Types of Informative Speeches with List of Examples

Successful speakers have two unique traits to win the audience: good verbal communication skills and excellent memory skills. Besides having upbeat and persuasive voice, storing information of in the memory will enable the speaker to spontaneously respond to the audiences" questions. Mnemonic devices are one common memorization technique many public speakers, business coaches and corporate trainers use to memorize the speech content. LIST is yet another mnemonic device that summarizes different types of informative speeches.

Types of Informative Speeches

Almost all speeches by technical trainers and academicians are informative speeches. An informational speech will have facts, details, and examples. Unlike argumentative speeches, informational speeches will have evidences, proofs and data to support the speech.
Basic types of informative speech outline can be classified into 4 types using LIST mnemonic that stands for:
1. Levels
2. Inventory (lists)
3. Steps
4. Types

Every Informative Topic will have Various Levels

Every topic can be classified under different levels based on the degree, hierarchy, and intensity. For instance, business management has different levels such as lower management, middle management and higher management.
An example informative speech by a corporate trainer who speaks on communication skills:
"Human communication is divided in to 5 different levels, such as level of acquaintance, sharing of information, sharing of ideas, sharing of emotions, gut level sharing"

Best Informative Speeches will have an Inventory or List

Before the speech, a good speaker would spend time to come up with an informative list that is both comprehensive and useful to the audience. For example, before speaking on leadership qualities, the speaker can do a research to find the top personalities in the world of business who proved their strongest leadership skills.
A sample informative speech on motivational topic by an eminent speaker
"When it comes to motivational speaking, Zig Ziglar, Nick Vujicic, Robin Sharma and Wayne Dyer top the list"

Good Informative Speech Topics Dominates This Element-Steps

Almost all technical topics will have a series of steps to be followed or sequence of actions to be taken or different phases to be undergone. An informative speaker always includes this element into his/her speeches to show the progression of a concept or an idea.
An example informative speech on how to open MS Word and save it on the desktop step-by-step:
"It is easy to open MS Word and save it: Step 1: click start from the windows home screen, step 2: select MS Word. Step 3: type something. Step 4: click "save as" Step 5: choose a folder and save the document"

Types of Informative Speech

Types include broad classification, order of importance, different varieties, options and alternatives
Memorizing the speech serves two advantages. One, the information is readily available in the speakers" mind so that it can be recalled in no time. Two, the speaker needs no pen or paper while giving a speech. LIST is a simple yet useful mnemonic for speakers such as corporate trainers, educators and academicians who give informative speeches that mostly contain facts, statistics, data and figures.