Demonstration Speeches Explained

What are the characteristics of great demonstration speeches?

In a nutshell, a good demonstration speech teaches. It's a variation of the informative speech with in-built visual aids. The audience, through listening, watching or participating, learns something new. As their guide, you will take them through a process of 'show and tell' covering each step from set-up to finish. Think of it as a 'how-to'.
Examples of topics easily fitting its requirements are:

• How to wax a surfboard
• How to make a pumpkin pie
• How to fix a puncture in your bike tyre

• Who is your audience? What will be of interest to them? It's much, much harder to persuade an unwilling or bored audience that you have anything interesting to say or show. Ask yourself 'Why does my audience need to listen to my speech?' 'What will they gain from it?' Put yourself in their shoes. If you were them, what would make your topic appeal?



• Can this topic be broken down into easily followed sequential steps? If the answer is 'YES' you can go ahead. If the answer is 'NO' you'll need to think again.



• Can this topic adapt to fit the setting for the speech?
  Example: My topic is 'How to saddle a horse correctly'.
  The setting for my speech is the classroom, or a hall. Understandably, I can't bring my horse! But is there another way around the problem? Can I use video-clips I shot and edited?
  (If your speech is part of an assessment process, be sure to ask what the rules are before committing yourself to using other media forms i.e. power point presentation, video etc.)



• Is this topic something I'm passionate about or genuinely interested in?
  Your enthusiasm (or lack of it) communicates directly with the audience. It bypasses your words and shows in your bodylanguage. Are you committed? Are you interested? Do you really care? Great demonstration speeches are a combination of confidence and information. You need both.

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Planning and Preparation

The goal is to successfully teach a process or skill. Success or failure in teaching is always measured from the pupil or student's perspective. So if my demonstration speech is on 'how to tie a tie', then the desired result is an audience capable of tying their own ties or at least inspired to try.

As with every good speech, your demonstration needs a 3 part format. You will have an introduction in which you tell the audience what it is they're going to learn, why they'll benefit from learning it and why you chose the topic. Next you have the body of the speech. This is the demonstration itself and lastly, you'll have a conclusion summarizing what it is that's been learnt and reinforcing its benefits.

Woven throughout each of these segments you'll provide visual aids or props(either the items themselves or charts, diagrams, photographs, video etc.) and personal stories to illustrate. You may even include the audience if appropriate. For example, if you're tying ties, then having one for everybody to practice with as you're going through the steps makes sense.

The Body of Demonstration Speeches

In your planning concentrate on the outcome you want and then focus on the logical steps needed to achieve it. This will form the body of your speech.
The easiest way to get this part right is by doing it yourself. As you go though the process, (baking a pie, tying a tie, changing a tire, balancing a check book) keep the audience in your mind.
What do they need to know about each step?
What will make it easier for them to understand?
Do they need to see it?
Do they need to do it?
Do you need to include every step or can you safely either miss some out or clump them together?
Talk the process out loud to yourself making sure your vocabulary is free of jargon or if you do use specialist words, you explain them fully.

This is the heart of your speech and you will want to make sure you have it right by preparing as fully as possible.

When you think you have it flowing smoothly invite a few trusted people to watch. Ask for feedback so you can fine tune the balance between 'showing and telling'.
Questions you'll want answered are:

• Are the steps in the process logical?
• Are my instructions or explanations clear?
• Are my visual aids or props relevant and effective?
  Click to find out more about using visual aids effectively.
• Is it interesting, amusing, effective?
• What do I need to do to improve?

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