10. 2 Types of Presentations

There are three main types of presentations included in this chapter: presentations to inform, presentations to persuade, and special occasion presentations.

Informative presentations focus on increasing your audience’s knowledge, awareness, and understanding of the specific topic on which you present. Informative speakers often describe, define, and demonstrate to help improve the audience’s knowledge.

In persuasive presentations, the speaker takes a position on a topic and attempts to convince the audience to act in some way. The action could be a physical action, or it could be attempting to convince the audience to change the attitude they hold. The proposed actions could be large or small in magnitude, depending on a variety of factors. The topic and the audience’s position on the topic prior to the presentation will influence the speaker’s message and what the speaker can reasonably attempt to achieve because of the presentation.

We also include special occasion presentations, which are generally celebratory designed to honor the subject, which could be a person, an organization, an event, or occasion. Sometimes these are commemorative and generally include background or information about the subject of focus. If you have heard a celebratory speech at a graduation (commencement address), a presentation memorializing an individual who has passed away (eulogy), or a short speech at a wedding honoring the newly married couple (toast), you have heard a special occasion presentation!

Next, let us discuss informative, persuasive, and special occasion presentations.