Activities

1. To enrich your understanding of the chapter, check out:

   LearningCurve for adaptive quizzing for the chapter.

   The “Browse Resources for this Unit” tab to view videos illustrating key concepts.

2. Question

   Review Anna’s speech on social media movements in this chapter. Into what category does the topic of this speech fall? Which approach or approaches (description, demonstration, definition, or explanation) did the speaker use, and was she successful in using those approaches? Did the speaker prove herself to be reliable and well informed? In what ways did she attempt to create information hunger and make the speech easy to listen to? Was she successful?

3. Question

   Informative speeches are everywhere—in your classroom, on the news, and in your community. Watch an informative speech (or read a transcript, available at the Web sites of many government agencies and officials). Apply the concepts you have learned in this chapter to these informative presentations. For example, is the presentation well organized and well delivered? Does the speaker or author present information objectively? At any point in the speech, do you feel as though the speaker is trying to persuade you to do or believe something? It’s important to be a critical listener in order to catch the often subtle differences between informing and persuading.

   Informative speeches are everywhere—in your classroom, on the news, and in your community. Watch an informative speech (or read a transcript, available at the Web sites of many government agencies and officials). Apply the concepts you have learned in this chapter to these informative presentations. For example, is the presentation well organized and well delivered? Does the speaker or author present information objectively? At any point in the speech, do you feel as though the speaker is trying to persuade you to do or believe something? It’s important to be a critical listener in order to catch the often subtle differences between informing and persuading.

4. Question

   Locate a persuasive speech that you found particularly compelling. Print it out and edit it, removing any and all of the material that you feel is persuasive in nature (for example, the speaker’s opinions, any notably biased statements, any evidence that you feel is subjective rather than objective). Does the remainder of the speech hold up as an informative speech? How could you change it to make it a purely informative presentation?

5. Question

   Think of a topic that you find excruciatingly dull (for example, balancing your checkbook, studying for a required course you don’t like, or taking a summer or part-time job doing something utterly mind-numbing). What would you do if you had to give an informative presentation on such a subject? Based on the information presented in this chapter, can you think of ways to build a presentation on the topic that is informative and interesting? As strange as this task may sound, it is likely that you will have to do something like this at times in your career. (Recall the example from this chapter on informing employees about a new electronic reimbursement system.)

   Think of a topic that you find excruciatingly dull (for example, balancing your checkbook, studying for a required course you don’t like, or taking a summer or part-time job doing something utterly mind-numbing). What would you do if you had to give an informative presentation on such a subject? Based on the information presented in this chapter, can you think of ways to build a presentation on the topic that is informative and interesting? As strange as this task may sound, it is likely that you will have to do something like this at times in your career. (Recall the example from this chapter on informing employees about a new electronic reimbursement system.)

6. Question

   Imagine a process you do every day, such as driving a car. Think about how you would explain the process to someone who’s never done it or even seen it done before. Consider different ways you could make the level of the presentation appropriate for different audiences. Talking to a child, for example, you might simply say that pressing on the gas pedal makes the car go; you might offer more detail when speaking to adults, explaining how the car works.