How to Write an Informative Speech

What Is an Informative Speech

An informative speech is a presentation aimed to present new information, raise awareness, and improve understanding of the particular topic to the audience. The primary purpose of an informative speech is to help the audience to learn something new from your speech.

The core characteristics of a good informative speech are clear messages, accurate information, and meaningfulness. Have you ever seen or heard TED talks? It provides great examples of informative speeches from professionals from all over the world.

You may be asked to deliver an informative speech on many daily occasions. They may have an informal or formal nature, depending on the situation. Here are some examples of informative speeches:

• Your manager asks you to explain the group of newcomers the core characteristics of your project.
• You need to teach your neighbors about how to use a new gate upon entry to the community.
• You need to deliver a speech about the importance of math to your fellow students during the speech class.

You can talk about objects, events, people, concepts, processes, and more. In this guide, we will show you how to write an informative speech, which mistakes you need to avoid, and what to do to make your informative speech more interesting.

How to Write an Informative Speech: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Pick the topic and gather information.

You may be asked to prepare a speech on a certain topic or pick it by yourself. Consider your own interests, knowledge, and existing information. Also, you need to consider the audience’s interests and the occasion.

2. Analyze the audience.

Your audience may lack knowledge or care about the topic. You will need to find a smart way to adopt the information that will raise the audience’s interest in your speech and establish the credibility of your expressions.

To fit your speech to a specific public, you need to present information in accordance with their cultural differences, common views, beliefs, and misconceptions. If you have direct access to your audience before the speech, you can make up a short questionnaire to find out the members’ opinions and basic knowledge about the topic.

3. Write a thesis statement for the speech.

How to write a thesis statement for an informative speech? In order to create a meaningful speech, you need to understand the specific purpose of your topic.

Specific purpose. The main purpose of every informative speech is to inform, explain, or demonstrate. A specific purpose should be a clear statement of what you wish to tell the audience. What do you want your audience to learn from your speech? For example, your specific purpose may sound like:

I want to help the audience understand the importance of sorting waste.

Thesis statement. To formulate your thesis statement, define what your audience needs to know about specific topic. For example, it may sound like this: “At the end of my talk, you will understand the core goals of our project and how you can contribute to the overall success.”

Topic	How to pick a major
Purpose	Inform
Specific purpose	To inform the students about the effective ways to pick the right major.
Thesis	Choosing the right major is highly important for a future career path, so students can use effective tests that consider their abilities, values, and interests.

A good thesis statement should clarify the topic and the main points that will be discussed in the speech. The thesis will be your starting point that will ease the development process of your speech.

4. Write a speech outline.

How to write an informative outline for a speech? Effective organization of an informative speech will help you structure the information and develop your speech. First, you need to gather the main points that you want to disclose in your speech. Then, brainstorm about the information you wish to include.

Introduction. In the first part you need to put the following information:

• Attention-grabbing statement.
• Thesis statement.
• Preview of the main points.
• Transition to next part.

Body. In this part, you need to organize your main points in an easy and understandable way. Follow one of the organizational patterns:

• Cause and effect (if you need to describe an event or process)
• Chronological (if the topic is about something that changes over time)
• Spatial (representing the physical/ directional relationship between objects)
• Narrative (telling about the event as a story)
• Topical (if you are talking about subtopics with equal importance).

Conclusion. Close your speech with something memorable and include the following points:

• A summarization of the key points.
• A closing with a strong statement.

We know how hard it is to understand how to write an informative outline for a speech, but don’t skip this important step,. It will help organize information and present it in the right way to the audience.

5. Read the speech out loud and edit.

Make sure that your speech is not boring or too lengthy. If some of your expressions seem difficult or long, rephrase or cut them. Imagine that you are the listener and critically evaluate the text. Also, you can mention where you need to input pauses, questions, and remarks.

Think about whether you can support your speech with additional materials and visuals to make your speech more engaging and understandable.

6. Practice oral presentation.

It may take time to practice your speech, especially if you don’t give speeches regularly. Look through some informative speeches, such as TED Talks, and notice how lecturers behave. You can use the mirror or ask your friend to become your personal listener.

Informative Speech Sample

On the screenshots below you can see a good example of an informative speech. Our expert has included comments to point out the core moments you need to consider while writing your own speech. If you don’t know how to write an introduction for an informative speech or other parts, a sample may serve as a good source of inspiration.

Click on images to view them in full size.

Tips on How to Write an Informative Speech

• Avoid jargon. Even if your audience is close to the topic and knows the jargon, it’s inappropriate to use it in your speech.
• Make your speech simple. Don’t include long sentences and complex terms. Use concrete images and clear statements linked to the existing knowledge of your audience.
• Limit information. If you are going to present a great amount of information to your audience, make sure that you don’t overload your audience so that they will be able to remember the information.
• Add visuals or text brochures if possible. Creating a presentation, including photos and illustrations, may help the readers better understand your speech. Also, a list of key points of your speech may help the audience to not lose track of your speech.
• Repeat information. To help your listeners remember the main points of your speech, remind them in the conclusion.
• Move from familiar to unfamiliar. When you are talking about a complex topic, it will be better to move from something your audience knows to more complicated terms.
• Use your creativity. Creating an interesting and effective informative speech may be a challenge for a speaker. Use your storytelling talents, humor, and other tools to provoke listeners’ interest.

4 Ways to Make Your Informative Presentation More Interesting

One of the main aims of informative speeches is to be interesting and engaging. Here are some methods you can use to get the audience’s attention and raise interest in your speech.

1. Ask for participation. If you are speaking about the process, you can ask a volunteer to help you during the demonstration. If you are speaking about certain items that will be used, you can take samples and give to your listeners to test them.

2. Incorporate rhetorical questions. What does it mean? It’s a question that doesn’t require a specific answer and can be answered silently in your head. This method involves listeners in intellectual interaction. For example: “If you were on a deserted island, would you know how to survive?”

3. Ask for opinions and certain actions. You can ask a general closed question with predefined responses or ask for physical interaction as a response to the questions. For example, you can say, “Raise a hand if you have ever lied to your parents.”

4. Involve specific listeners. You can ask a specific person from the audience about the topic or share their own experience. This will turn the audience’s attention to the speech and generate a sense of participation.

We hope that our guide will help you create a memorable and engaging informative speech. Follow the steps, use our samples, and consider tips – we believe that you will do great!