Full Informative Speech: The Nonmonetary Uses of Gold by Christa Kim

Audience Analysis

Christa’s introduction, content, and delivery are all influenced by her audience analysis. She knows that most of her audience relate gold to money. By opening with the story of King Midas, rather than discussing the nonmonetary uses of gold, she begins with a familiar story that relates to the expectations of audience members.

When she has to use jargon or technical terms that might be unfamiliar to her audience, Christa is careful to explain them. Her use of definitions is exemplary. For example, she states and then defines the word “ductile” in a single sentence.

Many audience members would be helped by getting a brief description of The Lancet, since they may not be aware that it is a leading weekly medical journal.

Content and Supporting Ideas

Christa uses multiple examples and types of appeal to show the medical benefits of gold. She tells stories of medical successes, cites studies, and quotes statistics to make her point. She calls on evidence from her first main point to illustrate gold’s applications. She also uses numerous examples and sources to show gold’s use in space exploration.

The speaker makes effective use of citations. For example, she makes a clear and concise encyclopedia reference.

Introduction/Transitions/Conclusion

Christa uses the familiar story of King Midas to illustrate what most people think about gold: that it is primarily for monetary use. The introduction sets the stage for her thesis, which runs counter to commonly held ideas about gold.

Christa makes a natural and quick transition from her first main point to her second. She links the two in a single sentence and moves on to support her second point. Christa again uses a solid transition from one topic, medical applications, to another, space applications.

Christa concludes by summarizing her main points and returning to the introductory story of Midas. She effectively ties the end to the beginning while carrying the central metaphor throughout the speech.

Delivery

Christa stands with her body orientation directly toward the audience, holding her arms and hands to her sides when not gesturing, and looking directly at the audience with positive facial expressions. This posture indicates her confidence and readiness to speak.

She uses a consistent level of enthusiasm and an even rate of speaking appropriate to her topic and the occasion.

While previewing her speech in the introduction, Christa uses words and phrases associated with mining gold: “panned out,” “sift through,” and “unearth.” Christa’s animated hand and body gestures accompanying these terms add visual cues to strengthen her verbal points. Specifically, she uses both hands to pull toward her as an illustration of unearthing gold, and she sweeps her left hand left to right to illustrate panning out. These are outstanding examples of how gestures can connect to words and meanings.

Visual Aids

Christa displays her visual aids only when she wants people to see them, and she removes them from view once she has made her point. The posters are large, easy to see, and unobstructed.