as train tracks to guide you through the speech.

Many speakers find it helpful to highlight certain words/passages or to use different colors for different parts of the speech. You will probably want to write out long or cumbersome quotations along with your source citation. Many times, the hardest passages to learn are those you did not write but were spoken by someone else. Avoid the temptation to over-do the speaking outline; many speakers write too much on the cards and their grades suffer because they read from the cards.

The best strategy for becoming comfortable with a speaking outline is preparation. You should prepare well ahead of time and spend time working with the notecards and memorizing key sections of your speech (the introduction and conclusion, in particular). Try to become comfortable with the extemporaneous style of speaking. You should be able to look at a few keywords on your outline and deliver eloquent sentences because you are so familiar with your material. You should spend approximately 80% of your speech making eye-contact with your audience.

Delivering an Informative Speech

For many speakers, delivery is the most intimidating aspect of public speaking. Although there is no known cure for nervousness, you can make yourself much more comfortable by following a few basic delivery guidelines. In this section, we discuss those guidelines.

The Five-Step Method for Improving Delivery

Read aloud your full-sentence outline. Listen to what you are saying and adjust your language to achieve a good, clear, simple sentence structure.
Practice the speech repeatedly from the speaking outline. Become comfortable with your keywords to the point that what you say takes the form of an easy, natural conversation.
Practice the speech aloud...rehearse it until you are confident you have mastered the ideas you want to present. Do not be concerned about "getting it just right." Once you know the content, you will find the way that is most comfortable for you.
Practice in front of a mirror, tape record your practice, and/or present your speech to a friend. You are looking for feedback on rate of delivery, volume, pitch, non-verbal cues (gestures, card-usage, etc.), and eye-contact.
Do a dress rehearsal of the speech under conditions as close as possible to those of the actual speech. Practice the speech a day or two before in a classroom. Be sure to incorporate as many elements as possible in the dress rehearsal...especially visual aids.

It should be clear that coping with anxiety over delivering a speech requires significant advanced preparation. The speech needs to be completed several days beforehand so that you can effectively employ this five-step plan.

Anderson, Thad, & Ron Tajchman. (1994). Informative Speaking. Writing@CSU . Colorado State University. https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=52

A Helpful Guide for Good Informative Speech Topics, Tips, and Examples

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Published Date : November 9, 2020

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Many individuals fear the thought of speaking in public. However, creating good informative speech topics and delivering an informative speech is not as hard as you perceive it.

During an informative speech , the speaker aims to tell the audience what they are unaware of or give additional knowledge about something they want to know more about. You can inform individuals about a new method to reckon with an old way of perceiving a new subject.

Moreover, you can also tackle a not fully recognized concept or a theory they have not heard yet. As the speaker, you must be interested in your informative speech topics for a smooth and easy presentation.

However, if you are still hesitant about giving an excellent informative speech , and this is your first time, this handy guide has covered you!

Read this article further to learn more about informative speech , gain helpful tips in choosing informative speech topics, and have the best examples for inspiration.

What is an Informative Speech?

The kind of speech that aspires to inform and educate the audience about a specific topic is an informative speech . Informative speeches have various types, including describing the subject’s conditions and instructing the audience on how to act.

Furthermore, an excellent informative speech comprehensively gives accurate information to the people, making the topic discussion interesting for the listener. You also need to consider the three factors for effective informative speaking:

With these three components, you can have a guide regarding your presentation in front of your audience. Note that there are no informative speech topics that you can deliver complete information on, so we recommend carefully narrowing them down.

Careful narrowing of informative speech topic ideas makes it possible to illustrate your particular subject accurately, and it does not become misleading.

What is the Primary Purpose of an Informative Speech?

What comes to mind when you come across the word “purpose”? Technically, it refers to why something existence, how we utilize the object, or why we create something. All three of these apply to public speaking , for example, presenting an informative speech .

An informative speech ’s primary purpose is to give engaging, unique, and useful information to the audience. This thought corresponds to why you must convey accurate and comprehensive knowledge, which I mentioned earlier.

It is about helping your audience obtain information they do not previously have through different informative speech topics. Then, your spectators can utilize that knowledge to:

Understand more about something
Perform a new piece of work
Enhance their skills

Informative speaking is imparting knowledge and letting the people gain it. If you dedicate yourself to providing facts and appealing to your listeners , you can eventually advance your career and efforts in this field.

What is the Best Way to Write an Informative Speech?

After knowing the purpose of informative speeches, you must consider the best way to start making your speech . Writing an informative speech includes delivering information without expressing your point of view about informative speech topics.

You are only informing your audience, not motivating or persuading them. This concept may give you a dull impression, but creating an informative speech is still creative.

Below, we have listed seven essential components in writing your informative speech . The following will help you get all those thoughts and share them with your listeners clearly and deliberately.

1. Attention getter

To get the attention of your audience, motivate them to listen. You can think of creative ways to engage them in your talk and make the whole presentation exciting and informative.

Additionally, it would help if you cover informative speech topics that are not yet well-known to your listeners but still relevant to them. If you select a topic they already know, better provide additional information.

Consider your audience’s age, interests, and knowledge level when choosing and preparing good informative speech topic ideas.

2. Show Credibility

Another vital element is showing your professional experiences from the informative speech topics, building authenticity, and exhibiting credibility. To do so, research and use reliable materials when writing down good informative speech topics.

During your study elements gathering, ensure that you comprehend them well because you might be required to answer the people’s questions about your presentation. Your understanding will help you answer your audience’s queries after your speech .

3. Provide testimony

One of the most important things you must not forget is providing expert testimony to support your claims. An informative speech imparts knowledge to the people, so you would not want to give them empty and misleading words.

Moreover, your listeners pick up necessary information from you, so it is best not to utter baseless claims without references. Backing up your talk with professional testimonies makes it more informative and credible.

4. Thesis statement

A thesis statement’s purpose is to give a preview regarding the primary point or argument of your informative speech topic.

After choosing good informative speech topics, it is time to draft your thesis statement. If you have done it correctly, your thesis statement will summarize your whole speech in a brief but comprehensive sentence.

5. Preview your points

Before going directly to your primary points, you must give your audience a heads-up first. This method will provide them with a preview of the topics for discussion.

Giving them an initial view of your points also guides your listeners as you go on through your informative speech .

6. Transition

Of course, it is essential to explain your main points. Make a speech transition that best elaborates on the different main points of your informative speech .

Ensure that each point has adequate discussion time before proceeding to the next one. Also, be mindful of how you do your transitions so that your presentation’s flow will not confuse the audience and make it easy for them to participate.

7. Conclusion

Your conclusion summarizes the primary points of your speech . It would be more logical and natural to mention your viewpoint because people typically recall your first and last communications.

Doing so ensures you utilize an appropriate order when delivering your informative speech topics. It might be helpful to start and end it with a few fundamental memorizations for a lasting impression.

Furthermore, you can also try to include a part of your conclusion in your introduction to create a full cycle. In this way, your listeners will remember your speech .

Practice your speech with Orai, where you get feedback on your tone, tempo, confidence , and conciseness .

What are Some Topics to Deliver an Informative Speech?

Good informative speech ideas are necessary to keep your audience interested and ensure they learn something from you. It also lets writing and giving your speech be a fun process.

Following are several topics you can consider to deliver an informative speech :

Informative Speech Topics About Education

The Benefits of E-Learning
The Importance of Education for Professional Growth
How to Excel in College with Online Learning
Various Forms of Learning and Teaching
Should Schools Give the Students Homework

Informative Speech Topics About Technology

Cloud Computing and Storage
Hardware vs. Software
The Importance of Learning How to Code
The Effect of Artificial Intelligence on Learning
Cryptocurrency and the Future of Finance

Informative Speech Topics About Vehicles

How to Choose a Suitable Set of Tires for Your Automobile
The Process of Changing Your Vehicle’s Oil
The Process of Replacing a Flat Tire
What Features to Consider When Buying a New Automobile?
The Benefits and Setbacks of Purchasing an Automobile

Informative Speech Topics About the Environment

What are the Most Efficient Manners to Preserve our Environment?
Reasons Why Preserving Energy is Essential
The Negative Effects of Water Contamination
Why is Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Necessary?
The Benefits of Organic Agriculture
Benefits of Recycling Electronic Waste for The Environment

Informative Speech Topics About a Family

The Father as a Life Model
The Significance of Having a Family
At What Age Do Infants Start to Speak?
What are the Things to Consider When Naming a Child?
What is the Significant Connection Between a Child and their Parents?

Good Informative Speech Topics

Are you searching for good informative speech topics to serve as your guide? Worry no more because we have compiled some of them to help you with your work!

Check the following informative speech examples that are funny, exciting, and informative speech topics.

Easy Informative Speech Topics for Starters

For starters, you can review this example of an informative speech topic about dogs. As a beginner, you can choose this concept for your presentation.

Funny Informative Speech Topics

If you want a humorous and informative speech topic, you may want to benchmark this guy talking about what to do while sitting in a traffic jam. Give your audience a good laugh!

Informative Speech Topics for College

Are you a college student present in your class or a professional who will deliver the speech to a college body? You might want to check this video of a content creator talking about his daily life as a YouTuber.

Best Informative Speech Topics for All

To consider the best informative speech topic for all, it must be something that the general public can relate to or is a relevant societal issue. You can watch these videos that talk about the importance of sleep and discuss the causes of homelessness.

Informative Speech about the Effects and Ways of Managing Stress

Informative Speech about the Causes of Homelessness

How do you make an informative speech with a visual aid?

Your audience needs assistance, such as visual materials, to understand the complicated parts of your informative speech topics. Here are four practical reasons why you must use a visual aid for your informative speech in front of everyone:

To get a hold of the listener’s attention and keep their interest.
It serves as a learning device or memory aid because the more you visually expose your audience to good informative speech topics, the more likely they will remember them.
A visual material, such as a PowerPoint presentation, can contain some of your keywords that help you structure and guide your way through your speech .
It indicates transitions because it reinforces the change between the two concepts displayed on the slide.

Going further on visual aids, these learning devices or memory aids come in different types, which you can utilize during your presentation. Some of them are the following:

With visual aids, you, as the speaker, must make sure that you adequately improve the presentation without causing a distraction for your audience. Also, you can create a note regarding when, where, and how to use it.

Informative vs. Persuasive

After the informative speech introduction in the earliest part of this article, you might wonder how it differs from a persuasive speech . Don’t worry if you get confused between these two; we will tackle it.

When selecting between creating an informative or persuasive speech , you must consider the speech ’s purpose.

Are you going to share information about a specific topic, subject, or event? Or do you want to persuade your listeners to have a particular attitude or belief concerning a said issue, concept, or event?

Here is a comparison between an informative speech and a persuasive speech to understand more about them:

Informative Speech Dos and Don’ts

After discussing the distinction between informative and persuasive speeches, let us go through the dos and don’ts of an informative speech , which is highly useful when choosing good informative speech topics.

Public speaking is an essential skill when you do an informative speech . With the following helpful tips, learn how to be an effective informative speaker and become more appealing to your audience.

Presentation Tips

What is more, when delivering or presenting an informative speech , you aim to educate and enlighten your audience about a specific subject. Informative speeches involve descriptions, definitions, demonstrations, and details to elaborate on a person, place, or topic.

One of the essential aspects of informative speeches is making a complicated issue easier to comprehend while providing points for the problem statement.

If you are looking for helpful tips on presenting your informative speech to your audience, then read along because we have listed some of them and be hassle-free.

1. Outline your speech structure

Your informative speeches require a presentation of arguments in a well-organized and systematic manner. This reason alone explains why you need an outline of your informative speech .

Your speech ’s paragraphs must smoothly transition while keeping your audience’s interest. From the introduction until the conclusion, everything should be in an appropriate order.

2. Use presentation aids to enhance audience understanding.

It is better to prepare visual aids for your informative speech topics, ideas, or points that require visualization. This method will help the audience understand what you are discussing or explaining.

You can use simple charts, diagrams, photos, or graphs to create excellent and useful information visual aids.

3. Support your point by citing an authoritative source

An informative speech requires extensive utilization of data, statistics, figures, and facts. You must practice mentioning authoritative sources from which you collected the information to increase credibility.

These authoritative sources can be the following:

We also recommend conducting primary and secondary research to gain more knowledge about your topic.

Do These Steps to Hook Any Audience

When giving your speech , engage your listeners right from the opening. Do not just assume they are paying attention to you because they might be thinking of other things or their minds are elsewhere.

So, you should go beyond the conventional and dry atmosphere and capture their attention. You can refer to these six approaches to hook any audience and then deliver an excellent and memorable presentation.

Create a provocative statement that gets their keen interest and desire to know more about your topic.
Fuel the audience’s curiosity.
Surprise your listeners by making counter-intuitive or paradigm-shifter statements.
Share a story if needed.
Be authentic and tell a personal experience.
Quote a known and influential individual.
Ask your audience a couple of questions to draw their participation.
Leverage silence to command your listeners.
Utilize appropriate visual aids.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to world peace?

World peace requires diverse approaches. Whether through fostering diplomacy, promoting economic cooperation, or addressing global challenges like climate change, we can build a more peaceful world by fostering understanding across cultures, promoting equality, and harnessing technology for dialogue and resolution. Let’s choose peace today and every day.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to technology?

From the ethical considerations of AI in decision-making to the mental health impacts of social media, technology presents a range of compelling topics for persuasive speech . Consider the ethics of AI, holding social media accountable for misinformation, or the impact of technology on education, health, privacy, and the environment. Choose a topic that sparks your passion and engage your audience in a thought-provoking discussion.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to sports?

Persuasive speech topics related to sports could include gender equality in pay for professional athletes, the debate on doping in sports, the importance of teaching swimming in schools, and the impact of parental pressure on young athletes. These topics offer opportunities for engaging discussions on various aspects of sports and can be compelling areas for further exploration and debate.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to religion?

Persuasive speech topics related to religion may include controversial issues such as whether prayer should be allowed in public schools, the role of religion in government, and the distinctions between cults and traditional religious practices. These topics can spark engaging debates and discussions on the intersection of religion with public policies, societal norms, and individual beliefs.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to health?

From sugary drink taxes to the ethics of cosmetic surgery, the world of health offers a wealth of thought-provoking topics for persuasive speeches. Explore the effectiveness of public health initiatives, the responsibility of industries impacting health, the legitimacy of alternative treatments, and the ethical complexities surrounding end-of-life decisions.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to ethics?

Ethics presents a vast landscape for impactful speeches. Explore the morality of issues like capital punishment, genetic engineering, or factory farming. Debate the ethical considerations surrounding AI development, whistleblowing, climate change, or healthcare. Analyze the ethical implications of corporate practices, social media, cultural appropriation, and more, sparking critical dialogue on your chosen topic.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to education?

Education offers compelling topics for persuasive speeches. Engage your audience by exploring the pros and cons of single-gender classrooms, the impact of meditation or mobile phones on learning, or the merits of teacher evaluations and online education. You could spark debate on the value versus cost of higher education or delve into strategies for preventing and addressing school bullying.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to business and the economy?

The world of business and economics offers a range of captivating topics for persuasive speeches. Explore the impact of AI on jobs, the balance between business profit and social responsibility, the role of government regulations, and the sustainability of the gig economy. Discuss solutions for income inequality, the importance of workplace diversity, and the effects of globalization. Analyze the pros and cons of remote work and delve into ethical concerns in marketing and advertising. Choose a topic that ignites your passion and engages your audience in a thought-provoking discussion.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to arts and culture?

Persuasive speech topics related to arts and culture include debating the inclusion of art and music therapy in health insurance coverage, discussing whether graffiti should be recognized as a form of art, and evaluating the necessity of mandating all students to learn a musical instrument as part of their school curriculum. These topics prompt interesting discussions and insights into the intersection of arts, culture, and society.

What are some persuasive speech topics related to animals?

The human-animal relationship offers a diverse range of engaging topics for persuasive speeches. Discuss the ethics behind adopting pets, the controversies surrounding animal ownership (from taming wild animals to exotic pets), and the ethical arguments for or against zoos. Explore the impact of human activities on conservation, the importance of animal rights and welfare, and the ethical considerations surrounding their use in entertainment and research. Analyze the challenges and benefits of responsible pet ownership, and propose solutions to address animal abuse and neglect. Choose a topic that resonates with you and sparks meaningful discussion.

What are some tips for making a speech topic more persuasive?

Craft persuasive speech topics by aligning your passion with audience relevance. Choose impactful, relatable themes that allow for visualization and evoke emotions. Thoroughly research, considering diverse perspectives and evidence to support your arguments. Tailor your speech to your audience’s background and establish credibility, making your message powerful and persuasive.

What is persuasive speech and its aim?

Persuasive speeches aim to inform, educate, and convince the audience to adopt a specific viewpoint or take action. It uses compelling arguments, evidence, and emotional appeals to sway the listeners and inspire change in their attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. Ultimately, it empowers speakers to make a lasting impact by encouraging a new perspective or action.

What factors should be considered when selecting a speech topic?

Choose a fresh and relevant speech topic that connects with your audience’s interests and knowledge . Select a subject that ignites your passion and consider emotional and visually engaging themes to captivate your listeners and ensure a lasting impact .

Finding good informative speech topics and presenting them is an excellent way to share your knowledge bouncing inside your brain. Remember to select something that you are genuinely interested in, and your eagerness will eventually come out through your audience. Orai is an AI-powered speech coach that fits in your pocket and can help you with your needs for public speaking ! Orai offers a customized learning experience based on your speech recordings and helps you learn new public speaking techniques. They provide instant feedback on your enunciation , conciseness , and more!

If you have a definite vision, good informative speech topics, a clean speech outline, and an accurate thesis statement, then you’re good to go!

Download Orai and start practice your informative speech

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25 Topics for an Informative Speech

3-minute read

20th November 2023

Have you been asked to give an informative speech, or do you simply want to practice your public speaking skills ? If the answer to either question is yes, then the first thing you need to do is choose a topic for your speech. But with so many potential topics, how can you pick just one? In this post, we’ve narrowed down 25 topics for an informative speech to help you find the one that works best for you.

Choosing a Topic

Informative speeches aim to educate the audience on a particular subject or industry. Unlike persuasive speeches , informative ones are not meant to convince the listener to believe or act a certain way; they are meant to be purely descriptive and explanatory.

The best topics for informative speeches are engaging, interesting, valuable, and relevant to the target audience . Choose a topic about which you have a comprehensive understanding or one you intend to research substantially. After all, it’s easy to deliver an engaging presentation and educate your audience when you’re extremely knowledgeable about the topic! Next, let’s take a look at 25 interesting topics for an informative speech, organized by subject.

Science and Technology

● The impact of artificial intelligence on society

● Recent advancements in space exploration

● Recent breakthroughs in medical research

● The science behind climate change and its effects

● The evolution of social media

● What is 3D printing?

Health and Wellness

● The effect of regular exercise on overall health

● How sleep impacts brain functioning

● Understanding stress and stress management techniques

● How does sugar impact the body?

● Key figures in the Civil Rights movement

● Significant women in history

● Sculpture of the Renaissance

● A history of fashion in the Victorian era

● An exploration of the Olympics from their beginning

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● The history and impact of open-access education

● An exploration of virtual learning over the past 25 years

● How high schools differ around the world

● A look back at education in 19th-century America and the way it compares to current methods

● The history of homework

The Environment and Sustainability

● How to reduce your carbon footprint

● What is zero-waste living?

● The significance of global water conservation

● The impact of air pollution on public health

● The impact of oil spills on the environment

Tips for Giving an Informative Speech

If you’re giving an informative speech, remember to:

● Do your research! Gather information from credible, authoritative sources when composing your speech. Avoid sources that discuss strictly the opinion of the author and look for solid, factual evidence to support your topic.

● Consider your audience. Do they have at least a baseline knowledge of the topic? The answer to this question will help determine how deep you should go in your explanations and what kind of language to use.

● Organize your ideas . Before you begin writing, create a comprehensive outline that includes the introduction, main ideas, and conclusion.

● Use anecdotes or examples to make your content more engaging and relevant to your audience.

● Anticipate potential questions and jot down notes you can easily refer to.

Here’s one last essential speech writing tip: to ensure a smooth delivery and enhance your writing, have your speech professionally proofread and edited. Our editors can make sure your informative speech effectively conveys your message and engages your audience. Send in your free sample today to get started.

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16.2 Types of Informative Speeches

Learning objectives.

Identify several categories of topics that may be used in informative speaking.
Describe several approaches to developing a topic.

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Erica minton – Late Night Dry Erase Board Session – CC BY-NC 2.0.

For some speakers, deciding on a topic is one of the most difficult parts of informative speaking. The following subsections begin by discussing several categories of topics that you might use for an informative presentation. Then we discuss how you might structure your speech to address potential audience difficulties in understanding your topic or information.

The term “objects” encompasses many topics we might not ordinarily consider to be “things.” It’s a category that includes people, institutions, places, substances, and inanimate things. The following are some of these topics:

Mitochondria
Dream catchers
Hubble telescope
Seattle’s Space Needle
Silicon chip
Spruce Goose
Medieval armor
DDT insecticide

You will find it necessary to narrow your topic about an object because, like any topic, you can’t say everything about it in a single speech. In most cases, there are choices about how to narrow the topic. Here are some specific purpose statements that reflect ways of narrowing a few of those topics:

To inform the audience about the role of soy inks in reducing toxic pollution
To inform the audience about the current uses of the banned insecticide DDT
To inform the audience about what we’ve learned from the Hubble telescope
To inform the audience about the role of the NAACP in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
To describe the significance of the gigantic Spruce Goose, the wooden airplane that launched an airline

These specific purposes reflect a narrow, but interesting, approach to each topic. These purposes are precise, and they should help you maintain your focus on a narrow but deep slice of knowledge.

This category applies both to specific individuals and also to roles. The following are some of these topics:

Dalai Lamas
Tsar Nicholas II
Modern midwives
Catherine the Great
Navajo code talkers
Mahatma Gandhi
Justice Thurgood Marshall
Madame Curie
Leopold Mozart
The Hemlock Society
Sonia Sotomayor
Jack the Ripper

There is a great deal of information about each one of these examples. In order to narrow the topic or write a thesis statement, it’s important to recognize that your speech should not be a biography, or time line, of someone’s life. If you attempt to deliver a comprehensive report of every important event and accomplishment related to your subject, then nothing will seem any more important than anything else. To capture and hold your audience’s interest, you must narrow to a focus on a feature, event, achievement, or secret about your human topic.

Here are some purpose statements that reflect a process of narrowing:

To inform the audience about the training program undergone by the first US astronauts to land on the moon
To inform the audience about how a young Dalai Lama is identified
To inform the audience about why Gandhi was regarded as a mahatma, or “great heart”
To inform the audience about the extensive scientific qualifications of modern midwives

Without a limited purpose, you will find, with any of these topics, that there’s simply too much to say. Your purpose statement will be a strong decision-making tool about what to include in your speech.

An event can be something that occurred only once, or an event that is repeated:

The murder of Emmett Till
The Iditarod Dogsled Race
The Industrial Revolution
The discovery of the smallpox vaccine
The Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests
The Bay of Pigs
The Super Bowl
The Academy Awards

Again, we find that any of these topics must be carefully narrowed in order to build a coherent speech. Failure to do so will result in a shallow speech. Here are a few ways to narrow the purpose:

To explain how the murder of Emmett Till helped energize the civil rights movement
To describe how the Industrial Revolution affected the lives of ordinary people
To inform the audience about the purpose of the Iditarod dogsled race

There are many ways to approach any of these and other topics, but again, you must emphasize an important dimension of the event. Otherwise, you run the risk of producing a time line in which the main point gets lost. In a speech about an event, you may use a chronological order , but if you choose to do so, you can’t include every detail. The following is an example:

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about the purpose of the Iditarod dogsled race.

Central Idea: The annual Iditarod commemorates the heroism of Balto, the sled dog that led a dog team carrying medicine 1150 miles to save Nome from an outbreak of diphtheria.

Main Points:

Diphtheria broke out in a remote Alaskan town.
Dogsleds were the only transportation for getting medicine.
The Iditarod Trail was long, rugged, and under siege of severe weather.
Balto the dog knew where he was going, even when the musher did not.
The annual race commemorates Balto’s heroism in saving the lives of the people of Nome.

In this example, you must explain the event. However, another way to approach the same event would describe it. The following is an example:

Specific Purpose: To describe the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Central Idea: It’s a long and dangerous race.

The 1150-mile, ten- to seventeen-day race goes through wilderness with widely spaced checkpoints for rest, first aid, and getting fresh dogs.
A musher, or dogsled driver, must be at least fourteen years old to endure the rigors of severe weather, exhaustion, and loneliness.
A musher is responsible for his or her own food, food for twelve to sixteen dogs, and for making sure they don’t get lost.
Reaching the end of the race without getting lost, even in last place, is considered honorable and heroic.
The expense of participation is greater than the prize awarded to the winner.

By now you can see that there are various ways to approach a topic while avoiding an uninspiring time line. In the example of the Iditarod race, you could alternatively frame it as an Alaskan tourism topic, or you could emphasize the enormous staff involved in first aid, search and rescue, dog care, trail maintenance, event coordination, financial management, and registration.

Concepts are abstract ideas that exist independent of whether they are observed or practiced, such as the example of social equality that follows. Concepts can include hypotheses and theories.

The glass ceiling
Ethnocentrism
Honor codes
Fairness theory
The American Dream
Social equality

Here are a few examples of specific purposes developed from the examples:

To explain why people in all cultures are ethnocentric
To describe the Hindu concept of karma
To distinguish the differences between the concepts of wellness and health
To show the resources available in our local school system for children with autism
To explain three of Dr. Stephen Suranovic’s seven categories of fairness

Here is one possible example of a way to develop one of these topics:

Specific Purpose: To explain why people in all cultures are ethnocentric.

Central Idea: There are benefits to being ethnocentric.

Ethnocentrism is the idea that one’s own culture is superior to others.
Ethnocentrism strongly contributes to positive group identity.
Ethnocentrism facilitates the coordination of social activity.
Ethnocentrism contributes to a sense of safety within a group.
Ethnocentrism becomes harmful when it creates barriers.

In an example of a concept about which people disagree, you must represent multiple and conflicting views as fully and fairly as possible. For instance:

Specific Purpose: To expose the audience to three different views of the American Dream.

Central Idea: The American Dream is a shared dream, an impossible dream, or a dangerous dream, depending on the perspective of the individual.

The concept of the American Dream describes a state of abundant well-being in which an honest and productive American can own a home; bring up a family; work at a permanent, well-paying job with benefits; and retire in security and leisure.
Many capitalists support the social pattern of working hard to deserve and acquire the material comforts and security of a comfortable life.
Many sociologists argue that the American Dream is far out of reach for the 40 percent of Americans at the bottom of the economic scale.
Many environmentalists argue that the consumption patterns that accompany the American Dream have resulted in the depletion of resources and the pollution of air, water, and soil.

If your speech topic is a process, your goal should be to help your audience understand it, or be able to perform it. In either instance, processes involve a predictable series of changes, phases, or steps.

Soil erosion
Cell division
Physical therapy
Volcanic eruption
Paper recycling
Consumer credit evaluations
Scholarship money searches
Navy Seal training
Portfolio building
The development of Alzheimer’s disease

For some topics, you will need presentation aids in order to make your meaning clear to your listeners. Even in cases where you don’t absolutely need a presentation aid, one might be useful. For instance, if your topic is evaluating consumer credit, instead of just describing a comparison between two different interest rates applied to the same original amount of debt, it would be helpful to show a graph of the difference. This might also be the sort of topic that would strongly serve the needs of your audience before they find themselves in trouble. Since this will be an informative speech, you must resist the impulse to tell your listeners that one form of borrowing is good and another is bad; you must simply show them the difference in numbers. They can reach their own conclusions.

Organizing your facts is crucially important when discussing a process. Every stage of a process must be clear and understandable. When two or more things occur at the same time, as they might in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, it is important to make it clear that several things are occurring at once. For example, as plaque is accumulating in the brain, the patient is likely to begin exhibiting various symptoms.

Here’s an example of the initial steps of a speech about a process:

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about how to build an academic portfolio.

Central Idea: A portfolio represents you and emphasizes your best skills.

A portfolio is an organized selection containing the best examples of the skills you can offer an employer.
A portfolio should contain samples of a substantial body of written work, print and electronically published pieces, photography, and DVDs of your media productions.
A portfolio should be customized for each prospective employer.
The material in your portfolio should be consistent with the skills and experience in your résumé.

In a speech about the process of building a portfolio, there will be many smaller steps to include within each of the main points. For instance, creating separate sections of the portfolio for different types of creative activities, writing a table of contents, labeling and dating your samples, making your samples look attractive and professional, and other steps should be inserted where it makes the most sense, in the most organized places, in order to give your audience the most coherent understanding possible.

You’ve probably noticed that there are topics that could be appropriate in more than one category. For instance, the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s could be legitimately handled as an event or as a process. If you approach the eruption as an event, most of the information you include will focus on human responses and the consequences on humans and the landscape. If you approach the eruption as a process, you will be using visual aids and explanations to describe geological changes before and during the eruption. You might also approach this topic from the viewpoint of a person whose life was affected by the eruption. This should remind you that there are many ways to approach most topics, and because of that, your narrowing choices and your purpose will be the important foundation determining the structure of your informative speech.

Developing Your Topic for the Audience

One issue to consider when preparing an informative speech is how best to present the information to enhance audience learning. Katherine Rowan suggests focusing on areas where your audience may experience confusion and using the likely sources of confusion as a guide for developing the content of your speech. Rowan identifies three sources of audience confusion: difficult concepts or language, difficult-to-envision structures or processes, and ideas that are difficult to understand because they are hard to believe (Rowan, 1995). The following subsections will discuss each of these and will provide strategies for dealing with each of these sources of confusion.

Difficult Concepts or Language

Sometimes audiences may have difficulty understanding information because of the concepts or language used. For example, they may not understand what the term “organic food” means or how it differs from “all-natural” foods. If an audience is likely to experience confusion over a basic concept or term, Rowan suggests using an elucidating explanation composed of four parts. The purpose of such an explanation is to clarify the meaning and use of the concept by focusing on essential features of the concept.

The first part of an elucidating explanation is to provide a typical exemplar, or example that includes all the central features of the concept. If you are talking about what is fruit, an apple or orange would be a typical exemplar.

The second step Rowan suggests is to follow up the typical exemplar with a definition. Fruits might be defined as edible plant structures that contain the seeds of the plant.

After providing a definition, you can move on to the third part of the elucidating explanation: providing a variety of examples and nonexamples. Here is where you might include less typical examples of fruit, such as avocados, squash, or tomatoes, and foods, such as rhubarb, which is often treated as a fruit but is not by definition.

Fourth, Rowan suggests concluding by having the audience practice distinguishing examples from nonexamples. In this way, the audience leaves the speech with a clear understanding of the concept.

Difficult-to-Envision Processes or Structures

A second source of audience difficulty in understanding, according to Rowan, is a process or structure that is complex and difficult to envision. The blood circulation system in the body might be an example of a difficult-to-envision process. To address this type of audience confusion, Rowan suggests a quasi-scientific explanation, which starts by giving a big-picture perspective on the process. Presentation aids or analogies might be helpful in giving an overview of the process. For the circulatory system, you could show a video or diagram of the entire system or make an analogy to a pump. Then you can move to explaining relationships among the components of the process. Be sure when you explain relationships among components that you include transition and linking words like “leads to” and “because” so that your audience understands relationships between concepts. You may remember the childhood song describing the bones in the body with lines such as, “the hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone; the thigh bone’s connected to the knee bone.” Making the connections between components helps the audience to remember and better understand the process.

Difficult to Understand because It’s Hard to Believe

A third source of audience confusion, and perhaps the most difficult to address as a speaker, is an idea that’s difficult to understand because it’s hard to believe. This often happens when people have implicit, but erroneous, theories about how the world works. For example, the idea that science tries to disprove theories is difficult for some people to understand; after all, shouldn’t the purpose of science be to prove things? In such a case, Rowan suggests using a transformative explanation. A transformative explanation begins by discussing the audience’s implicit theory and showing why it is plausible. Then you move to showing how the implicit theory is limited and conclude by presenting the accepted explanation and why that explanation is better. In the case of scientists disproving theories, you might start by talking about what science has proven (e.g., the causes of malaria, the usefulness of penicillin in treating infection) and why focusing on science as proof is a plausible way of thinking. Then you might show how the science as proof theory is limited by providing examples of ideas that were accepted as “proven” but were later found to be false, such as the belief that diseases are caused by miasma, or “bad air”; or that bloodletting cures diseases by purging the body of “bad humors.” You can then conclude by showing how science is an enterprise designed to disprove theories and that all theories are accepted as tentative in light of existing knowledge.

Rowan’s framework is helpful because it keeps our focus on the most important element of an informative speech: increasing audience understanding about a topic.

Honesty and credibility must undergird your presentation; otherwise, they betray the trust of your listeners. Therefore, if you choose a topic that turns out to be too difficult, you must decide what will serve the needs and interests of the audience. Shortcuts and oversimplifications are not the answer.

Being ethical often involves a surprising amount of work. In the case of choosing too ambitious a topic, you have some choices:

Narrow your topic further.
Narrow your topic in a different way.
Reconsider your specific purpose.
Start over with a new topic.

Your goal is to serve the interests and needs of your audience, whoever they are and whether you believe they already know something about your topic.

Key Takeaways

A variety of different topic categories are available for informative speaking.
One way to develop your topic is to focus on areas that might be confusing to the audience. If the audience is likely to be confused about language or a concept, an elucidating explanation might be helpful. If a process is complex, a quasi-scientific explanation may help. If the audience already has an erroneous implicit idea of how something works then a transformative explanation might be needed.
Choose a topic such as “American Education in the Twenty-First Century.” Write a new title for that speech for each of the following audiences: financial managers, first-year college students, parents of high school students, nuns employed in Roman Catholic schools, psychotherapists, and teamsters. Write a specific purpose for the speech for each of these audiences.
Think about three potential topics you could use for an informative speech. Identify where the audience might experience confusion with concepts, processes, or preexisting implicit theories. Select one of the topics and outline how you would develop the topic to address the audience’s potential confusion.

Rowan, K. E. (1995). A new pedagogy for explanatory public speaking: Why arrangement should not substitute for invention. Communication Education, 44 , 236–249.

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7 Types of Informative Speeches

Learning Objectives

Distinguish types of general informative speech topics.
Determine an appropriate informative approach.

Informative Speeches

Now that you know the difference between informative and persuasive approaches, this chapter will explore types of topics and approaches suited well for informative speeches. Again, while any topic can be informative or persuasive, certain topics and approaches will help you to ensure you are delivering an informative speech. As you read the chapter, consider specific topics for each category that you may be able to deliver an informative speech on.

Types of Informative Speech Topics

O’Hair, Stewart, and Rubenstein identified six general types of informative speech topics: objects, people, events, concepts, processes, and issues (O’Hair, et al., 2007).

Objects: Your speech may include how objects are designed, how they function, and what they mean. For example, a student of one of our coauthors gave a speech on the design of corsets, using a mannequin to demonstrate how corsets were placed on women and the amount of force necessary to lace one up. Or you may speak about an artifact and what it means to a certain culture. For instance, the belt (and color of the belt) is significant to the karate culture.

People: People-based speeches tend to be biography-oriented. Such topics could include recounting an individual’s achievements and explaining why the person is important in history. Some speakers, who are famous themselves, will focus on their own lives and how various events shaped who they ultimately became. Dottie Walters is most noted as being the first female in the United States to run an advertising agency. In addition to her work in advertising, Dottie also spent a great deal of time as a professional speaker. She often would tell the story about her early years in advertising when she would push around a stroller with her daughter inside as she went from business to business trying to generate interest in her copywriting abilities. You don’t have to be famous, however, to give a people-based speech. Instead, you could inform your audience about a historical or contemporary hero whose achievements are not widely known.

Events: These are typically either historical or contemporary. For example, you could deliver a speech on a specific battle of World War II or a specific event that changed the course of history. If you’re a history buff, event-oriented speeches may be right up your alley. There are countless historical events that many people aren’t familiar with and would find interesting. You could also inform your audience about a more recent or contemporary event. Some examples include concerts, plays, and arts festivals; athletic competitions; and natural phenomena, such as storms, eclipses, and earthquakes. The point is to make sure that an informative speech is talking about the event (who, what, when, where, and why) and not attempting to persuade people to pass judgment upon the event or its effects.

Concepts: Concepts are “abstract and difficult ideas or theories” (O’Hair, et al., 2007). For example, you may want to explain a specific communication theory, a religious idea, or inflation. Whether you want to discuss theories related to business, sociology, psychology, religion, politics, art, or any other major area of study, this type of speech can be very useful in helping people to understand complex ideas.

Process: A process speech helps audience members understand how a specific object or system works. For example, you could explain how a bill becomes a law in the United States. There is a very specific set of steps that a bill must go through before it becomes a law, so there is a very clear process that could be explained to an audience.

Issues: This informative speech topic is probably the most difficult for novice public speakers because it requires walking a fine line between informing and persuading. If you attempt to deliver this type of speech, remember the goal is to be balanced when discussing both sides of the issue. You are only explaining an issue, you are not proposing solutions or trying to get your audience to agree with your ideas.

If you are struggling with an informative topic, it helps to brainstorm ideas in each of these categories. Once you have a list of potential ideas, you can begin to narrow your ideas. One way to narrow your ideas is to consider the approach you will use with potential topics.

Approaches to Informative Speeches

Once you have decided on a potential topic, you can help to narrow your focus by determining an informative approach. There are three common informative approaches we will discuss in this section. Those are speeches of definition, description, and explanation.

Definitional Speeches

In definitional speeches the speaker attempts to set forth the meaning of concepts, theories, philosophies, or issues that may be unfamiliar to the audience. In these types of speeches, speakers may begin by giving the historical derivation, classification, or synonyms of terms or the background of the subject. In a speech on “How to identify a sociopath,” the speaker may answer these questions: Where did the word ‘sociopath’ come from? What is a sociopath? How many sociopaths are there in the population? What are the symptoms? Carefully define your terminology to give shape to things the audience cannot directly sense. Describing the essential attributes of one concept compared to another (as through the use of analogies) can increase understanding as well. For a speech on “Elderly Abuse,” the speaker may compare this type of abuse to a child or spousal abuse for contrast.

Regardless of the listeners’ level of knowledge about the subject, it is very important in these types of speeches to show the relevance of the topic to their lives. Often the topics discussed in definitional speeches are abstract—distanced from reality. Speakers need to provide explicit, real-life examples and applications of the subject matter to engage audience members. If you were going to give a speech about civil rights, you would need to go beyond commonly held meanings and show the topic in a new light. In this type of speech, the speaker points out the unique and distinguishing properties or boundaries of a concept in a particular context (Rinehart, 2002). The meaning of “civil rights” has changed significantly over time. What does it mean today compared to the 1960s? How will knowing this distinction help audience members? What are some specific incidents involving civil rights issues in current news? What changes in civil rights legislation might listeners see in their lifetimes?

DEFINITIONAL EXAMPLE

Title: “Life is suffering,” and Other Buddhist Teachings (Thompson, 1999)

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, my audience will understand the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path in Buddhism

Central Idea: Regardless of your religious beliefs, Buddhist philosophy teaches a number of useful lessons you can apply to your own life.

All life involves dukkha (suffering)
Suffering is caused by tanha (longing for things to be other than they are)
If this longing stops ( nirodha ), suffering will cease
The way to eliminate longing is to follow the Eightfold Path
Right intention
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right contemplation

Descriptive Speeches

White domed structure with four surrounding pillars against a blue sky

To gaze in wonder at that magnificent dome and elegant gardens will be a moment that you remember for the rest of your life. The Taj Mahal just takes your breath away. What is immediately striking is its graceful symmetry—geometric lines run through formal gardens ending in a white marble platform. Atop this platform is great white bulbous dome complemented by four towering minarets in each corner. The whole image shimmers in a reflecting pool flanked by beautiful gardens—the effect is magical. The first stretch by the reflecting pool is where most people pose for their photos. But we were impressed by the fresh, green gardens. As you approach through the gardens two mosques come into view flanking the Taj—both exquisitely carved and built of red sandstone.

In the descriptive speech, determine the characteristics, features, functions, or fine points of the topic. What makes the person unique? How did the person make you feel? What adjectives apply to the subject? What kind of material is the object made from? What shape is it? What color is it? What does it smell like? Is it part of a larger system? Can it be seen by the naked eye? What is its geography or location in space? How has it changed or evolved over time? How does it compare to a similar object? When preparing for the speech, try to think of ways to appeal to as many of the senses as possible. As an example, in a speech about different types of curried dishes, you could probably verbally describe the difference between yellow, red, and green curry, but the speech will have more impact if the audience can see, smell, and taste samples.

DESCRIPTIVE EXAMPLE

An enormous stone carved into a human head

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, my audience will be able to visualize some of the main attractions on Easter Island.

Central Idea: Easter Island hosts a number of ancient, mysterious, and beautiful attractions that make it an ideal vacation destination.

Average 13 feet high; 14 tons
Play sacred role for Rapa Nui (native inhabitants)
Central Ahu ceremonial sites
Snorkeling & Scuba
Giant crater
Sheer cliffs to ocean

Explanatory Speeches

An explanatory speech (also known as a briefing) is similar to a descriptive speech in that they both share the function of clarifying the topic. But explanatory speeches focus on reports of current and historical events, customs, transformations, inventions, policies, outcomes, and options. Whereas descriptive speeches attempt to paint a picture with words so that audiences can vicariously experience it, explanatory speeches focus on the how or why of a subject and its consequences. Thus, a speaker might give a descriptive speech on the daily life of Marie Antoinette, or an explanatory speech on how she came to her death. Recall that definitional speeches focus on delineating concepts or issues. In this case, a speaker might give a definitional speech about the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, or an explanatory speech on why the financial bailout was necessary for U.S. financial stability.

If a manager wanted to inform employees about a new workplace internet use policy, s/he might cover questions like: Why was a policy implemented? How will it help? What happens if people do not follow established policies? Explanatory speeches are less concerned with appealing to the senses than connecting the topic to a series of related other subjects to enhance a deep understanding (McKerrow, Gronbeck, Ehninger, & Monroe, 2000). For example, to explain the custom of the Thai wai greeting (hands pressed together as in prayer), you also need to explain how it originated to show one had no weapons, and the ways it is tied to religion, gender, age, and status.

EXPLANATORY EXAMPLE

Title: Giant Waves, Death, and Devastation: The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (National Geographic, 2006)

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech, my audience will be aware of the nature of the 2004 Tsunami and the destruction it caused.

Central Idea: The 2004 Asian Tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters in human history in terms of magnitude, loss of human life, and enduring impact.

Earthquake epicenter and magnitude
Tsunami forms (waves reach up to 100 feet)
Tsunami strikes land of various countries with no warning
The countries and people involved
Loss of food, water, hospitals, housing, electricity, and plumbing
Threat of disease
Environmental destruction
Economic devastation
Psychological trauma

Setting yourself up for a successful informative speech begins in the early stages when you first start thinking about your topic. Remember to consider the type of informative speech topics and the informative approaches you can take as you are selecting a topic.

Key Takeaways

Six general informative speech topics are objects, people, events, concepts, processes, and issues. Use these general categories to brainstorm ideas for your upcoming informative speech.
Once you have decided on a potential topic, you can help to narrow down your topic by considering which informative approach you will use. Will you define, describe, or explain your topic?

Licenses and Attributions

Chapter 15 Types of Informative Speeches. Authored by : Lisa Schreiber, Ph.D.. Provided by : Millersville University, Millersville, PA. Located at : http://publicspeakingproject.org/psvirtualtext.html . Project : Public Speaking Project. License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

Taj Mahal, Agra, India. Authored by : Yann. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taj_Mahal,_Agra,_India.jpg . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike

Maoi at Rano Raraku. Authored by : Aurbina. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright

Public Speaking Copyright © by Dr. Layne Goodman; Amber Green, M.A.; and Various is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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15.2: Types of Informative Speeches

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Learning Objectives

Identify several categories of topics that may be used in informative speaking.
Describe several approaches to developing a topic.

Erica minton – Late Night Dry Erase Board Session – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Mitochondria
Dream catchers
Hubble telescope
Seattle’s Space Needle
Silicon chip
Spruce Goose
Medieval armor
DDT insecticide

To inform the audience about the role of soy inks in reducing toxic pollution
To inform the audience about the current uses of the banned insecticide DDT
To inform the audience about what we’ve learned from the Hubble telescope
To inform the audience about the role of the NAACP in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
To describe the significance of the gigantic Spruce Goose, the wooden airplane that launched an airline

These specific purposes reflect a narrow, but interesting, approach to each topic. These purposes are precise, and they should help you maintain your focus on a narrow but deep slice of knowledge.

This category applies both to specific individuals and also to roles. The following are some of these topics:

Dalai Lamas
Tsar Nicholas II
Modern midwives
Catherine the Great
Navajo code talkers
Mahatma Gandhi
Justice Thurgood Marshall
Madame Curie
Leopold Mozart
The Hemlock Society
Sonia Sotomayor
Jack the Ripper

Here are some purpose statements that reflect a process of narrowing:

To inform the audience about the training program undergone by the first US astronauts to land on the moon
To inform the audience about how a young Dalai Lama is identified
To inform the audience about why Gandhi was regarded as a mahatma, or “great heart”
To inform the audience about the extensive scientific qualifications of modern midwives

An event can be something that occurred only once, or an event that is repeated:

The murder of Emmett Till
The Iditarod Dogsled Race
The Industrial Revolution
The discovery of the smallpox vaccine
The Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests
The Bay of Pigs
The Super Bowl
The Academy Awards

Again, we find that any of these topics must be carefully narrowed in order to build a coherent speech. Failure to do so will result in a shallow speech. Here are a few ways to narrow the purpose:

To explain how the murder of Emmett Till helped energize the civil rights movement
To describe how the Industrial Revolution affected the lives of ordinary people
To inform the audience about the purpose of the Iditarod dogsled race

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about the purpose of the Iditarod dogsled race.

Central Idea: The annual Iditarod commemorates the heroism of Balto, the sled dog that led a dog team carrying medicine 1150 miles to save Nome from an outbreak of diphtheria.

Main Points:

Diphtheria broke out in a remote Alaskan town.
Dogsleds were the only transportation for getting medicine.
The Iditarod Trail was long, rugged, and under siege of severe weather.
Balto the dog knew where he was going, even when the musher did not.
The annual race commemorates Balto’s heroism in saving the lives of the people of Nome.

In this example, you must explain the event. However, another way to approach the same event would describe it. The following is an example:

Specific Purpose: To describe the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Central Idea: It’s a long and dangerous race.

The 1150-mile, ten- to seventeen-day race goes through wilderness with widely spaced checkpoints for rest, first aid, and getting fresh dogs.
A musher, or dogsled driver, must be at least fourteen years old to endure the rigors of severe weather, exhaustion, and loneliness.
A musher is responsible for his or her own food, food for twelve to sixteen dogs, and for making sure they don’t get lost.
Reaching the end of the race without getting lost, even in last place, is considered honorable and heroic.
The expense of participation is greater than the prize awarded to the winner.

Concepts are abstract ideas that exist independent of whether they are observed or practiced, such as the example of social equality that follows. Concepts can include hypotheses and theories.

The glass ceiling
Ethnocentrism
Honor codes
Fairness theory
The American Dream
Social equality

Here are a few examples of specific purposes developed from the examples:

To explain why people in all cultures are ethnocentric
To describe the Hindu concept of karma
To distinguish the differences between the concepts of wellness and health
To show the resources available in our local school system for children with autism
To explain three of Dr. Stephen Suranovic’s seven categories of fairness

Here is one possible example of a way to develop one of these topics:

Specific Purpose: To explain why people in all cultures are ethnocentric.

Central Idea: There are benefits to being ethnocentric.

Ethnocentrism is the idea that one’s own culture is superior to others.
Ethnocentrism strongly contributes to positive group identity.
Ethnocentrism facilitates the coordination of social activity.
Ethnocentrism contributes to a sense of safety within a group.
Ethnocentrism becomes harmful when it creates barriers.

In an example of a concept about which people disagree, you must represent multiple and conflicting views as fully and fairly as possible. For instance:

Specific Purpose: To expose the audience to three different views of the American Dream.

Central Idea: The American Dream is a shared dream, an impossible dream, or a dangerous dream, depending on the perspective of the individual.

The concept of the American Dream describes a state of abundant well-being in which an honest and productive American can own a home; bring up a family; work at a permanent, well-paying job with benefits; and retire in security and leisure.
Many capitalists support the social pattern of working hard to deserve and acquire the material comforts and security of a comfortable life.
Many sociologists argue that the American Dream is far out of reach for the 40 percent of Americans at the bottom of the economic scale.
Many environmentalists argue that the consumption patterns that accompany the American Dream have resulted in the depletion of resources and the pollution of air, water, and soil.

Soil erosion
Cell division
Physical therapy
Volcanic eruption
Paper recycling
Consumer credit evaluations
Scholarship money searches
Navy Seal training
Portfolio building
The development of Alzheimer’s disease

Here’s an example of the initial steps of a speech about a process:

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about how to build an academic portfolio.

Central Idea: A portfolio represents you and emphasizes your best skills.

A portfolio is an organized selection containing the best examples of the skills you can offer an employer.
A portfolio should contain samples of a substantial body of written work, print and electronically published pieces, photography, and DVDs of your media productions.
A portfolio should be customized for each prospective employer.
The material in your portfolio should be consistent with the skills and experience in your résumé.

Developing Your Topic for the Audience

Difficult Concepts or Language

The second step Rowan suggests is to follow up the typical exemplar with a definition. Fruits might be defined as edible plant structures that contain the seeds of the plant.

Fourth, Rowan suggests concluding by having the audience practice distinguishing examples from nonexamples. In this way, the audience leaves the speech with a clear understanding of the concept.

Difficult-to-Envision Processes or Structures

Difficult to Understand because It’s Hard to Believe

Rowan’s framework is helpful because it keeps our focus on the most important element of an informative speech: increasing audience understanding about a topic.

Being ethical often involves a surprising amount of work. In the case of choosing too ambitious a topic, you have some choices:

Narrow your topic further.
Narrow your topic in a different way.
Reconsider your specific purpose.
Start over with a new topic.

Your goal is to serve the interests and needs of your audience, whoever they are and whether you believe they already know something about your topic.

Key Takeaways

A variety of different topic categories are available for informative speaking.
One way to develop your topic is to focus on areas that might be confusing to the audience. If the audience is likely to be confused about language or a concept, an elucidating explanation might be helpful. If a process is complex, a quasi-scientific explanation may help. If the audience already has an erroneous implicit idea of how something works then a transformative explanation might be needed.
Choose a topic such as “American Education in the Twenty-First Century.” Write a new title for that speech for each of the following audiences: financial managers, first-year college students, parents of high school students, nuns employed in Roman Catholic schools, psychotherapists, and teamsters. Write a specific purpose for the speech for each of these audiences.
Think about three potential topics you could use for an informative speech. Identify where the audience might experience confusion with concepts, processes, or preexisting implicit theories. Select one of the topics and outline how you would develop the topic to address the audience’s potential confusion.

Rowan, K. E. (1995). A new pedagogy for explanatory public speaking: Why arrangement should not substitute for invention. Communication Education, 44 , 236–249.

Module 9: Informative Speaking

Selecting a topic for an informative speech, learning objectives.

Select an appropriate topic for an informative speech.

Now that we have discussed the five different types of informative speeches, let’s focus on how to select a specific and appropriate topic for your speech. Your speech should fit within one of the five speech types we have discussed in the prior section.

Person choosing a bar of chocolate from a wall of options

Choice is hard.

Choosing a topic can sometimes be the most difficult step. You want to choose a topic that is of interest to the audience and yourself. You also want to make sure that you have met the assignment expectations. If you think finding a topic is a challenge, you are not alone. There are many (even professional speakers) who think this can be one of the hardest parts of a speech!

As you think about topic choices, recall that the purpose in an informative speech is to share information with an audience, not to persuade them to believe something or take some kind of action.

As an example, you may want to give a speech about affordable housing options. You will want to keep your focus on explaining the options available to your audience rather than offering your opinion on the best options. You do not want to ask your audience to try and persuade their local legislators. You only want to stick to the research you have done about what constitutes affordable housing and nothing more. It is important to select a topic you understand well, is of interest to you, and can be explained to your audience easily. You do not have to be an expert on your topic, but you should be familiar enough with it that you can talk about it with confidence. You also want to keep your audience in mind and select a topic they are unlikely to know a lot about and that they would be interested in learning more about.

When determining a topic, keep the following in mind:

Know your speech purpose. In this case, it would be to inform or explain. Focus on topics that lend themselves to that purpose.
Who is your specific audience? Would they be interested in your topic? What knowledge might they already have about your topic? What might they want to know about your topic?
What constraints have you been given? For example, what kind of room are you speaking in? How much time will you have to speak? How many sources do you need to cite? Are you required to use visual aids?

Find the right scope

One common error students in public speaking classes have is selecting a topic that is too large or broad in scope for the time they have been given to deliver their speech. To illustrate, you might be interested in developing a speech that informs your audience about the Black Lives Matter movement. Even though Black Lives Matter is a specific social justice movement, it is still a broad subject with many different facets, many of which might be a good subject for an informative speech. For example, you could devote the speech to the particular events in 2013 that were the genesis of the movement. Or you might focus your speech on explaining how the #BlackLivesMatter social media hashtag helped spread awareness of the movement. Or, you could talk about how Black Lives Matter started.

As you think about selecting a topic, ask yourself whether you can reasonably hope to inform or educate your audience in the time frame you have for the speech. If you think it might be too broad in scope, try and brainstorm aspects of the topic that would be focused and narrow enough to fit the time parameters you have been given.

Once you have selected your topic and narrowed it to fit the assignment parameters, you can start organizing the speech.

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49 Types of Informative Speeches

While the topics to choose from for informative speeches are nearly limit- less, they can generally be pared down into five broad categories. Understanding the type of informative speech that you will be giving can help you to figure out the best way to organize, research, and prepare for it, as will be discussed below.

Type 1: History

A common approach to selecting an informative speech topic is to discuss the history or development of something. With so much of human knowledge available via the Internet, finding information about the origins and evolution of almost anything is much easier than it has ever been (with the disclaimer that there are quite a few websites out there with false information). With that in mind, some of the areas that a historical informative speech could cover would include:

(Example: the baseball; the saxophone). Someone at some point in history was the first to develop what is considered the modern baseball. Who was it? What was it originally made of? How did it evolve into the baseball that is used by Major League Baseball today?

(Example: your college; DisneyWorld). There is a specific year that you college or university opened, a specific number of students who were initially enrolled, and often colleges and universities have name and mission changes. All of these facts can be used to provide an overall understanding of the college and its history. Likewise, the DisneyWorld of today is different from the DisneyWorld of the early 1970s; the design has developed over the last fifty years.

(Example: democracy; freedom of speech). It is possible to provide facts on an idea, although in some cases the information may be less precise. For example, while no one can definitively point to a specific date or individual who first developed the concept of democracy, it is known to have been conceived in ancient Greece (Raaflaub, Ober, & Wallace, 2007). By looking at the civilizations and cultures that adopted forms of democracy throughout history, it is possible to provide an audience with a better understanding of how the idea has been shaped into what it has become today.

Type 2: Biography

A biography is similar to a history, but in this case the subject is specifically a person, whether living or deceased. For the purposes of this class, biographies should focus on people of some note or fame, since doing research on people who are not at least mildly well-known could be difficult. But again, as with histories, there are specific and irrefutable facts that can help provide an overview of someone’s life, such as dates that President Lincoln was born (February 12, 1809) and died (April 15, 1865) and the years he was in office as president (1861-1865).

This might be a good place to address research and support. The basic dates of Abraham Lincoln’s life could be found in multiple sources and you would not have to cite the source in that case. But it you use the work of a specific historian to explain how Lincoln was able to win the presidency in the tumultuous years before the Civil War, that would need a citation of that author and the publication.

Type 3: Processes

Examples of process speech topics would be how to bake chocolate chip cookies; how to throw a baseball; how a nuclear reactor works; how a bill works its way through Congress.

Process speeches are sometimes referred to as demonstration or “how to” speeches because they often entail demonstrating something. These speeches require you to provide steps that will help your audience understand how to accomplish a specific task or process. However, How To speeches can be tricky in that there are rarely universally agreed upon (i.e. irrefutable) ways to do anything. If your professor asked the students in his or her public speaking class to each bring in a recipe for baking chocolate chip cookies, would all of them be the exact same recipe?

Probably not, but they would all be similar and, most importantly, they would all give you chocolate chip cookies as the end result. Students giving a demonstration speech will want to avoid saying “You should bake the cookies for 12 minutes” since that is not how everyone does it. Instead, the student should say something like:

“You can bake the cookies for 10 minutes.”

“One option is to bake the cookies for 10 minutes.”

“This particular recipe calls for the cookies to be baked for 10 minutes.”

Each of the previous three statements is absolutely a fact that no one can argue or disagree with. While some people may say 12 minutes is too long or too short (depending on how soft or hard they like their cookies), no one can reasonably argue that these statements are not true.

On the other hand, there is a second type of process speech that focuses not on how the audience can achieve a result, such as changing oil in their cars or cooking something, but on how a process is achieved. The goal is understanding and not performance. After a speech on how to change a car tire, the audience members could probably do it (they might not want to, but they would know the steps). However, after a speech on how a bill goes through Congress, the audience would understand this important part of democracy but not be ready to serve in Congress.

Type 4: Ideas and Concepts

Sometimes an informative speech is designed to explain an idea or concept. What does democracy mean? What is justice? In this case, you will want to do two things. First, use the definition methods listed in Chapter 6, such as classification and differentiation. The second is to make your concept concrete, real, and specific for your audience with examples.

Type 5: Categories or divisions

Sometimes an informative speech topic doesn’t lend itself to a specific type of approach, and in those cases the topics tend to fall into a “general” category of informative speeches. For example, if a student wanted to give an informative speech on the four “C’s” of diamonds (cut, carat, color, and clarity), they certainly wouldn’t approach it as if they were providing the history of diamonds, nor would they necessarily be informing anyone on “how to” shop for or buy diamonds or how diamonds are mined. The approach in this case would simply be to inform an audience on the four “C’s” and what they mean. Other examples of this type of informative speech would be positions in playing volleyball or the customs to know when traveling in China.

As stated above, identifying the type of informative speech being given can help in several ways (conducting research, writing the introduction and conclusion), but perhaps the biggest benefit is that the type of informative speech being given will help determine, to some degree, the organizational pattern that will need to be used (see Chapter 6). For example, a How To speech must be in chronological order. There really isn’t a way (or reason) to present a How To speech other than how the process is done in a time sequence. That is to say, for a speech on how to bake chocolate chip cookies, getting the ingredients (Main Point 1) must come before mixing the ingredients (Main Point 2), which must come before baking them (Main Point 3). Putting them in any other order will only confuse the audience.

Similarly, most Histories and Biographies will be organized chronologically, but not always. It makes sense to explain the history of the baseball from when it was first developed to where it is today, but certain approach es to Histories and Biographies can make that irrelevant. For an informative speech on Benjamin Franklin, a student might choose as his or her three main points: 1) His time as a printer, 2) His time as an inventor, 3) His time as a diplomat. These main points are not in strict chronological order because Franklin was a printer, inventor, and diplomat at the same time during periods of his whole life. However, this example would still be one way to inform an audience about him without using the chronological organizational pattern.

As for general informative speeches, since the topics that can be included in this category are very diverse and cover a range of subject matter, the way they are organized will be varied as well. However, if the topic is “types of” something or “kinds of” something, the organizational pattern would be topical; if it were the layout of a location, such as the White House, it would be spatial (refer to Chapter 6 for more on Organization).

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333 Informative Speech Topics To Rock Your Presentation
The "what" of your speech is the meat of the presentation. Imagine a three-circle Venn diagram. The three circles are labeled: "things I am interested in," "things my audience cares about," and "things I can research.". The center point where these three circles overlap is the sweet spot for your speech topic.
350+ Informative Speech Topics & Prompt Ideas in 2024
Informative speech topics usually fall into one of the following four highly-recognizable categories: definition speeches - they normally focus on explaining a concept or theory. explanatory speeches - these normally explain a state of a field, technology, etc. providing evidence, statistics, etc.
50+ Informative Speech Topics to Engage Your Audience
2. Make an introduction - Introduce yourself and the topic of your speech, as well as any relevant background information that the audience needs to understand the topic better. 3. Present facts and evidence - Use facts and evidence to support the points you make in your speech.
Informative Speech Topics and Ideas: The Ultimate Guide
2) Research on the topic. a) Carry out the initial research. b) Think about how your research might change your topic. 3) About writing the speech. a) Think about your audiences earlier than writing the speech. b) Summarize your speech. c) Elaborate the key points to make it interesting. d) Write an introduction.
50 Good Informative Speech Topics for College
Writing. Stage 3. Perfecting Speech Delivery. List of informative speech topics. Topics for informative speech about music. Informative speech topics about animals. Topics for informative speech about global warming. Informative speech ideas about sports. Interesting speech topics about food and drinks.
100+ Informative Speech Topics & Ideas for All Students
Good Informative Speech Topics for Students. First Aid Basics and Their Importance. Cold and Flu: Symptoms and Prevention. Pediatric Nursing: Caring for Children. Mental Health Awareness in Adolescence. Essentials of Nutritional Health. The Science and Importance of Vaccines. Hygiene Practices to Prevent Illness.
Informative Speeches about Objects, Processes, and Concepts
A concept is an idea, belief, principle, or theory. Bioethics, human rights, free speech, religious freedom, and karma are examples of concepts. What all concepts have in common is that they are abstract or general ideas. As a result, speeches about concepts can often be more difficult to prepare and deliver than speeches about more concrete ...
509 Informative Speech Ideas and Topics
Informative Speech Idea In 5 Steps. 1. Step One - Make a List. Make a short list of your personal interests and informative speech topic ideas. To help you determine your interests on an informative speech topic, think about your favorite objects, products, people, animals, events, places, processes, procedures, concepts, policies, theories ...
Informative Speech Topics on Concepts
Informative speeches about concepts include theories, ideas and major themes that attempt to inform people about their history and function. Explaining how concepts work can help audiences understand their place in society. To make speeches more effective, speakers can use charts, graphs and multimedia presentation ...
Informative speech examples: key features, topics & outlines
Types of informative speeches. There are four types of informative speeches: definition, description, explanation and demonstration. A speech may use one, or a mix of them. 1. Informing through definition An informative speech based on definition clearly, and concisely, explains a concept*, theory, or philosophy. The principal purpose is to ...
Informative Speeches
The most common types of informative speeches are definition, explanation, description, and demonstration. A definition speech explains a concept, theory, or philosophy about which the audience knows little. The purpose of the speech is to inform the audience so they understand the main aspects of the subject matter.
Guide: Planning and Presenting an Informative Speech
Speeches about concepts focus on beliefs, ideas, and theories. While speeches about objects, processes, and events are fairly concrete, speeches about concepts are more abstract. ... you learned about The Federalist Papers. Past classes serve as rich resources for informative speech topics. If you make this choice, use your class notes and ...
A Helpful Guide for Informative Speech Topics, Tips, and Examples
This concept may give you a dull impression, but creating an informative speech is still creative. Below, we have listed seven essential components in writing your informative speech. The following will help you get all those thoughts and share them with your listeners clearly and deliberately. ... Informative Speech Topics About a Family. The ...
25 Topics for an Informative Speech
If you're giving an informative speech, remember to: Do your research! Gather information from credible, authoritative sources when composing your speech. Avoid sources that discuss strictly the opinion of the author and look for solid, factual evidence to support your topic. Consider your audience.
11.1 Informative Speeches
Most persuasive speeches rely on some degree of informing to substantiate the reasoning. And informative speeches, although meant to secure the understanding of an audience, may influence audience members' beliefs, attitudes, values, or behaviors. Figure 11.1 Continuum of Informing and Persuading.
16.2 Types of Informative Speeches
Think about three potential topics you could use for an informative speech. Identify where the audience might experience confusion with concepts, processes, or preexisting implicit theories. Select one of the topics and outline how you would develop the topic to address the audience's potential confusion.
Types of Informative Speeches
Types of Informative Speech Topics. O'Hair, Stewart, and Rubenstein identified six general types of informative speech topics: objects, people, events, concepts, processes, and issues (O'Hair, et al., 2007). Objects: Your speech may include how objects are designed, how they function, and what they mean. For example, a student of one of our ...
220+ Informative Speech Topics: Fresh Ideas for a Winning Speech
Educating your audience with informative speech topics you feel passionate about is the primary goal. Browse this list and let your enthusiasm shine through. ... Provide your audience with practical information about key financial concepts that your audience will use in the real world. how a Roth IRA works; the simple math of compound interest;
15.2: Types of Informative Speeches
Think about three potential topics you could use for an informative speech. Identify where the audience might experience confusion with concepts, processes, or preexisting implicit theories. Select one of the topics and outline how you would develop the topic to address the audience's potential confusion.
Informative Speech
While informative speech topics vary widely, most fall into one of four categories. ... Examples of concept speech topics include speeches about Judaism, social inequality, life balance, and ...
Selecting a Topic for an Informative Speech
Select an appropriate topic for an informative speech. Now that we have discussed the five different types of informative speeches, let's focus on how to select a specific and appropriate topic for your speech. Your speech should fit within one of the five speech types we have discussed in the prior section.
Types of Informative Speeches
Type 1: History. A common approach to selecting an informative speech topic is to discuss the history or development of something. With so much of human knowledge available via the Internet, finding information about the origins and evolution of almost anything is much easier than it has ever been (with the disclaimer that there are quite a few ...

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Informative Speech Topics in History:

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2) Research on the topic

3) About writing the speech

4) Practicing your speech

Tips for Informative Speech

Simple ways to approach an informative speech

50 Interesting Informative Speech Topics for College

What is an informative speech?

How to write an informative speech?

Stage 1. Research and Brainstorming

Gather Evidence

Generate a Nice Thesis

Informative speech outline

Stage 2. Writing

Craft an Engaging Intro

Give More Detail in the Main Body

Wrap Everything Up in Conclusion

Proofread and Edit the Final Version

Stage 3. Perfecting Speech Delivery

Practice Reading Speech Aloud

List of informative speech topics

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What Is An Informative Speech?

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Choosing Informative Speech Ideas

How to Write a Killer Informative Speech

Choose a Topic

Understand Your Audience

Gather Evidence and Facts From Credible Scholarly Sources

Deconstruct the Topic to Select the Best Ideas

Write a Thesis Statement for Your Informative Speech

Inform Rather Than Persuade the Audience

Write the First Draft of Your Speech

Start Writing Your Essay with Power Words

Develop the Body of the Speech

End Your Informative Speech with a Bang

Proofread and Edit, Then Present

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