I Speak 2010 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 10 Presenting to Inform

iSpeak2010

© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 10Presenting to Inform

Slide 2 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Presenting to Inform

Principles of Informative Presentations How to Identify the Purpose of your

Presentation Principles of Learning Skills for the Informative Presenter Ethics and Informative Presentations An Example of an Informative Presentation


Principles of Informative Presentations

Relate the presenter to the topic– What are your qualifications

for speaking on the subject?– Audiences respond favorably

to high-credibility sources• Relate the topic to the audience• Tell listeners how the topic relates to them• Ensures interest and understanding


Principles of Informative Presentations

Relate the topic to the audience– Tell listeners

how the topic relates to them

– Analyze audience beforehand


How to Identify the Purpose of Your Presentation Information presentation –

increases audience’s knowledge about an issue or idea

Create information hunger– Generate a desire for information– Arouse audience curiosity– Pose a puzzling question


How to Identify the Purpose of Your Presentation Help the audience understand information

– Use audience analysis to find out how much the audience already knows about the topic

– Audiences understand main ideas and generalizations better than specific facts

– Use simple words and concrete ideas– Indicating early in speech how it will

meet audience’s needs creates anticipation– Overt participation increases understanding


How to Identify the Purpose of Your Presentation Help the audience remember

information– Reveal what you want the audience

to learn from the presentation– Indicate main ideas – generalizations

to be remembered – and subordinate ideas – details to support generalizations – clearly

– Repeat main idea 2 or 3 times during the presentation

– Pause or use physical gestures to indicate importance of specific information


How to Identify the Purpose of Your Presentation Help the audience apply information

– Information applied immediately is remembered longer

– An action tried once under supervision more likely to be tried again

– Seek behavioral response –overt indication of understanding


Principles of Learning

Build on the known– Use audience analysis to determine what

the audience knows and build on that knowledge

Use humor and wit– Humor – ability to perceive and express

that which is amusing or comical– Wit – ability to perceive and

express humorously the relationship or similarity between seemingly incongruous or disparate things



Use sensory aids– Communicate

your message in more than one way• Audience

members have different learning skills



Organize to Optimize Learning– Tell audience what you want them to learn– Place important information early (primacy)

• Audience cares little about the topic or are highly familiar with the topic

– Place information late (recency)• Audience cares about the issue, the issue is

unfamiliar, or the topic is not interesting• Clearly indicate main points and supporting

points• Use transitions to indicate

progress during presentation



Reward your listeners– Reward – psychological or physical

reinforcement to increase an audience’s response to information given in a presentation• Answer “What’s in it for me?” in

introduction, body, and conclusion• Continually remind audience

how information meets its needs


Figure 10.1: Principles of Learning


Skills for the Informative Presenter

Defining – revealing presenter’s intended meaning of a term– Define terms if it is technical, scientific,

controversial, or not commonly used• Denotation• Connotation• Etymology

– Use compare and contrast, examples, synonyms, or antonyms



Describing in an Information Presentation– Describing – evokes meaning of a

person, place, object, or experience by telling about its weight, color, texture, smell, or feelings about it

– Use precise, accurate, specific, concrete language



Explaining in an Informative Presentation– Explaining – reveals how

something works, why something occurred, or how something should be evaluated• In explaining or offering

an opinion, presenters come close to persuading the audience



Demonstrating in an Informative Presentation– Demonstrating – showing the audience

an object, a person, or place; showing how something works, showing how to do something, or showing why something occurs• Consider demonstrating ideas, concepts,

or processes that are too complex to be understood through words alone


Figure 10.2: A Checklist for the Informative Speech


Ethics and Informative Presentations

Be sure of the quality of information Exercise care when using words of

others Be careful not to mislead audience Be sure audience needs the

information Be sure information is in

the audience’s best interests

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I Speak 2010 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 10 Presenting to Inform