How do you determine if a particular speech is effective?

I determine if a particular speech is effective by listening to whether it is an informative speech. Based on what type of audience the speaker is addressing, I see whether the content and information in the speech is relevant. For example, if the speaker's topic is the solar system, I would deem his or her speech effective if he or she were to talk about the Milky Way and planets and whether or not the informative style is suitable for the people he or she is addressing. To me, his or her informative speech would be effective if it is simple to understand when addressing middle school students and slightly more advanced if addressing high school students.

Next, I would say a speaker's address is effective if it is entertaining. A speech in which half the audience is dozing off or gazing into the distance and not paying attention would not be an effective speech in my opinion. Even though, to me, a speaker has to have relevant chunks of information for the audience in his or her speech, a boring informative speech would not be effective because at the end of the day, hardly anyone would listen to the information being presented. Particularly for me, I think an entertaining speech with less information is more effective than a boring speech with a thesis from the University of Harvard.

I would also determine whether a particular speech is effective by rating how persuasive a speaker is. To me, if a person cannot persuade the audience that what he or she is presenting about is important, then he or she would not need to speak at all as no change would occur. To me, determining whether a speech is effective encompasses this particular detail because to me, speeches are all about change. The speaker wants the audience to be more vigilant to prevent snatch theft or to do their part to prevent global warming for example, and so that would be the purpose of the speech. To achieve that purpose, I believe that one has to be persuasive to get that message across. Therefore, I determine an effective speech by three main things that are whether the speech is informative, entertaining and persuasive for me.