Purpose of an persuasive speaking

To inform
The first general purpose that some people have for giving speeches is to inform. Simply put, this
is about helping audience members acquire information that they do not already possess.
Audience members can then use this information to understand something (e.g., speech on a new
technology, speech on a new virus) or to perform a new task or improve their skills (e.g., how to
swing a golf club, how to assemble a layer cake). The most important characteristic of
informative topics is that the goal is to gain knowledge. Notice that the goal is not to encourage
people to use that knowledge in any specific way. When a speaker starts encouraging people to
use knowledge in a specific way, he or she is no longer informing but is persuading.

Let’s look at a real example of how an individual can accidentally go from informing to
persuading. Let’s say you are assigned to inform an audience about a new vaccination program.
In an informative speech, the purpose of the speech is to explain to your audience what the
program is and how it works. If, however, you start encouraging your audience to participate in
the vaccination program, you are no longer informing them about the program but rather
persuading them to become involved in the program. One of the most common mistakes new
public speaking students make is to blur the line between informing and persuading.

Why We Share Knowledge

Knowledge sharing is the process of delivering information, skills, or expertise in some form to
people who could benefit from it. In fact, understanding and exchanging knowledge is so
important that an entire field of study, called knowledge management, has been created to help
people (especially businesses) become more effective at harnessing and exchanging knowledge.
In the professional world, sharing knowledge is becoming increasingly important. Every year,
millions of people attend some kind of knowledge sharing conference or convention in hopes of
learning new information or skills that will help them in their personal or professional lives.
Atwood, C. G. (2009). Knowledge management basics. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

People are motivated to share their knowledge with other people for a variety of
reasons .Hendriks, P. (1999). Why share knowledge? The influence of ICT on the motivation for
knowledge sharing. Knowledge and Process Management, 6, 91–100. For some, the personal
sense of achievement or of responsibility drives them to share their knowledge (internal
motivational factors). Others are driven to share knowledge because of the desire for recognition
or the possibility of job enhancement (external motivational factors). Knowledge sharing is an
important part of every society, so learning how to deliver informative speeches is a valuable
skill.

To Persuade

The second general purpose people can have for speaking is to persuade. When we speak to
persuade, we attempt to get listeners to embrace a point of view or to adopt a behavior that they
would not have done otherwise. A persuasive speech can be distinguished from an informative
speech by the fact that it includes a call for action for the audience to make some change in their
behavior or thinking.

Why We Persuade

The reasons behind persuasive speech fall into two main categories, which we will call “pure
persuasion” and “manipulative persuasion.” Pure persuasion occurs when a speaker urges
listeners to engage in a specific behavior or change a point of view because the speaker truly
believes that the change is in the best interest of the audience members. For example, you may
decide to give a speech on the importance of practicing good oral hygiene because you truly
believe that oral hygiene is important and that bad oral hygiene can lead to a range of physical,
social, and psychological problems. In this case, the speaker has no ulterior or hidden motive
(e.g., you are not a toothpaste salesperson).

Manipulative persuasion, on the other hand, occurs when a speaker urges listeners to engage in a
specific behavior or change a point of view by misleading them, often to fulfill an ulterior motive
beyond the face value of the persuasive attempt. We call this form of persuasion manipulative
because the speaker is not being honest about the real purpose for attempting to persuade the
audience. Ultimately, this form of persuasion is perceived as highly dishonest when audience
members discover the ulterior motive. For example, suppose a physician who also owns a large
amount of stock in a pharmaceutical company is asked to speak before a group of other
physicians about a specific disease. Instead of informing the group about the disease, the doctor
spends the bulk of his time attempting to persuade the audience that the drug his company
manufactures is the best treatment for that specific disease.
Obviously, the key question for persuasion is the speaker’s intent. Is the speaker attempting to
persuade the audience because of a sincere belief in the benefits of a certain behavior or point of
view? Or is the speaker using all possible means—including distorting the truth—to persuade the
audience because he or she will derive personal benefits from their adopting a certain behavior or
point of view? Unless your speech assignment specifically calls for a speech of manipulative
persuasion, the usual (and ethical) understanding of a “persuasive speech” assignment is that you
should use the pure form of persuasion.

Purpose of an informative speaking

One of the goals, perhaps the most essential goal that drives all informative speeches, is for the
speaker to inform the audience about a particular topic. In order to aim for this specific goal, a
speaker should consider how best to package the complex understanding that they have
cultivated of the topic, from personal experience and research, into an easily communicable form
for the audience.

A final, significant goal an effective informative speech is to make the audience remember. Most
memorable speeches have emotional appeals that audiences continue to talk about long after the
speech is delivered, and sometimes even after the life of the speaker. To make sure that the
information contained in a speech is remembered by the audience, the deliverer of an informative
speech should combine organization, repetition and focused visualizations to increase the
effectiveness of the speech and the likelihood that the audience will leave informed.

One way to help an audience remember the details of an informative speech is to maintain the
interest of the audience. The challenge of an informative speech is delivering information in a
neutral way that does not bore the audience. Unlike persuasive speeches, which rely heavily on
emotional appeal, informative speeches have to demonstrate why the audience should care about
the information contained in the speech without compromising a neutral tone.An effective
informative speech requires the speaker to aim for a series of goals. And similar to a soccer
match, hitting these goals increases the likelihood of a successful speech. The main goals for an
informative speech are to help explain a specific subject and to help the audience remember the
knowledge later.

A poster at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, New York, showing Millennium
Development Goals.

Setting Goals: You need to determine a series of goals in order to create a successful informative
speech.

One of the goals, perhaps the most essential goal that drives all informative speeches, is for the
speaker to inform the audience about a particular topic. In order to aim for this specific goal, a
most memorable speeches have emotional appeals that audiences continue to talk about long
after the speech is delivered, and sometimes even after the life of the speaker. To make sure that
the information contained in a speech is remembered by the audience, the deliverer of an
informative speech should combine organization, repetition and focused visualizations to
increase the effectiveness of the speech and the likelihood that the audience will leave informed.

One way to help an audience remember the details of an informative speech is to maintain the
interest of the audience. The challenge of an informative speech is delivering information in a
neutral way that does not bore the audience. Unlike persuasive speeches, which rely heavily on
emotional appeal, informative speeches have to demonstrate why the audience should care about
the information contained in the speech without compromising a neutral toneA final, significant
goal an effective informative speech is to make the audience remember. speaker should consider
how best to package the complex understanding that they have cultivated of the topic, from
personal experience and research, into an easily communicable form for the audience.