Experience Communication, 2e (Child)
Chapter 13 Public Presentations to Inform
1) If you are going to speak about geopolitics in an informative speech, your immediate behavioral
purpose might be to define terms or describe objects people, or issues.
2) You are going to inform an audience about the most effective way to learn a new language.
Your audience is composed of people who already know other languages and who have traveled
internationally. You will probably need to spend some time creating information hunger.
3) Your audience is composed of political science majors, and you are majoring in food and
nutrition. You want to talk about the benefits of organic food, so you will probably need to spend
some time at the beginning of your speech creating information relevance.
4) Extrinsic motivation is similar to immediate behavioral purpose.
5) If you want your audience to remember the information you are providing about geopolitics,
you’ll do best to use many details and specific facts.
6) Audience members are more likely to remember your message about the events that led to the
near extinction of the California condor if you use scientific terms and principles to explain.
7) You are going to speak about the roles people play in small groups. You decide to use comedy to
portray each role. By doing this, you are ensuring that the audience will clearly remember each
role and its functions.
8) When you show similarities between something that is well known to your audience (such as the
economic problems of college students) and something that is relatively unknown to them (the
economic problems of the homeless), you are using comparison.
9) Using an analogy to link the unknown to the known is not an appropriate strategy for an
informative speech.
10) If you want to reinforce your message on the effects of war, you might consider showing
pictures from news sources. This would be an example of effective visual aids.
11) Which of the following would be a sample statement of purpose for a presentation to define?
A) My purpose is to have the audience be able to contrast Asian carp with freshwater drum fish.
B) My purpose is for audience members to be able to correctly identify samples of vegetable
tanned leather mixed into a pile of samples of chemically tanned leather.
C) My purpose is to have my listeners correctly explain back to me the steps that are needed to
become a master electrician.
D) My purpose is to have my listeners be able to tell me what a prescriptive easement is and how
one is established under current laws.
12) What would be the goal of the speech topic “How to change blades on a riding lawn mower”?
A) to demonstrate something useful
B) to show how things relate in space
C) to clarify complex information
D) to increase what your listeners know about a topic
13) The immediate behavioral purpose of a speech
A) should be explicitly stated in the speech.
B) involves audience actions during and after the speech.
C) comes after the creation of a thesis for the speech.
D) deals with speaker actions during delivery of the speech.
14) The goal of an informative speech is to
A) move an audience to action.
B) increase an audience’s knowledge.
C) change the minds of audience members.
D) persuade the audience to act.
15) Which goal below would NOT be an example of an informative presentation?
A) one that teaches the audience about evolution
B) one that demonstrates how an electrical current works
C) one that increases audience understanding of immunization
D) one that tries to convince the audience to vote for immigration reform
16) Which topic best illustrates the informative goal of demonstrating how things relate in space?
A) how to find Jamaica among the Caribbean islands
B) how health insurance works
C) how one uses a wireless mouse
D) how people can improve their hygiene
17) Which topic best illustrates the informative goal of explaining a complex issue?
A) meeting and greeting customs of Indonesia
B) how to make basic Mexican recipes
C) how meiosis and mitosis work
D) what it’s like to travel in Bermuda
18) Which topic best illustrates the informative goal of demonstrating something useful?
A) an explanation of how the human circulatory system works
B) a demonstration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
C) an explanation of the health insurance system
D) a review of the wine list at a five-star restaurant
19) Which best illustrates an immediate behavioral purpose for an informative presentation?
A) After my presentation, I want my audience to like people who are different from them.
B) When I finish my speech, I want my audience to believe in justice and dignity for all human
beings.
C) After my presentation, I want my audience to be able to state one reason why they should favor
single-payer insurance policies.
D) After my presentation, I want my audience to admire American heroes.
20) Which item does NOT describe an immediate behavioral purpose for an informative
presentation?
A) The audience will be able to define words, objects, or concepts.
B) The audience will be able to describe objects, people, or issues.
C) The audience will be able to distinguish between things.
D) The audience will be able to understand an idea.
21) Doing something unusual to arouse an audience’s curiosity is a method of creating information
A) relevance.
B) overload.
C) hunger.
D) content.
22) Which of the following items should occur first in an informative presentation?
A) Create information hunger.
B) Provide evidence to prove your point.
C) Tell reasons for your suggested action.
D) Show graphs to illustrate the issue.
23) What is a rhetorical question?
A) a question that requires considerable explanation
B) a question that expects no answer
C) a question that has no answer
D) an especially controversial question
24) All of the following are benefits of Prezi presentation software EXCEPT
A) the cost.
B) its capacity to pan and zoom.
C) its capacity to incorporate sounds and images.
D) its capacity to accommodate video.
25) When a speaker tells you to listen carefully because her suggestions are likely to help you
secure a better job, she is using
A) an analogy.
B) a rhetorical approach.
C) mild coercion.
D) extrinsic motivation.
26) Which item below does NOT apply to content in an informative presentation?
A) Audiences remember and understand generalizations and main ideas better than details and
specific facts.
B) Simple words and concrete ideas are significantly easier to retain than are more complex
materials.
C) Humor can make a dull presentation more interesting, and it increases information retention.
D) Calling for overt audience response or behavior increases comprehension more than does
repetition.
27) Which item below is the best example of a generalization?
A) The black widow spider has eight legs.
B) Canadian author Alice Munro won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.
C) The star closest to earth is Proxima Centauri.
D) People who live in cities are fearful of crime.
28) When you make an informative presentation, you must quickly
A) ask a rhetorical question.
B) reveal how the presentation will meet audience needs.
C) tell a joke.
D) illustrate your main point with visual resources.
29) Information overload includes all of the following EXCEPT
A) cramming too much information into too little time.
B) using language or ideas that are extremely complex.
C) telling the audience more than they ever wanted to know.
D) explaining something complicated in overly simple language.
30) Which item below is NOT a good example for how to involve your audience?
A) Get the audience to perform some action like raising their hands if they agree.
B) Get audience members to reveal something very personal.
C) Convince the audience to actually do something you taught them.
D) Have the audience write down the reasons you have mentioned in your presentation.
31) Which item is NOT an organizational feature of an informative presentation?
A) Tell the audience what you are going to tell them.
B) Use transitions and signposts to increase understanding.
C) Repeat important points for better understanding.
D) Define your terms.
32) In his speech, Bob says that the perfect job does not have set hours, does not require reporting
to a direct supervisor, and does not pay below the median wage. Bob is using
A) a synonym.
B) an antonym.
C) a comparison.
D) an operational definition.
33) In her speech, Alana explains that the previous CEO’s leadership style was more hands-on,
traditional, reserved, and strict than the new CEO’s style. Alana is making use of
A) contrast.
B) synonym.
C) comparison.
D) antonym.
34) What approach are you using when you define a good teacher as someone who is “not boring,
not overly demanding, and not a hard grader”?
A) synonym
B) imagery
C) antonym
D) comparison
35) If you say, “He had a face like an abandoned mining town: pitted, grimy, and greasy,” which
descriptive technique are you using?
A) imagery
B) operational definition
C) illustration
D) synonym
36) The teacher who arouses the students’ interest and develops the topic of global warming by
simplifying and clarifying it is using
A) narrative.
B) explanation.
C) storytelling.
D) comparison and contrast.
37) “The U.S. Congress with its two competing parties is like two teams in a rope-pulling contest
where they are so evenly matched that nothing much moves or occurs.” This is a(n)
A) narrative.
B) explanation.
C) analogy.
D) contrast.
38) If medical students learn about anatomy by watching a surgeon cut up a cadaver, they are
learning through
A) demonstration.
B) narration.
C) comparison and contrast.
D) explanation.
39) Which item below is NOT a recommended method for using visual resources effectively?
A) Avoid foul-smelling, offensive, or disturbing visual resources.
B) Avoid dangerous or inappropriate items.
C) Explain your visual resources; don’t assume they are easy to understand.
D) Keep your visual resource up and visible throughout your presentation.
40) One main purpose of visual aids is to
A) offer an alternative to the verbal message.
B) take the pressure off of the speaker.
C) draw audience attention away from speaker mistakes.
D) reinforce the verbal message.
41) Willie is giving a speech on Stonehenge. He carries around a model of part of Stonehenge, but
one of the audience members looks at the model and tries to figure out what the mathematical
symbol for pi that Willie is carrying has got to do with Stonehenge. What mistake did Willie
make?
A) He did not explain his visual aid because he assumed the audience would recognize it as a
model of the monument.
B) He confused the audience by creating an overly complex visual aid that was easy to
misinterpret.
C) He did not pass the model around while he was discussing it.
D) He brought in a model that was boring and the audience did not notice it.
42) Louise projects a chart about preventing heart disease to a group of senior citizens. The chart
lists chemical equations and scientific names for cholesterol and various other substances that
influence heart disease, as well as scientific explanations for how they interact. The audience does
not learn as much about preventing heart disease as Louise had hoped. What mistake did Louise
make in using her visual aid?
A) She didn’t explain her visual aid thoroughly enough.
B) The visual aid was too complicated and detailed for her audience.
C) The content of the visual aid was not relevant to the topic.
D) She made the visual aid too simple.
43) What should a speaker bring to the podium when using a complete-sentence outline and note
cards?
A) only the outline
B) only the note cards
C) both the note cards and the outline
D) neither the note cards nor the outline
44) The first element of the introduction in the outline of an informative speech is
A) speaker credibility.
B) listener relevance.
C) the main point.
D) the attention getter.