The Major Types of Speeches

Whatever your speech occasion may be, you will have two goals in mind before you even begin. The first goal is firm and fixed—to communicate and be understood—while the second goal will determine the type of speech you write. There are probably as many types of speech as there are speeches given, in the sense that every speech is unique, but we can categorize most speeches into four groups:

1. Informative
2. Demonstrative
3. Persuasive
4. Special Occasions

Informative Speeches
An informative speech is essentially a lecture. It is intended simply to inform your audience on some topic. If you're a student, you hear informative speeches all day long in your classes, as your teachers and professors stand up front and lecture on various subjects. Your teachers are trying to inform you, and their lectures are essentially informative speeches.
An informative speech is different from a how-to speech or a persuasive speech because it is only intended to provide information. You will leave it up to your audience to decide for themselves what to do with the information.

      1. Informative speeches are useful as an introduction to some topic that is unfamiliar to your audience.  You will also want to be acquainted with what your audience already knows. You will also want to know what topics will be of interest to your audience.  The best way of answering this question, if you don't already know your audience, will be to conduct some basic interviews, beginning with the person who invited you to speak.

       2.Demonstrative Speeches
The demonstrative speech is closely related to the informative speech because it centers on providing your audience with information. The main difference, however, is that the demonstrative speech is a "how-to" lecture. Rather than passing on raw information to your listeners, you are teaching them some very practical skills.

The key to a demonstrative speech is to focus on practical application, not on abstract facts and statistics. Your goal is to teach the audience how to, not to tell them what is—how to bake a chocolate cake, not what is a chocolate cake. Here are some topic ideas to get you brainstorming:

What to Do
Use visual aids! These are helpful in any speech, but they are the very backbone of a demonstrative speech. If you want to tell your audience how to fix a computer, you'll certainly need a computer to demonstrate on.
What to Avoid
Visual aids are critically important to your demonstrative speech, but you must also avoid letting them become a source of distraction.

Persuasive Speeches - Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

The persuasive speech is also related to the informative speech, except that you are doing more than simply providing information on your topic—you are also providing your own opinion on that topic and attempting to persuade your audience that your opinion is correct. And this element of opinion and persuasion is what makes the persuasive speech the most challenging of the four types.

The key to writing a persuasive speech is to begin by having an opinion—preferably an opinion that you feel strongly about. If you have no opinion on a topic, you won't be able to persuade anyone else to hold an opinion. You must first know what you believe and why you believe it.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived in the fourth century b.c. He outlined the three basic ways in which a speaker can persuade his audience to embrace his beliefs. He used Greek words to describe these methods, but we'll update them into modern concepts as we go. They are:

Ethos: Credibility, image, public reputation, perceived expertise
Logos: Words, concepts, logic
Pathos: Emotions, feelings, gut reactions

Ethos - Appealing to Authority

First, a persuasive speaker must be a credible speaker, fitting into Aristotle's category of ethos or credibility. The audience needs to recognize that you know what you're talking about, and that you are qualified to be telling them the difference between right (your opinion) and wrong (your opponents' opinions).

Logos - Appealing to Logic
Logic is more difficult to master than emotional appeals, but it is far more effective. You build a logical argument by stating an opinion, then explaining a number of reasons that logically support that opinion, and finally, providing examples of each that illustrate your point and prove that it's true.

Pathos - Appealing to Emotions
You can also appeal to the emotions of your audience (Aristotle's pathos) with an argument that has little basis on logical fact.

             3. Special Occasions
This final category of speechmaking is quite broad and differs significantly from the others. You might be asked to "say a few words" at a special occasion, which could be as little as a one-minute toast or as lengthy as a 30-minute speech. Here are some examples:

1. Toasting the bride and groom at a wedding
2. Introducing the main speaker at a conference
3. Summarizing your project status at a business meeting
4. Eulogizing a friend at a funeral
5. Presenting or accepting an award at a banquet

There are two subtypes of speeches within this category: the prepared speech, and the impromptu speech.

Making a Prepared Speech at a Special Occasion

If you're warned ahead of time that you'll be called upon to say a few words at some special occasion, you will follow all the same techniques that we've been discussing thus far. You'll want to think about your audience, considering who will be present when you speak and what they'll want to hear you say.

Making an Impromptu Speech at a Special Occasion

There will be times when someone will ask you to say a few words without advance notice, asking you to stand up right there and then to address the audience. This can seem terribly intimidating, but the same principles apply to an impromptu speech as to any other speech: Consider your audience, and speak about what you know.
Self confidence and enough stock knowledge to discuss your topic, is the key to a successful impromptu speech.

  By ;  Dr. Dahl D. Sagucio- Ph D. Linguistics