How to Write a Demonstrative Speech (An Instructional Process)
Depending on one’s life and activities, we all have tasks that should be completed every single day, no matter how mundane or difficult they may be. But what if there are tasks that you are required to carry out but have no clue how to? This is where demonstrative speeches come in.
These are basically “how to” speeches that outline and elaborate different ways to complete a particular task. These instructional speeches are very common, especially in high school and college and are also very necessary in environments that require training, such as the corporate world.
Demonstrative speeches usually give a step-by-step process on how to do a specific task, which is then followed up with explanations and any additional information that may be needed to carry out that task. Having some visual aids that help demonstrate the steps required to achieve the task also goes a long way in providing context to your audience.
Process for Writing a Demonstration Speech
First things first, before writing any speech, you need to draw up an outline. This will help you avoid having a jumbled up speech, and will allow you to organize your speech in a way that is easy to follow and understand.
1. Begin your outline by asking yourself "Why"
What new information will an individual gain from your speech? As we have seen above, a demonstrative speech teaches your audience how to carry out a certain task.

People tend to learn easily and understand things better when they are motivated to do so. Therefore, you should tell your audience why they should listen and learn about what you will be teaching them.
People don't buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it."

Simon Sinek
Author
By revealing to them how they will benefit from the information you provide, you motivate your audience to want to learn more about your topic of discussion.
2. Provide an overview
Once you have revealed to your audience your topic of discussion, it is important that you give them a general outline of your entire process. This is because when learning a new task, some people may fear that it will be too complex for them.

Providing an overview helps assure your audience that not only is the topic beneficial but it is also easy to follow.
Additionally, it provides your audience with context on how the steps you highlighted here will fit together as you delve deeper into your demo.
3. Explain the steps involved in your process
This is the most important part of a demonstrative speech.
First, you should ensure that you have arranged your steps in the correct order to avoid any confusion. After this, you will then need to explain each step down to the minute details in a language that is easy to understand.

Here, you will explain what exactly is required in each step, how it will be done and the reason why it must be done. The use of visual aids in this step is crucial as they will assist individuals in your audience to understand better.
Pro-Tip: Ensure that the number of steps you have in your speech are as few as possible, this will help avoid confusion.
Additionally, you should maintain eye contact with your audience as you demonstrate each step.
4 .Talk about variations, other options and instructions
Now that you have demonstrated to your audience how the task should be conducted from start to finish, you can now provide them with variations to the process or additional options.
For instance, if you were explaining how to cook a certain dish, now is the time to reveal to them alternative ingredients that can be used to make the dish.
5. Ensure you allot time for Q&A
Question and answer portions allow a session to be more interactive. Additionally, this time can be used to clarify some steps that had not been well understood by the audience, which in turn, clears up confusion.

Pro-Tip: Monitor your time as you give a demonstration, as this will ensure that you do not rush through the entire process and have to explain everything once more in the Q&A session.
6. Give a brief summary to your instructional speech
You should end your speech by giving a short summary of the whole process, after which you can go through the benefits once more and assure your audience that not only is the entire process easy but it’s also realizable.
You might also like: How to End Your Speech with a Bang
Now that we’re good to go on your speech outline, let’s focus on some extra tips.
How to choose the Best Demonstrative Speech Topic
Your topic is an extremely important part of your presentation, as it should reflect your process as well.
Here are a few tips to guide you on how to choose the best topic for your demonstrative speech.
- Take into consideration the amount of time you have to deliver your speech.
This will make it easy for you to determine how broad or lengthy your topic should be. If you have a significant amount of time, you have the luxury and room to incorporate more ideas into your discussion.
- Your audience
Before deciding on a topic of discussion, you should always ask yourself, “will my audience learn anything?” You should ensure that your topic is not only relevant to your audience but also helpful.
We can now move on to what makes a demonstrative speech good.
How to Improve the Quality of Your Demonstration Speech
I believe it’s common knowledge that everyone can write a speech but not everyone can write a good speech. As we have seen above, demonstrative speeches are all about teaching people, so you first need to be organized to ensure that the process is as easy to understand as it can be.

Here are a few things to bear in mind:
1.Speech Structure
Your speech needs to start with an introduction and end with a summary.
You should ensure that all the parts of your speech are cohesive as this will allow you to get your message across without confusing your audience.
2. Visual Aid
Using visuals such as diagrams and charts in your demonstrative speech will help your audience understand better.
Research has shown that an individual learns better through a visual aid. Scaled-down or real props can also be used during demonstrations.
Pro-Tip: Ensure your visuals can be seen clearly from all angles.

3. Follow-up Resources
Apart from using visuals, you can also provide your audience with follow-up resources that they can use after you have finished up with your demonstration.
This will improve the likelihood that the audience will successfully practice the process or task.
Follow up resources can include:
- Handouts, which summarize the steps in the demonstration and include diagrams that illustrate any important features
- Books, websites or pamphlets that can be used to learn more about a certain process
4. Audience Participation
You could also have a few members of the audience participate in the demonstration.
Actively engaging your audience by having them carry out the steps increases the probability that they will remember the steps and be able to conduct the process or task independently even after the presentation.

However, this is dependent on how much time you have to give your presentation. If you have limited time, then you will have to provide detailed handouts to your audience and if you can, get one or two volunteers from the audience to assist you in your presentation.
Pro-tip: Encouraging participation and engaging your audience allows you to have a healthy discussion where individuals are motivated to learn more.
There you have it! Go ahead and write a demonstrative speech making use of the recommendations above, and see how your audience will follow you all the way to the end!