Types of speeches: the purpose, main idea and organizational pattern

1. Main Types of Speeches

Now that you have narrowed down your topic and you understand your audience, it is time to decide on the main idea of your speech. The main idea will become a single statement that outlines what you want to say and will be presented in the introduction to your speech. In order to do so, first you need to identify the purpose of your speech. You need to ask yourself:

• Why am I speaking? What do I want to accomplish? How do I want the audience to react?

There are many different types of speeches and we will look at some of them here.  The most popular types are:

• Informative speech
• Persuasive speech
• Problem/solution speech
• Special occasion/ Entertainment speech

Let us look at them in detail as choosing the purpose of your speech is going to determine the formulation of your main idea and the construction of the whole speech. It may also influence the method of presentation you use.

2. Types of Speeches in Detail

In the course of your life and career you will undoubtedly be asked to give an informative speech. In fact, we speak informatively all the time: when we give directions to a stranger in the street, when we tell our neighbour about our last vacation, or when we explain to our teacher why we have not done our homework. A “public” informative speech is a formal version of what we do every day. Its main purpose is, naturally, to provide information to our audience in such a way that they will be able to understand and remember it.

A persuasive speech, as the name suggests, is designed to change or influence others. It is not enough to just present the information, however well-organized. In this type of speech, we want to change somebody else’s attitudes, beliefs or opinions, and to motivate people to take some action. We need to provide them with reasons why they should do so, and we need to believe those reasons ourselves. Therefore, the manner of our presentation becomes very important. A specific type of persuasive speech is the problem/solution speech, in which you describe a particular problem and show ways of solving it.

There are many different types of special occasion speeches, some of them given for entertainment purposes. For example, a special toast at your friends’ wedding may only be made to entertain the guests. Let us look at other situations and see how the purpose of the speech changes:

• A speech introducing a new colleague at your place of work (you want to build goodwill and respect towards him/her)
• A speech welcoming a guest to your house (you want to make him/her feel welcome)
• A speech introducing a speaker at a conference (information and goodwill)
• A tribute speech at a memorial of a person you knew well (you pay tribute to the person and share your fond memories, helping people “say goodbye”).

3. Formulating the Main Idea of your Speech

After you have narrowed down your topic and chosen the purpose of your speech, you are ready to formulate the main idea. This is usually one sentence, placed in the introduction to your speech, which describes what you want to say in detail later. Let us consider different examples, depending on the purpose:

Kazimierz Pulaski was a hero of two nations. (An informative speech: a biography)

Driving rules in European countries have many common elements. (An informative speech)

Why high school students should choose a military career. (Persuasive)

I had a really funny experience during my last trip to the Bahamas. (Entertainment/ informative speech during a wedding)

The main idea of a speech will in turn determine what type of organization we are going to use. There are a few different patterns available, the most popular being the topical, the chronological, and the problem/solution. The topical pattern organizes our speech material according to a central idea, often divided into several smaller areas. We may talk about those in order of importance, or just develop one at a time. The chronological pattern organizes the information according to timing and may be used in describing somebody’s life. The problem/solution speech first names the problem and then suggests different solutions.

When you have decided on the main idea of your speech, taken into account the purpose, and chosen a pattern, you may proceed to gathering and organizing the material for your speech. We will talk about the process in Unit 5.