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To inform is to communicate knowledge. The goal of informative speaking is to impart knowledge in order to raise awareness or deepen understanding of some phenomenon.1 Informative speeches bring new topics to light, offer new insights on familiar subjects, or provide novel ways of thinking about something. Your speech might be an analysis of an issue, a report of an event; or a physical demonstration of how something works. As long as the audience learns something, the options are nearly limitless.
Enlighten Rather Than Advocate.
Whereas a persuasive speech would seek to modify attitudes or ask an audience to adopt a specific position, an informative speech stops short of this. Yet there are always elements of persuasion in an informative speech, and vice versa. Nevertheless, if you keep the focus on sharing knowledge, you will be able to deliver a speech whose primary function is to enlighten rather than to advocate.