Discussion Question #3: Informative Speaking

Read Ch. 16.1 of Stand Up Speak Out
In 250-500 words respond to the prompt by Fri, 4/14 at 11:59pm
In 100-250 words respond to 2 peers’ posts by Sun, 4/16 @ 11:59pm
Intro:
We all have experienced many different kinds of informative speaking. While watching the news, listening to a teachers’ lecture, or watching some form of instructional video on YouTube. An informative speech is intended to inform your audience about a given topic. This is in contrast to a persuasive speech which is meant to convince your audience to take a particular position on an issue.
In an informative speech, you should not assume that the audience knows as much as you. You have to present information in a very clear and easily understandable way which is ideally free of jargon (specialized or professionalized terms). Furthermore, an informative speech should be balanced in terms of its content and the position taken. Informative speeches cover all sides of an issue and try to avoid expressing an opinion in order to allow the audience to make their own conclusions. This does not meant act your own feelings and opinions are irrelevant in an informative speech. Nor does it mean that you have to discuss non-controversial topics. The primary thing to consider is that the goal of an informative speech is TO INFORM. Your goal is not to persuade, convince, or change the audience’s mind. You are primarily focused on sharing information that is helpful, useful, or interesting.
This does not mean that informative and persuasive speeches are completely exclusive. Sometimes, information is persuasive. Simply by presenting the facts about something, you might convince your audience that they were wrong about a particular issue. And on the flip side, in order to be persuasive, you need to present solid, convincing information. Again, the primary thing in an informative speech is to inform. But what does this look like? What does a good informative speech look like? Well, that is what we are exploring in the discussion question forum for this week!
The Prompt:
For this week’s discussion question, you are going to watch an informative speech in its entirety. This speech was delivered in 2017 by a student, Jordyn Allen, competing at the national level in a speech and debate competition who ended up winning the whole competition. I am not showing this speech to insist that you be as good as Allen, to be this good takes years of practice! Rather, I want you to watch this informative speech to consider what makes it good and what makes it specifically an informative speech. An added bonus to watching this video is that it is a VERY good speech that covers an important topic.Below I have pasted the video:

Nationals 2017 – Jordyn Allen “The Birds and the Weaves” – Informative SpeakingLinks to an external site.Nationals 2017 – Jordyn Allen “The Birds and the Weaves” – Informative SpeakingLinks to an external site.

Nationals 2017 – Jordyn Allen “The Birds and the Weaves” – Informative Speaking
After watching the speech, please respond to these questions by applying content from chapter 16.1 of SUSO:
1. What makes this a good speech? What does Allen do well? Consider the content, delivery, and organization of the speech. What about her style and performance stands out? What about her performance do you want to emulate in your own speeches that you will deliver in this class and in the future?
2. What makes this speech specifically a good informative speech? For example, how does Allen make the information “clear and interesting for the audience” (p. 450)? How does Allen create “concrete images” (p. 451)? How is this speech “memorable” (p. 453)? You do not have to limit your response to these specific questions but I put them forward so that you can consider how you can connect the content of the chapter to this speech.
I want you to use at least 2 concepts/quotations/ideas from the text in your response.
Helpful Thoughts:
Allen is a great example for what ou might want to aspire to be as a public speaker. She makes it seem easy but the skill s she is demonstrating (strong organization, connecting with he audience, use of humor, clear presentation of information, strong research and citations of sources etc.) take a long time to develop and the only way to truly develop them is through practice. You will get a chance to work on these skills in the very near future!
I will also say that this speech is quite a long one at around 12 minutes. I really encourage you to sit through the whole thing to capture the full experience of this speech. Watching great public speakers is a good way to visualize what you can do to become a great public speaker yourself!

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