• Unit 14: Speaking to Inform and Entertain

    In this unit, you will review and focus more directly on the purposes of informing and entertaining when giving speeches. Even though the topics of this unit often stand on their own as significant sections, in this course they are shorter because most of the guidance that might be necessary to develop both informative and entertaining speeches has already been covered. Unlike the theory-driven language and approaches you will discover are associated with persuasive speaking, the language and approach you take to inform or entertain is driven by you, the speaker, and your relationship to your audience, your topic, and your purpose – each of which have been the subject of entire units in this course already. As a result, rather than review those subjects, the material in this unit focuses on the characteristics which make these two types of speeches distinct.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.

    • 14.1: Informative Speaking

    • 14.2: Informative Speaking Goals

    • 14.3: Types of Informative Speeches

    • 14.4: Speaking to Entertain

    • 14.5: Special Occasion Speeches

    • 14.6: Keynote Speaking

    • 14.7: Unit 14 Exercises