Personalize Your Ideas

Listeners want to be entertained as they are being enlightened. Nothing takes the edge off an informative speech more than an unbroken string of facts and figures. And nothing enlivens a speech more than personal illustrations. Remember, people are interested in people. They react to stories, not statistics. Whenever possible, you should try to personalize your ideas and dramatize them in human terms.

Let’s say you are talking about the effects of electromagnetic radiation— the kind of radiation emitted by such everyday items as microwave ovens, CB radios, automatic garage door openers, and video display terminals. You would surely say that sustained exposure to electromagnetic radiation has been linked to headaches, dizziness, fatigue, loss of judgment, sterility, cataracts, and leukemia. You would also note that these health problems have been caused by electromagnetic radiation at one-tenth of a milliwatt, and that a number of consumer products emit radiation at levels 50 to 100 times as high.

But these are only numbers. If you really want to get your audience involved, you will weave in some examples of people who have been harmed by electromagnetic radiation. You might do as one student did and tell the story of Becky Krimson, who worked for the Citizens National Bank in Chicago:

Throughout her three-year period of employment there, Becky often complained of headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and loss of hair. Her boss said she occasionally suffered partial memory loss, while her co-workers frequently complained about Becky’s emotional instability. Upon a visit to her doctor she was given some pills, told to take a few days' rest, and sent home. At the time Becky did not know that the video display terminal she worked with at the bank was zapping her with radiation, and that rest and pills could not cure her symptoms.'⁴

One speaker, discussing the differences between primary school education in Japan and the United States, found an ingenious way to personalize his subject. He created a "fictional, yet typical, Japanese child—Ruriko," and led his audience through a day in Ruriko’s life. Here is an excerpt:

Ruriko awakens at 6:30 a.m. By 7:30 she has put on her neat, plaid-skirted school uniform, eaten her breakfast of rice and fish, picked up the beautifully arranged box lunch made by her mother, and departed for her school in central Yokohama. Ruriko is ten years old.

Classes continue, with only a break for lunch, until early afternoon. Then Ruriko’s mother picks her up and takes her to a gymnastics lesson. (Tomorrow it will be a music lesson, the next day calligraphy, the day after that swimming.) As soon as the lesson is over, Ruriko and her mother jump on the train and hurry to the next scheduled appointment. It is time for juko, the special "cram school” many Japanese children attend to improve their chances of gaining admission to private school. For three hours, at juko, Ruriko is tutored in science and math.

Ruriko and her mother board the train again and return home, where they enjoy a hasty supper. Then Ruriko settles down to her homework. Around 11:00 p.m. her mother brings her a snack of noodles and tea to keep up her energy for study. Shortly after 1:00 a.m. Ruriko goes to bed. Another day in the life of an ambitious Japanese schoolchild has ended.

This speaker could simply have listed facts about the Japanese system of primary education as though he were reciting from an encyclopedia. Instead he chose a better method—inventing "Ruriko”—to bring the topic to life. No matter what your subject, you can almost always find a way to express it in personal terms.

Assignment 1. Study the informative speech sample. Do you find the speech effective?