Real Communication An Introduction

442 Part 4  Public Speaking

Approaches to Conveying Information

Once you have selected a topic for an informative speech, you can develop it

in a variety of ways. Here we will briefly describe four major approaches to

informative speeches: description, demonstration, definition, and explanation.

These approaches will help you develop the most effective way to share infor-

mation with your audience.

Description

Description is a way of verbally expressing things you have experienced with

your senses. Although most speeches use some type of description, some focus

on this task more closely than others. The primary task of a descriptive presen-

tation is to paint a mental picture for your audience to portray places, events,

persons, objects, or processes clearly and vividly. An effective descriptive speech

begins with a well-structured idea of what you want to describe and why. As you

move through the development proc ess, you emphasize important details and

eliminate unimportant ones, all the while considering ways to make the details

more vivid for your audience.

Descriptive speeches are most effective when the topic is personally con-

nected to the speaker. Consider the following excerpt from President Barack

Obama’s April 2013 “They picked the wrong city” speech to honor those killed

and wounded in the Boston Marathon bombings. Many people found Obama’s

description of the youngest victim, Martin Richard, to be particularly moving:

And our hearts are broken for 8-year-old Martin, with his big smile and

bright eyes. His last hours were as perfect as an 8-year-old boy could hope

for, with his family, eating ice cream at a sporting event. And we’re left with

two enduring images of this little boy, forever smiling for his beloved Bruins

and forever expressing a wish he made on a blue poster board: No more

hurting people. Peace. No more hurting

people. Peace.^1

From these few vivid lines, audience mem-

bers learn who Martin was and are moved

by this young boy’s advocacy of peace; they

can imagine who he might have become had

his life not been cut so short.

Demonstration

Food blogger and editor Peggy Paul was

offered the opportunity to appear on The

Rachael Ray Show after informing the

celebrity host that she could prepare a

PEGGY PAUL demon-
strates her resourceful
culinary abilities. Courtesy
Peggy Paul

(^1) The full text of President Obama’s speech on April 18, 2013, can be found at http://
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national/transcript-obamas-speech-boston-marathon-bombings
/nXQRz