Basic Types of Speeches

by IANMCKENZIE on MARCH 14, 2012

The four basic types of speeches are: to inform, to instruct, to entertain, and to persuade. These are
not mutually exclusive of one another. You may have several purposes in mind when giving your
presentation. For example, you may try to inform in an entertaining style. Another speaker might
inform the audience and try to persuade them to act on the information.
However, the principle purpose of a speech will generally fall into one of four basic types:

1. Informative – This speech serves to provide interesting and useful information to your
audience. Some examples of informative speeches:
 A teacher telling students about earthquakes
 A student talking about her research
 A travelogue about the Tower of London
 A computer programmer speaking about new software
2. Demonstrative Speeches – This has many similarities with an informative speech. A
demonstrative speech also teaches you something. The main difference lies in including a
demonstration of how to do the thing you’re teaching. Some examples of demonstrative speeches:
 How to start your own blog
 How to bake a cake
 How to write a speech
 How to… just about anything
3. Persuasive – A persuasive speech works to convince people to change in some way: they
think, the way they do something, or to start doing something that they are not currently
doing. Some examples of persuasive speeches:
 Become an organ donor
 Improve your health through better eating
 Television violence is negatively influencing our children
 Become a volunteer and change the world
4. Entertaining — The after-dinner speech is a typical example of an entertaining speech. The
speaker provides pleasure and enjoyment that make the audience laugh or identify with anecdotal
information. Some examples of entertaining speeches:
 Excuses for any occasion
 Explaining cricket to an American
 How to buy a condom discreetly
 Things you wouldn’t know without the movies
Effective preparation requires identifying the purpose of your speech. Once you’ve identified your
purpose, you can move on to the objective of your speech (coming next week).

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Speech Writing and Types of Speeches

Ricky Telg

Types of Speeches Speeches can be divided into the following categories: the informative speech, the persuasive speech,
and speeches for special occasions. Informative Speech If the speech’s purpose is to define, explain, describe, or
demonstrate, it is an informative speech. The goal of an informative speech is to provide information completely and
clearly so that the audience understands the message. Examples of informative speeches include describing the life cycle
stages of an egg to a chicken, explaining how to operate a camera, or demonstrating how to cook a side dish for a meal.
The organization of the speech depends on your specific purpose and varies depending on whether you are defining,
explaining, describing, or demonstrating. Informative demonstration speeches lend themselves well to the use of visual
aids to show the step-by-step processes with real objects. Persuasive Speech Persuasive speeches are given to reinforce
people’s beliefs about a topic, to change their beliefs about a topic, or to move them to act. When speaking
persuasively, directly state what is good or bad and why you think so near the beginning of the speech. This is your
thesis statement that you want to make early on. Since your purpose is to persuade using logic and reasoning, this
communicates to listeners that you want to convince them of your point of view

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 Speech Types and Some Examples

During this course you will have to do a number of speeches. This page explains about the four main types of
speech.

A Informative Speech

An Informative Speech is like teaching. The purpose of an informative speech is to try to teach something to the
audience. The success of your speech depends on whether the audience learns what you wanted to teach them.
You need to tell the audience why the information is useful and valuable. You need to make sure that the
audience understands and remembers the essential information.

Some examples of an informative speech:

 A teacher telling students about earthquakes

 Someone telling some foreign students about the Cherry Blossom Season
 A student telling people about her research
 A tour guide telling people about the Tower of London
 A computer programmer telling people about new software
 Someone telling the audience about his hometown

A layout Speech

An layout Speech is like giving someone directions, or explaining the location of a place. It is not very common
as a formal speech, but it is something you often have to when explaining to people about a town or large
building. A layout speech tells the audience where things are. It may also describe there size and shape.
Gestures are very important in a layout speech. In fact, this is a good chance to practice your gestures. The
success of your speech depends on whether the audience can find their way round the place you have
described. Will they get lost?

Some examples of a layout speech:

 An interior designer explaining the layout of the new city hall

 A police officer giving directions to lost tourists
 A real estate agent describing the features of a new house
 A receptionist helping a visitor find the conference room
 A tour guide explaining the floor plan of a large art museum

A Demonstration Speech

A demonstration speech is like an informative speech because you have to teach the audience about something.
However, in a demonstration speech you will not just tell the audience about something, you will also tell them
how to do something. Your speech will be successful if at the end of your speech the audience can do what you
showed them to do.

Some examples of a demonstration speech:

 A ski instructor demonstrating how to perform a turn

 A policeman telling someone how to get to the station
 A chef telling his audience how to make chocolate cake
 A tour guide telling people how to use the underground system in London
 A computer programmer showing people how to use new software
 A teacher showing a student how to do an experiment

A Persuasive Speech
A persuasive speech contains information to help people make a decision. The purpose of a persuasive speech
is to persuade people to change in some way. For example, it could be to change the way they think about
something. Or it could be to change the way they do things. Finally, it could be to persuade the audience to do
something that they do not do now. Your speech will be successful if at the end of your speech the audience is
willing to make the change you suggested.

Some examples of a persuasive speech:

 A lawyer trying to convince a jury

 A salesclerk trying to persuade customers to buy a new product
 A politician asking people to vote for her
 A nurse persuading a patient to stop smoking
 A student trying to get a friend to lend him some money
 An environmentalist trying to get people to start thinking about the environment

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The Informative Speech usually begins with a favorable attention in order to catch the interest of the listeners. It will be
then followed by the classification step which will inform or clarify the listeners regarding the subject matter. The
purpose of the informative speech is to impart knowledge, clarify information as well as to secure understanding.

To be able to sustain the interest, it is recommended that the informative speech should not be more than five heading
on its development. It is also important to provide the summary of your points in speech before presenting the
conclusion. With this, the audience may impress with what the speaker wanted to emphasize in his or her message.

The good evocative speech has certain characteristics namely; geniality, enthusiasm, modesty and tolerance. In speech,
the speaker should have geniality, that is, he or she must have a friendly and easy going approach. The speaker should
have an enthusiasm; he or she must convince the audience or the listeners about the importance, the value or the
soundness of a particular subject. In doing this, his or her listeners might be influenced with his or her enthusiasm or
spirit. The speaker should also have modesty; he or she must be fair, polite as well as courteous with regards to any
opposing ideas.

The entertainment speech has the nature to transmit a feeling of pleasure as well as goodwill to the audience of
listeners. The speaker should be gracious, genial, good natured as well as relaxed to his or her audience. By doing this,
he will be able to show the audience that he or she is enjoying in the conversation that is taking place.

The argumentation speech has the purpose to appeal to the intellect of the audience or listeners so that the speaker can
be able to win them over the speaker’s side. It can be done using the force of logical interference and sound reasoning.
The argumentation speech further aims to persuade the audience to be able to assert the plausibility of a debatable
question in the speaker side.

The persuasive speech has the purpose to make the audience do a certain act. In doing this, the speaker will first
demolish the objections of the audience politely. After, the speaker must prove to the audience that the argument he or
she emphasizes is acceptable. Finally, the speaker should impress the audience and convinced them that the plan or his
argument is desirable; by doing this the speaker will be receptive in his plea for an action from the audience.

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