352 Part 4 Public SpeakingTypes of Information to Consider
A wealth of material is available to enliven your speech and make it more effec-
tive. Listeners respond well to a range of compelling information, so try to
include a variety of supporting materials in your speech, including testimony,
scholarship and statistics, anecdotes, and quotations.Testimony
When you need to prove a point about which you are not an authority, incorpo-
rating the voice of an expert into your speech can lend it some validity. Expert
testimony is the opinion or judgment of an expert, a professional in his or her
field. Opinions from doctors, coaches, engineers, and other qualified, licensed
professionals serve as expert testimony. In a speech about knee surgery, for
example, you might cite an orthopedic surgeon when explaining the difference
between arthroscopy and knee replacement surgery. Lay testimony is the opin-
ion of a nonexpert who has personal experience or witnessed an event related to
your topic. In a speech on weather disasters, you could provide the testimony
from a witness who survived a tornado.Scholarship and Statistics
If you can bolster testimonies with hard numbers and facts, you’ll be more
effective as a speaker. Scientific research findings carry a lot of weight with
audiences, particularly if your topic is related to medicine, health, media, or the
environment. For example, in a speech about educational television programs,
a speaker might point out that studies have found that children who watched
Sesame Street as preschoolers were more likely to enjoy elementary school and to
achieve higher grades even in high school (Huston & Wright, 1998).
Statistics—information provided in numerical form—can also provide
powerful support for a speech, sometimes more than words. Statistics reveal
trends, explain the size of something, or illustrate relationships. They can be
made more meaningful when paired with or made part of factual statements—
truthful, realistic accounts based on actual people, places, events, or dates. For
example, when speaking about domestic violence, you might use a combina-
tion of statistics and factual statements to back your statement that a person
is more likely to be killed by a family member or close acquaintance than a
stranger:Out of 13,636 murders studied in the United States, 30.2% of the victims
were murdered by persons known to them (4,119 victims), 13.6% were
murdered by family members (1,855 victims), 12.3% were murdered by
strangers (1,676 victims), and 43.9% of the relationships were unknown
(investigators were not able to establish any relationship). (U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice, 2010)Although accuracy is important, we must note that specific numbers and per-
centages are cumbersome to speak aloud and can be easily forgotten by your
audience. Remember that your visual aids can give the specifics while you round
numbers and percentages aloud.CONNECT
The type of information you
choose for your speech
should be influenced by its
general purpose. If you are
persuading your audience
(Chapter 16) or giving a
speech for a special occa-
sion, try using personal
anecdotes to touch your
audience emotionally.
When informing your audi-
ence (Chapter 15), make
sure that your use of
anecdotes illuminates your
topic and doesn’t persuade
the audience to think a
certain way about it.