McGraw-Hill Public Speaking

• Selecting a topic
• Assessing your speaking situation
• Developing and refining your central idea and purpose
• Identifying an audience
• Speaking to an audience
• Home

Situation refers to the time and place, or setting, of a speech. In a broader sense, the situation also refers to the expectations of a given speaking scenario based on occasion. Your topic should be appropriate, timely, and interesting. It should also suit the speaking occasion. In a classroom situation, the instructor will identify the type and general purpose of the speech: to inform, persuade, or entertain. In a business or social situation you will need to determine the general purpose of your speech and how that affects your topic selection.

Weddings and retirement dinners require impromptu speeches or toasts. The subject is the individual or couple. The general purpose is to praise the person or couple. Your topic could focus on an aspect of shared experience that illustrates how someone has been a valued coworker or friend. A retirement dinner would not be the place to speak about company policy or looking for the retiree's replacement. What kind of speech would you expect to hear as a listener?

Awards ceremonies also require impromptu speeches. A gracious acceptance speech acknowledges the contributions of others and expresses appreciation for the recognition. It does not focus on your accomplishments.

Longer speeches, such as funeral or other commemorative speeches are often a combination of informative and persuasive speeches. The speech should not only describe the person or object of praise, it should be inspirational. In any of these situations, your topic may be known, but you should still focus your topic on an aspect of the subject that satisfies the expectations of the occasion.

In a business setting, you may be called upon to present sales data, train new employees, or explain a company policy. These situations require an informative or persuasive speech. The situation probably includes a known topic. You will need to determine not the topic, but which type of speech you should give and how to approach the topic. An informative speech can easily become a persuasive speech. A presentation on using new software or explaining a company benefits package is primarily informative. The presentation becomes persuasive when a related purpose of the speech is to persuade the audience of the benefits of adapting the software or benefits package. Decide which approach best suits the time, place, and circumstances in which you'll give your speech.

If a situation, such as a class assignment, requires an informative speech without mixed purposes, choose a topic about which you can provide plenty of descriptive information without addressing problems or policies.

If you are a scout leader, volunteer coordinator, or museum docent, you will probably give informative speeches. Training situations often involve a particular type of informative speech: the demonstration speech. A demonstration speech works best in a situation where the audience has an interest in what you are demonstrating. Demonstrations given in a classroom setting shouldn't demonstrate processes the audience knows too well or be so obscure the audience is unlikely to relate to it. Short demonstrations work well in introductory speeches (unless a different topic or format is specified by the instructor). Make sure that a demonstration topic meets assignment requirements before selecting a demonstration topic for an informative speech assignment. The informative speech is a research project, demonstration topics present information based on the speaker's knowledge rather than research.

Political campaigns, school board meetings, advocacy meetings are just a few examples of situations that frequently involve persuasive speaking. Are you trying to influence opinion or behavior? Then your speaking situation calls for a persuasive speech, such as a problem, policy, or problem-solution speech. The persuasive speech attempts to convince listeners to adopt a viewpoint or behavior. When considering a topic, ask yourself how you hope to change people's minds or their behavior. If the viewpoint or behavior is widely accepted, what is the purpose of your speech?

The subject of a problem speech should be a problem that not everyone recognizes as a problem. It is your task to convince them that a problem exists. An advocacy group may devote much of their public speaking to increasing people's awareness of a problem using the problem speech format. After educating people to their position, they will use another type of persuasive speech (problem-solution or policy) to advocate a policy or behavior that will solve the problem. Instructors often ask students to choose a single topic that they will use for both problem and policy speeches. If this is your situation, choose a topic that allows a natural progression from one assignment to the next. The topic should allow you establish that a problem exists, propose a policy, show that your policy would cure the problem, and finally, to show that the benefit of the cure is greater than its cost.

The speaking situation influences the topic you select, how you approach the topic, and the type of speech you deliver. When you, rather than the occasion itself, select a topic, choose one that is appropriate to the time, place, and occasion.