COM-2080 Study Guide - Final Guide: Screencast, Podcast, Readwrite
COM 2080 Final Exam Study Guide
Week 9: Successful Web Personal & Professional Connections
Textbook: “A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking”
Part 7: Types of Speeches, Informative Speaking, pgs. 175-188
• Informative Speaking (pgs. 176-188)
▪ To inform is to communicate knowledge.
▪ The goal of informative speaking is to impact knowledge in order to raise
awareness or deepen understanding of some phenomenon.
▪ Use audience analysis to gauge the audience’s existing knowledge of your
topic and their likely interests and needs with respect to it
➢ Most people will recall less than half of the information you tell
them, so focus on what you most want to convey and trim material
that does not strongly support your central idea.
▪ Audience members cannot put the speaker on “pause” in order to digest
information, so help them stay on track:
➢ Prepare a well-organized introduction that clearly previews main
points.
➢ Make liberal use of transition words and phrases (“first,” “next,”
“I’ll now turn to…”) to tie speech ideas together and map the
logical flow of ideas.
➢ Use internal previews to forecast key points and internal
summaries to reinforce them.
➢ Use rhetorical devices such as repetition and parallelism to
reinforce information and drive home key ideas.
➢ Choose an organizational pattern to help listeners mentally
organize ideas and see relationships among them.
▪ Broadly speaking, informative speeches may be about objects or
phenomena, people, events, processes, concepts, or issues. (Pg.178)
➢ Objects or Phenomena: Addresses various aspects of nonhuman
subjects (their history and function for example).
➢ People: Addresses impact of individuals and groups on society
(including athletes, authors, inventors, political leaders, refugees,
soldiers, and others).
➢ Current or Historical Events: Addresses noteworthy
occurrences, past and present.
➢ Processes: Demonstrates and/or explains how something is done,
how it is made, or how it works.
➢ Concepts: Addresses abstract or complex ideas, theories, or
beliefs.
➢ Issues: Addresses problems or matters of dispute to raise
awareness and deepen understanding (rather than to advocate for a
position)
▪ Typically, we communicate information by defining, describing,
demonstrating, and/or explaining it.
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➢ Definition: To define something is to identify its essential qualities
and meaning. You can approach definition in a number of ways,
including the following:
o Defining something by what it does (operational
definition): A computer is something that processes
information.
o Defining something by describing what it is not (definition
by negation): Courage is not the absence of fear.
o Defining something by providing several concrete
examples (definition by example): Health professionals
include doctors, nurses, EMT’s, and ambulance drivers.
o Defining something by comparing it to something
synonymous (definition by synonym): A friend is a
comrade or a buddy.
o Defining something by illustrating its root meaning
(definition by word origin): Our world rival derives from
the Latin word rivalis, “one living near or using the same
stream”.
➢ Description: When you describe information, you provide an array
of details that paint a mental picture for the audience. Concrete
words and vivid imagery will help listeners visualize your
depictions.
➢ Demonstration: Sometimes the purpose of an informative speech
is to explain how something works or to actually demonstrate it.
o A speech may not include an actual physical demonstration
(e.g., how to use social bookmarks), but the speaker will
nevertheless rely on a verbal demonstration of the steps
involved.
➢ Explanation: Providing reasons or causes, demonstrating
relationships, and offering interpretation and analysis.
o The classroom lecture is a classic example of explanation
in an informative context.
▪ The following strategies for communicating information are especially
helpful when attempting to clarify complex information.
➢ Use Analogies to Build on Prior Knowledge (Pg. 180)
➢ Demonstrate Underlying Causes (Pg.181)
➢ Appeal to Different Learning Styles (Pgs. 181-182)
o People have different learning styles, or preferred ways of
processing information.
o One learning theory suggests four preferences: Visual,
Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic.
▪ Our understanding of a speech is directly linked to how well it is
organized.
➢ Chronologically, in which main points are arranged in sequence
from the movement’s early period to its later falling out of favor.
➢ Causally (cause-effect)
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➢ Topically (by categories)
▪ Sample Informative Speech: David Kruckenberg describes a promising
new way to treat cancer. (Pgs. 183-188)
Part 8: Online, Group, and Business Contexts, pgs. 231-253
• Preparing Online Presentations (pgs. 232-238)
▪ Select among three general speech purposes: informing, persuading, or
marking an event.
▪ Tools used to produce and display online presentations: Broadband
Internet connection, hardware for recording audio and video, software for
recording and editing, etc. (Pg.232)
▪ Enthusiasm and naturalness are key in an online presentation
▪ Online presentations can be streamed in real time, or recorded for
distribution later whenever an audience wants to access them
➢ Real-time presentations connect presenter and audience live, in
synchronous connection (pg.234)
➢ In a recorded presentation, transmission and reception occur at
different times, in asynchronous communication (pg.234)
▪ Online presentation platforms include videos, pod/vodcasts, Webinars, and
graphical presentations
▪ A screencast captures whatever is displayed on your computer screen,
from text to slides to streaming video (pg.235)
➢ Screencasts can be streamed in real-time or recorded for playback
or export to a hosting Web site. The screencast format is especially
useful for training purposes
▪ A podcast is a digital audio recording of a speech or presentation captured
and stored in a form that is accessible via the Web
▪ A vodcast (also called vidcast and video podcasting) is a podcast
containing video clips
▪ Using PowerPoint, you can use the “record Narration” feature in the slide
creation function to produce a podcast-like presentation file
▪ Webinars are real-time seminars, meeting, training sessions, or other
presentations that connect presenters and audiences from their computers
or mobile devices, regardless of where they are in the world. (Pgs.236-
237)
▪ Online Presentation Planning Checklist (pgs.237-238)
➢ Be well organized
➢ Have reasonable expectations
➢ Design powerful presentation aids
➢ Keep your audience engaged
➢ Prepare a contingency plan in case of technology glitches
➢ Maintain ethical standards
➢ Get in plenty of practice time
• Communicating in Groups (pgs. 238-242)
▪ Setting an agenda can help participants stay on track by identifying items
to be accomplished during a meeting; often it will specify time limits for
each item
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Document Summary
Week 9: successful web personal & professional connections. Part 7: types of speeches, informative speaking, pgs. Prepare a well-organized introduction that clearly previews main points. Make liberal use of transition words and phrases ( first, next, . I"ll now turn to ) to tie speech ideas together and map the logical flow of ideas. Use internal previews to forecast key points and internal summaries to reinforce them. Use rhetorical devices such as repetition and parallelism to reinforce information and drive home key ideas. Choose an organizational pattern to help listeners mentally organize ideas and see relationships among them: broadly speaking, informative speeches may be about objects or phenomena, people, events, processes, concepts, or issues. (pg. 178) Objects or phenomena: addresses various aspects of nonhuman subjects (their history and function for example). People: addresses impact of individuals and groups on society (including athletes, authors, inventors, political leaders, refugees, soldiers, and others). Current or historical events: addresses noteworthy occurrences, past and present.
