Informative speeches are designed to convey some knowledge to their audience – facts, views, concepts, and other information on a specific topic. They are divided into types: speeches about objects, speeches about processes, speeches about events, and speeches about concepts (Tinianow, 2017). Many examples of such addresses can be found thanks to the TED platform, where various experts present ideas that they consider valuable to share with listeners. Sociologist Anindya Kundu (2019) dedicated his TED talk to the opportunity gap in American education. The type of his address is a speech about processes, as he tracks the mechanisms and sources of the problem, the influence exerted, and possible solutions.
Processes are the development or change of a phenomenon, and they are active. For this reason, I view process speeches as those that concentrate on the question of how – how something works, is created, or done. Moreover, speech about the process is characterized by tracking the relationships between specific events and results. For this reason, they can be more memorable since they do not just include facts but create links and connections.
The most appealing part of the studied informative speech was inspiring examples of people trying to help solve the problem. Moreover, the speaker showed how many factors and processes are intertwined in one issue. The least appealing aspect of such speech is the possibility of misunderstanding. For instance, although examples were exciting, Kundu (2019) very briefly listed ways to solve the problem. A few people can apply them and, consequently, take something valuable from the speech. Therefore, I would expand the address to devote more time to examples of measures taken to reduce the opportunity gap.
References
Kundu, A. (2019). The “opportunity gap” in US public education – and how to close it [Video]. TED. Web.
Tinianow, D. (2017). New traditions in public speaking. Bridgepoint Education.