Types of speeches: the purpose, main idea and organizational pattern
2. Types of Speeches in Detail
In the course of your life and career you will
undoubtedly be asked to give an informative speech. In fact, we speak
informatively all the time: when we give directions to a stranger in the
street, when we tell our neighbour about our last vacation, or when we explain
to our teacher why we have not done our homework. A “public” informative speech
is a formal version of what we do every day. Its main purpose is, naturally, to
provide information to our audience in such a way that they will be able to
understand and remember it.
A persuasive speech, as the name suggests, is designed to change or influence others. It is not enough to just present the information, however well-organized. In this type of speech, we want to change somebody else’s attitudes, beliefs or opinions, and to motivate people to take some action. We need to provide them with reasons why they should do so, and we need to believe those reasons ourselves. Therefore, the manner of our presentation becomes very important. A specific type of persuasive speech is the problem/solution speech, in which you describe a particular problem and show ways of solving it.
There are many different types of special occasion speeches, some of them given for entertainment purposes. For example, a special toast at your friends’ wedding may only be made to entertain the guests. Let us look at other situations and see how the purpose of the speech changes:
- A speech introducing a new colleague at your place of work (you want to build goodwill and respect towards him/her)
- A speech welcoming a guest to your house (you want to make him/her feel welcome)
- A speech introducing a speaker at a conference (information and goodwill)
- A tribute speech at a memorial of a person you knew well (you pay tribute to the person and share your fond memories, helping people “say goodbye”).