Whenever you want to help your audience better understand a topic, you are speaking to inform. Many of the course lectures you attend (in person or online) fall into this category. But informative presentations also happen in other places, such as meetings at work, “how-to” demonstrations on YouTube, and even storytelling events.

Informative speeches educate your audience about a topic, demonstrate how something works, tell stories about events or people, or explain similarities and differences between things or ideas. The health care worker at the Ugandan village Café Scientifique gave an informative presentation that educated the audience about the risks of malaria during pregnancy.

Regardless of where you’re delivering an informative speech (a local bar, a classroom, or a corporate boardroom) and how you’re delivering it (face-to-face, via a podcast, or on YouTube), your first step is to think about how you’ll adapt the talk to your audience. This includes determining your speech’s function and specific purpose, and knowing how informative speeches differ from persuasive ones.