The objective of the article is to identify the communicative categories and strategies that are used by well-known Russian linguists in lecture discourse and contribute to the effective transmission of information. The material of the research is three lectures (total duration of 210 minutes) studied through the discursive analysis, as well as the methods of observation, systematization and classification. Scientific novelty of the conducted study of lecture discourse is to determine the communicative strategies used by lecturers for the successful transmission of information to the recipient. As a result of the empirical material analysis, three communicative strategies have been identified - establishment of contact, clarification and cooperation, which can be combined into the main communicative category of the lecture discourse - the informing category.