Informative vs Persuasive

Summary

In this Communication Coach video, Alex Lyon explores the nuances of informative versus persuasive speaking, essential skills for emerging leaders. He explains that informative speaking focuses on educating, providing data and facts, often seen in teaching or training roles. In contrast, persuasive speaking aims to alter beliefs or actions, akin to a lawyer presenting a case. Lyon emphasizes the overlap between the two, as professionals often blend them to meet audience needs and achieve presentation goals, suggesting that tailoring the message to the situation is key.

Takeaways

• 🗣️ Informative speaking focuses on providing information to educate or update the audience on a topic.
• 📈 In informative presentations, supporting materials like data, statistics, facts, and examples are used to convey information.
• 📚 Common informative topics include historical figures, events, scientific principles, and how-to guides.
• 📝 The structure of informative speaking often follows a chronological or spatial arrangement to present information.
• 💡 Persuasive speaking aims to change the audience's minds or behaviors through building an argument with supporting materials.
• 🧐 Persuasive presentations can use the same topics as informative ones but with the goal of convincing the audience of a specific viewpoint.
• 🔄 Both informative and persuasive speaking can be combined in professional settings, often depending on the needs of the audience and the occasion.
• 🔑 The key to effective communication is understanding the audience's needs and tailoring the message accordingly, whether it's informative, persuasive, or a mix.
• 📊 The structure of persuasive speaking often follows a problem-solution order, highlighting issues and proposing solutions.
• 👥 Professional speakers, such as trainers, leaders, and salespeople, often blend informative and persuasive elements to achieve their goals.

Q & A

What is the main difference between informative and persuasive speaking?

Informative speaking focuses on conveying information to educate or inform the audience about a topic, while persuasive speaking aims to change the audience's minds or behaviors by building an argument to support a specific point of view.

In what professional roles is informative speaking commonly used?

Informative speaking is commonly used in teaching roles, educational roles, as a trainer, supervisor, or leader when coaching, training, or mentoring others.

What are some examples of topics for informative speaking?

Examples of topics for informative speaking include speeches about historical figures like Thomas Edison, historical events like Pearl Harbor, how-to presentations such as making sushi, or explanations of complex concepts like how electricity works.

What types of supporting materials are used in informative speaking?

In informative speaking, supporting materials such as data, statistics, facts, examples, quotations, and stories are used to convey information and help the audience understand the message.

How is the structure of an informative speech typically organized?

An informative speech is typically organized in a way that presents the information in a logical sequence, such as chronological order, spatial arrangement, or step-by-step instructions.

What is the primary goal of persuasive speaking?

The primary goal of persuasive speaking is to change the audience's minds or behaviors, often by presenting information in a way that supports a specific argument or point of view.

How does the structure of a persuasive speech differ from an informative one?

A persuasive speech is typically structured around a problem-solution order, where the speaker first presents the problems associated with the topic and then offers solutions or recommendations.

Can you give examples of professions where persuasive speaking is commonly used?

Persuasive speaking is commonly used by politicians, salespeople, motivational speakers, and professionals in various roles who aim to influence or convince others to take a specific action or adopt a certain viewpoint.

How do informative and persuasive speaking overlap in professional settings?

In professional settings, informative and persuasive speaking often overlap as speakers may need to educate their audience while also persuading them to take action. For example, during an orientation, the speaker informs new employees but also motivates them to apply the information in their work.

What factors should a speaker consider when deciding whether to use informative or persuasive speaking for a particular message?

A speaker should consider their audience, the audience's needs and expectations, their own goals as a speaker or leader, and the occasion or context of the speech to determine whether to use informative, persuasive, or a combination of both speaking styles.

What are Monroe's Motivated Sequence and 'How to Organize a Persuasive Speech or Presentation', and why are they important?

Monroe's Motivated Sequence is a method for organizing an entire persuasive presentation, providing a strategic map for structuring the speech. 'How to Organize a Persuasive Speech or Presentation' is a guide that focuses on structuring the main points to create a persuasive message. Both are important for speakers aiming to effectively persuade their audience.

Outlines

00:00

🗣️ Informative vs. Persuasive Speaking

This paragraph introduces the topic of informative versus persuasive speaking, emphasizing the importance of understanding these two modes of communication for leaders and professionals. The speaker, Alex Lyon from the Communication Coach channel, discusses how leaders often need to choose between informing or persuading their audience. Informative speaking focuses on providing knowledge or teaching, using supporting materials like data and examples to convey information. Examples of informative speaking topics include historical figures, events, or processes. The structure of informative speeches often follows a chronological or spatial order to present information logically.

05:01

💡 Persuasive Speaking Techniques

The second paragraph delves into persuasive speaking, which aims to change the audience's minds or behaviors. It's likened to a lawyer presenting a case, using evidence to support a viewpoint. Persuasive speeches can be about the same topics as informative ones but with a different approach, aiming to convince the audience of a particular stance. The paragraph gives examples of how historical figures or events can be used persuasively, such as arguing for Thomas Edison's influence or the significance of Pearl Harbor. It also mentions that professionals often need to persuade, not just inform, whether in sales or leadership roles. The structure of persuasive speeches typically follows a problem-solution order, moving the audience from understanding issues to accepting solutions.

10:01

🤝 Balancing Informative and Persuasive Speaking

The final paragraph discusses the overlap between informative and persuasive speaking, suggesting that in professional settings, speakers often use a combination of both. It explains that while academic settings may clearly distinguish between the two, professionals need to adapt their messages based on the audience, goals, and occasion. The speaker advises considering the needs of the situation and customizing the message accordingly, whether it's purely informative, persuasive, or a blend. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for the audience to reflect on their upcoming presentations and to watch additional videos for further guidance on persuasive speaking techniques.

Keywords

💡Informative Speaking

Informative speaking is a form of communication aimed at educating or informing the audience about a particular subject. It involves sharing knowledge or explaining how to do something. In the video, the speaker uses examples like teaching about Thomas Edison's life or explaining how electricity works to illustrate this concept. The purpose is to provide the audience with new information or understanding.

💡Persuasive Speaking

Persuasive speaking is a communication style designed to influence the audience's beliefs, attitudes, or actions. It goes beyond merely informing and aims to convince the audience to adopt a certain point of view or take a specific action. The speaker in the video gives examples of how one might persuade that Thomas Edison was the most influential inventor, indicating a shift from just sharing information to advocating a particular stance.

💡Supporting Materials

Supporting materials are the evidence or examples used to back up the points made in a speech or presentation. These can include data, statistics, facts, examples, quotations, and stories. The video emphasizes that both informative and persuasive speaking rely on such materials, but their application differs: in informative speaking, they are used to educate, while in persuasive speaking, they serve as evidence to support an argument.

💡Chronological Order

Chronological order is a method of organizing a presentation where the information is presented in the sequence of events or time. The video script mentions that when giving informative speeches, especially about historical topics like the history of a company, speakers often use chronological order to guide the audience through the subject matter in a logical, time-based progression.

💡Spatial Arrangement

Spatial arrangement is another way of organizing a presentation, where the information is structured based on physical or geographical divisions. The video gives an example of a presentation about the United States, where the speaker might divide the content by regions such as North, South, East, and West to inform the audience about different areas.

💡Problem-Solution Order

Problem-solution order is a common structure for persuasive presentations where the speaker first identifies a problem and then proposes a solution. The video explains that this structure is effective for moving the audience from recognizing an issue to accepting a proposed resolution, which is a hallmark of persuasive speaking.

💡Monroe's Motivated Sequence

Monroe's Motivated Sequence is a specific method for organizing persuasive speeches, which the speaker mentions as a resource for viewers interested in learning more about persuasive speaking. It is a systematic approach that guides the speaker through gaining attention, establishing need, satisfying need, visualizing the need, and taking action.

💡Professional Setting

The professional setting is a context where the speech or presentation is given within a work environment or as part of professional development. The video discusses how both informative and persuasive speaking are essential in professional settings, such as during training sessions, leadership communications, or sales pitches.

💡Orientation Talks

Orientation talks are presentations given to new employees or members to familiarize them with the organization, its processes, and expectations. The video uses orientation talks as an example of informative speaking in a professional context, where the goal is to provide necessary information to help new members integrate into the company.

💡Customizing Messages

Customizing messages refers to the practice of tailoring the content and approach of a speech to fit the specific needs and context of the audience and the occasion. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding the audience, the speaker's goals, and the occasion to decide whether to focus on informative or persuasive elements in a speech.

Highlights

The distinction between informative and persuasive speaking is crucial for effective communication.

Informative speaking focuses on sharing knowledge or teaching, while persuasive speaking aims to change minds or actions.

In professional roles, the choice between informative and persuasive speaking is a common decision that impacts message delivery.

Informative speaking is often used in teaching, training, and mentoring, where the goal is to convey information.

Examples of informative speaking topics include biographies, historical events, scientific principles, and how-to presentations.

Supporting materials in informative speaking, such as data and facts, are used to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

The structure of informative speaking often follows a chronological or spatial order to present information logically.

Persuasive speaking uses information to build an argument, aiming to influence the audience's beliefs or actions.

Persuasive speakers organize their presentations around problem-solution sequences to guide the audience towards a desired conclusion.

Professional settings often require a blend of informative and persuasive speaking to both educate and motivate action.

Understanding the audience, the speaker's goals, and the occasion are key to determining the balance between informing and persuading.

In real-life professional scenarios, speakers often use a combination of informative and persuasive techniques to achieve their objectives.

Orientation and training sessions are examples of situations where both informative content and persuasive calls to action are necessary.

The speaker suggests watching additional videos for deeper insights into Monroe's Motivated Sequence and organizing persuasive presentations.

The video concludes with advice on tailoring messages to fit the needs of the audience and the occasion, whether informative, persuasive, or a mix of both.

Transcripts

- Informative versus persuasive speaking, or presenting,

and that's the topic we're gonna talk about today

because in almost any kind of professional role

that you are in, you are going to constantly

have to make choices about how you present

and what your focus is.

So let's get into the details on those options.

(soft music)

Hello there and welcome back, my friends.

Alex Lyon here and if we haven't met yet,

this channel is called Communication Coach,

and everything we do here is for emerging leaders,

especially on the topic of communication and leadership.

And today we're talking about informative

versus persuasive speaking because this is of course

something that you might have done in your public speaking

course in college, but also any time as a leader

you stand and present, you have to make a choice

about how you shape your message

so that it best meets the needs of your listeners,

and this is a typical choice you will make every day.

So let's first look at informative speaking

and what that involves.

Now, informative speaking

sounds just like the name suggests.

You are informing people about something

they need to know that they probably didn't know before

or something they need to know how to do

that you are gonna show them how to do.

Those are both informative approaches to speaking.

Now, a lot of times when you're in a teaching role,

educational role, you're a trainer,

this is really obviously.

You're gonna do this all the time,

but as a supervisor or leader of any sort,

you're constantly coaching people up,

you are showing them how to do things,

you're training them, you're mentoring them,

and that involves conveying a lot of information,

sometimes in a speaking situation.

In terms of the kinds of topics you might talk about,

and I'm gonna talk about general topics here

that you could relate to, like from a college situation.

Let's say you were doing a speech in college

about Thomas Edison, a person, right?

That's an informative topic typically,

where you inform us about his life, his inventions,

and things like that.

Maybe it's a presentation about a historical event

like Pearl Harbor and the importance of that battle

in World War II.

That might be an informative presentation you could do.

How electricity works.

Alternating current, direct current,

and all the details there.

It could be a how-to speech, like how to make sushi.

These are very typical examples you're gonna see

in an academic setting, but they're also

in a professional setting.

Again, you're training people how to use a new

computer process.

You're teaching people about the history of the company.

There are lots of opportunity for informative speaking.

When you're doing orientation talks

to get new employees up to speed,

that's informative speaking.

So, when you're doing informative speaking,

you are filling your main points

in the body of your presentation

with all kinds of what we call supporting materials.

So you're using data, statistics, facts, examples,

quotations, stories.

Those are your supporting materials that convey

the information that you are providing.

So you're not just giving your own explanation of things.

You are supporting everything you're saying

with real concrete kinds of information

that give people a variety of ways to absorb

and understand the message

that you are trying to communicate.

So again, as teachers, trainers, leaders,

you're doing this all the time in professional settings.

Now, one of the telltale signs that a lot of people

don't realize when you're doing informative speaking,

that you're actually informing them

and not persuading them,

is the way your message is structured.

So the main points especially in the body

of your presentation.

You have intro, body, conclusion.

In the body you have let's say three or so main points.

When you're speaking to inform,

you're usually going to decide on something

like a chronological order

or sometimes called a sequence order.

That's a way of approaching a topic so there are steps.

Step one, step two, step three.

Or if it's a historical presentation,

the history of a company for example,

you're gonna start about the beginning,

middle, and present day.

Or beginning, middle, and end,

depending upon what topic you're talking about.

You might also when you're informing people

decide on a spatial arrangement.

Let's say you're doing a presentation

about the United States.

You might divide that by region, North, South,

East, West.

That might be one way to go.

Those are all informative ways to structure a message

and that's a real telltale sign that you're listening

to an informative message or presentation.

Let's now turn to persuasive presentations.

Persuasive speaking is really about one key thing,

and that is changing people's minds or behaviors,

and those things are often related.

So you're not just informing them

and giving them good information to consider.

You are giving information, but to change their minds,

to change their point of view.

You're building an argument with all the materials

that you have.

It's almost like you're a lawyer in a court of law

and you are trying to convince the judge or the jury

to your point of view, and you're doing that

in a lot of ways but you're still using statistics,

facts, examples, quotations, stories,

all of the supporting materials that you would normally see

in an informative presentation.

You still have tons of information,

but you're sharing it as a way to support.

You're sharing it like it's evidence,

because you're supporting a point of view,

an argument that you are putting forth

to try to convince them, and by the way

you can even select some of the exact same topics

as you did before, like you might still do

a presentation about Thomas Edison,

but instead of just informing us about his life,

you might be trying to persuade us

that he was the most influential inventor of all time.

You might still do a presentation on Pearl Harbor,

but you might talk about how it is the key battle

that changed everything in World War II.

That would be persuading us.

So, any real topic can be approached in multiple ways.

Oftentimes you'll see people speaking persuasively.

Really stereotypical examples are politicians

and salespeople and motivational speakers,

and while that is certainly true,

I have found in my roles professionally

I am almost always trying to persuade people

in one way or another, whether it's really a strong

sales pitch or whether I'm just trying

to get them to take some action.

Instead of just leaving them off and informing them,

I want them to take the next step.

Now, one of the telltale signs again

for persuasive speaking is just like informative speaking.

How you organize the main body points of a presentation.

When you're speaking to persuade,

you will most frequently structure it

on some type of problem-solution order,

some variation of problem solution.

So the first point or so is gonna of all the problems

that are associated with your topic

that you're talking about,

and then you recommend a solution.

You're moving them from A to B.

You're changing their mind, changing their behavior.

And so you'll see salespeople do this

where they'll tell you all about the problems

with the other products out there

or the problem in your life, and then they will tell you

about their product that will solve that problem.

So if you have a bad mattress, bad night's sleep,

here's the solution, our mattress.

Politicians do this.

Motivational speakers try to really get you in touch

with the struggles in your life

so that you're more likely to change.

But again, professionally you're going to see

lots of opportunities to speak persuasively

that don't really fit the stereotypical examples

but nevertheless you're there to help people

move from A to B.

In fact, I have two separate videos

that will help move you forward

if you want to get serious about persuasive speaking.

One is on Monroe's Motivated Sequence.

That's a whole way to order your entire presentation,

a map for the whole thing.

And the other is called How to Organize

a Persuasive Speech or Presentation,

and that really goes into how to structure

those main points when you want to make it

a persuasive message.

So, I want to now talk about how they overlap,

because in an academic setting,

you know in public speaking classes they will say,

this is an informative speech,

and this is a persuasive speech,

but really in professional settings

you're almost always doing these at the same time.

It's just depending upon what proportion they're in,

how much are you persuading versus

how much are you informing.

So for example, if I am going to do

even a straight up sales presentation,

I have to bring people along with good information,

I have to train them on how to do something,

and I have to get them educated on a process.

There's no way around those informational aspects of it,

but also in a professional setting,

very rarely am I purely speaking to inform.

I almost always want them to take a next step.

So let's take something like orientation.

Let's say I'm doing an orientation or training

for new employees that sounds like straight information,

but really what I want them to do

is take this information and put it into practice,

to take the next step.

So a lot of times, even in a training

you will get people to chart out their next step

and their takeaways from a training session,

and then I will snap into persuasive mode

to get them motivated to actually try this stuff out

and use it, not just hear it and forget it, but use it,

put it into practice in the future.

So, in real-life situations you're almost always

doing a combination of both of these.

You see that for almost any topic across settings

when you're in a professional context.

So let's talk about application for you.

You want to think about, what's my best approach

for this particular message.

Let's say you have an upcoming presentation

or a speech or important meeting.

You want your message to fit that situation,

whether it's persuasive or informative,

so how do you make those decisions?

Well, you look at your audience and you get clarity

on who exactly your audience is going to be,

who they are, what do they want out of this.

What are your goals as a speaker or a leader?

And then also, what is the occasion?

You want to make sure your message fits

the needs of the moment,

and that's the best way to drive it.

Don't ahead of time try to figure out

if you're gonna persuade or inform.

Figure out what the needs are of the situation

and then customize your message

to those particular needs, and that's the best way

to fit your message, whether it's informative,

persuasive, or a combination of both.

Thanks for listening.

I encourage you to watch those videos I mentioned.

They're linked in the description below this one.

God bless, and I will see you soon.