Speech Objective

A speaker must first recognize what the audience is looking for then prepare a presentation along the line of their objective. Oral presentations generally fall into two categories: informative and persuasive speech.

Primary goal of an informative presentation is to promote understanding of an idea or to deliver information.  It is often used to provide an opportunity to learn about new subject or new information about the familiar subject. Generally, informative speeches may discuss about:

•             People and Objects (ex. Country, Building, Animal)
•             Event (ex. Hurricane Sandy, fundraising event)
•          Process (ex. Demonstrate a process of making a pizza)
•       Concept (ex. Explain  a Big Bang theory)

Secondly, a persuasive presentation not only informs the audience, it also tries to change the audience’s attitudes and behaviors. There are four goals of persuasive speech:¹

•  To reinforce the attitude, beliefs and values an audience already holds
•   To inoculate an audience against counter persuasion
•   To change attitudes
•   To motivate an audience to act

For example, organizations like MADD Canada will be using a persuasive presentation to motivate people to stop impaired driving.

Since it is often difficult to distinguish the difference between an informative and persuasive presentation, it is helpful for a speaker to create a specific purpose statement and continuously refer back to it to create a speech that is consistent with the objective.

¹ Brydon, S., & Scott, M. (2000). Between One and Many: The Art and Science of Public

        Speaking (3^rd ed.). Mt. View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.