After all the preparations that go into your speech, you eventually present yourself to the audience. You may have spent days or even weeks to analyze your potential listeners, select your topic, organize and rehearse your speech. But you will finish your speech delivery in just a few minutes. Nevertheless, the actual delivery is the highlight and finale of the public speaking experience.
Delivery is one of the most obvious parts of public speaking, and one that attracts the initial attention of both the speaker and the audience.
If one were to ask a listener what he thought of a speech that had just been delivered, the reply would be something like: “I think she has a very pleasant voice;” “I think he should have moved around more;” and “I couldn’t always hear her.”
Obviously, delivery is not everything in public speaking. A good delivery cannot compensate for a poorly prepared message, or one lacking in substance. Despite that, most of us know the significance of delivery, and at times it scares us. We may feel pretty at ease preparing the speech, conducting the research, organizing and outlining our ideas, and so on. However, when faced with the actual “standing and delivering,” we may become very nervous. The more we know about delivery, the better our chances of doing it successfully. Delivery may not be everything in speech development, but it is a very obvious and important part.
Take for instance, the case of a famous talk-show host - Oprah Winfrey. Oprah’s show still leads the talk-show ratings. How does she do it? She is enthusiastic, interesting, powerful, persuasive, caring, and – most important of all – believable. She appears as if she is speaking directly to each of her audience; she is real, and she is believable. She does more than just organize convincing ideas; she presents her thoughts in a believable way. She knows how to connect with her audience by communicating with them verbally, visually, and vocally. And so can you.
Your delivery isn’t more essential than what you have to say, but without good delivery your listeners may never hear what you have to say. To make your presentation believable, you must practice.
Visual Delivery
Because the first impression comes more from what the audience see than from what they hear, we will first talk about visual delivery – particularly, how to appear to your audience. As a public speaker, your physical appearance, posture, facial expressions, eye contact, body movements, and gestures all influence your audience’s perception.
The audience judges yourappearanceas a hint to your position, credibility, and knowledge. Unless you are sure about what is suitable for the audience and the occasion, the safest thing to do is to dress conservatively.
Good postureis nothing more than standing straight and having your “chest out” and “stomach in.” Proper posture makes the speaker look and feel comfortable, and aids voice projection and poise.
Move around occasionally.Body movementcan add interest, energy, and confidence to your presentation. To add emphasis, try moving at the beginning of an idea or at a transition between ideas. If you are using a projector and transparencies, be sure what is shown coincides with what you are saying.
Gesturesare movements of the hands, arms, head, and the shoulders to help you communicate. They play an important role in public speaking, but they must enhance communication and not hinder it. Try making the gestures when rehearsing a speech. Practice before a mirror, even to the point of exaggerating. Then adapt your gestures to a point where they are appropriate and natural. However, gestures should be spontaneous. Too many gestures may distract the audience.
One kind of gesture isfacial expression. This reveals your attitudes and feelings. Let your face glow with happiness or burn with enthusiasm. Avoid wearing the deadpan poker face that reveals nothing. This doesn’t mean that you will always give vent to your feelings in a bombastic and extravagant manner. A good speaker expresses views and feelings with appropriate restraint.
Eye contactis a very important factor in getting and holding attention. Look at your listeners directly, not above them or at the floor or ceiling or out of the window; otherwise, you lose your contact with your audience and their attention strays off.
Here are some questions you might consider in order to guide your visual delivery:
Do I gesture enough? Too much?
Does my body movement reinforce the flow of my speech?
Are my gestures disturbing in any way?
Am I depending so much on any one gesture?
Does my face express the meaning or feeling I am trying to convey?
Are there different gestures, body movements, or facial expressions that might express my intended meaning more effectively?
Vocal Delivery
We all like to have an effective voice. Voice is essential in communication; only through it can any speech delivery be accomplished.
An effective voice is conversational, natural, and enthusiastic. It is pleasant to hear without even intending to. The audience will listen more if you speak as you do in a normal conversation.
Sounds have four fundamental characteristics: volume, pitch, rate, and quality. If any of these is faulty, distraction results. Important announcements are uttered in a slow manner and with a relatively low pitch, whereas jokes or other light remarks are uttered in a rapid fashion with a relatively higher pitch.
1. Volume
A well-modulated voice is important to be an effective speaker. Many people have very soft voices, which can be due to shyness or lack of training or lack of practice in voice projection. People with soft voices are often regarded as dull. A person who wants to develop an attractive, pleasing, and dynamic personality should undergo training in voice projection.
There is no hard and fast rule about the degree of loudness that should be used on different occasions, but an effective voice must be as loud as the specific speaking situation requires. If you are speaking to a group, every member of the audience with normal hearing and concentration should be able to understand your statements without straining their ears and without getting irritated because of an excessively loud voice. Good speakers fit voice and actions to the words used, to the situation, and to their personalities. An important principle in speaking clearly is that consonants should be pronounced well. Vowels are easier to pronounce, yet consonants give intelligibility to speech.
A voice that is dominated by intellect rather than emotion tends to be moderate in pitch as well as in loudness. This does not imply that intellectual efforts are devoid of feeling. It just implies that intellectual efforts accompanied by vocalization are not normally characterized by the exaggerated range and intensity of feeling exhibited in emotional behavior alone.
2. Pitch
Pitch is the general level on a musical scale of the voice in speech. If a person is habitually tense, the voice is often in a higher pitch level than that of a habitually relaxed person. Pitch may either be high, medium, or low; or we may use such terms as soprano, alto, baritone, or bass for vocal pitch.
Natural pitch in speaking is important for an effective voice. One who speaks unnaturally will be ineffective, disagreeable, and uncomfortable.
3. Rate
There are three rates or tempos in speaking – slow, average, and fast. A markedly slow speaking rate indicates solemnity, sorrow, or depression. A marked increase in rate is suggestive of happiness, joy, elation, or anger. Words or phrases that are spoken more slowly and more emphatically are considered more important and more intellectually significant than rapidly pronounced words. However, a sustained, unchanging rate of speaking is discouraged regardless of feeling, mood, or purpose because it is monotonous.
Changes in rate can be achieved by the rate of articulation or by the use of pauses. The use of pauses is a very useful technique for separating or grouping phrases, for creating dramatic effects, and for emphasizing ideas. As a general rule, the use of a comma is a sign for the reader or speaker to pause. But in some instances, long sentences without commas should also be divided according to thought content by a pause to give time for breathing and for the listener to grasp fully what is being read or said.
Dramatic effect can be achieved by speakers who pause after a rising inflection, thereby creating suspense; after which the expected outcome follows to the satisfaction of their listeners. Effective speakers, however, should avoid pauses showing that they don’t know what to say next. Speakers who know how to pause with intent and without fear are respected speakers.
4. Quality
Voice characteristics (or voice timbre) and voice attitudes (or voice color) come under the general term of voice quality. A person’s voice can be categorized as pleasant or unpleasant depending upon its timbre and color or quality. What is voice quality? This term is hard to identify and no attempt will be made to define it here except to show its relations to other factors and how to achieve this. Vocal quality is related to resonance and to the avoidance of undesirable vocal aspects such as excessive nasality and breathing. It is also related to feeling and mood.
Verbal Delivery
Besides being greatly conscious of your visual delivery (you and your visual aids) and vocal delivery (your manner of speaking), the audience will focus on your verbal delivery (the language you use and the way you construct sentences). Listeners prefer speakers who use a more informal language than what is usual for written reports. For instance, in oral speech, it is more appropriate to use short, simple sentences, and it is not always required to use complete sentences. Moreover, it is absolutely acceptable to use personal pronouns such asI, we, you,andusand contractions such asI’manddon’t– forms that are frequently avoided in formal written reports.
One mistake is to use long or extremely technical terms or jargon to impress the audience. Even though you are speaking in a professional setting, don’t think that your listeners use or understand the same technical words or jargon that you do. The best language isvivid and colorful(paints a picture for the audience),concrete and specific(gives details), andsimple(is easy to understand).
Putting your ideas into simple, easy-to-understand language that suits the contexts of your audience and is vivid, specific, and bias-free can be difficult at the start. As you practice on the essentials of delivery, however, remember the rules discussed here and your language and style of speaking will progress.
Methods of Delivery
There are four methods of delivering a speech: impromptu, manuscript reading, memorization, and extemporaneous.
1. The Impromptu Speech
Of the four methods, the impromptu speech requires the least preparation. With very little advance notice, the speaker is asked to speak for a few minutes on a specific subject.
Try to apply the following principles or rules in giving an impromptu speech.
Formulate the central idea. Don’t try to discuss the entire subject. Limit yourself to a specific aspect that you can discuss in a few minutes.Be sure you know the idea you want to present before you start.
Open your talk with a sentence that says something. Don’t be apologetic. Begin with a bang, and go straight to the point.
The body of your speech must be unified. You can give examples, illustrations, comparisons, and contrasts to help explain your key sentences. Be as concrete and specific as possible.
Conclude on a strong note. You can repeat your key sentences, but rephrase them. Restate them briefly but clearly.
Here are other guidelines with regards to giving an impromptu speech:
Expect the possibility that you might be called on to speak, so make some preparations early.
Maximize whatever small amount of preparation time you are given to your benefit.
Practice active listening.
Manage speech anxiety by reminding yourself that no one expects you to be perfect when you are asked to give impromptu speeches.
Use the fundamental principles of speech organization.
Consider the impromptu speech as giving a golden opportunity to practice and develop your delivery.
2. The Manuscript Speech
A manuscript or read speech is one that is written out and read word for word during delivery. When the occasion is a solemn or historic one, the read speech is the most appropriate. Persons of prominence read their speeches for accuracy and precision. This kind of speech lacks spontaneity and naturalness that the impromptu speech or the extemporaneous speech has. The speaker reading the speech should maintain rapport with the audience.
Here are some guidelines in giving a manuscript speech:
Use a manuscript for the right reasons.
Use good oral style.
Practice intensively.
Look for opportunities to move and gesture.
Use your voice effectively.
Remain flexible.
3. The Memorized Speech
This method of delivery is good only for elocution pieces. Like the read speech, it lacks spontaneity and naturalness. In addition, human memory might fail the speaker during the delivery and can cause great embarrassment. This type of speech should not be used in public speaking classes.
Here are some guidelines in giving a memorized speech:
Stay focused on your specific purpose and on the key ideas you want to convey.
Speak in the moment.
Practice, practice, practice!
4. The Extemporaneous Speech
This method is recommended for public speaking classes. It is not read nor memorized. It has spontaneity and naturalness. The speaker also has time to prepare the ideas embodied in it, though the language is formulated at the moment of delivery. This speech is also practiced but the words and arrangement of words are changed to something better and more effective. In rehearsing, the speaker is simply guided by a mental outline. If notes are held, these simply contain quotations from famous authors and speakers that help expound the ideas. The speaker doesn’t memorize the speech but knows from memory the order of ideas to achieve unity, organization, and clarity in speech.
An extemporaneous speech:
Requires careful preparation.
Is based on a key word outline.
Allows the speaker to remain direct, involved, and flexible.
Practicing Your Speech
At times, most speakers read through the outline silently a few times and think they are all set for a delivery. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If you have not practiced your speech aloud several times, most likely you are not prepared to speak. There is a great difference between reading about how to deliver an effective speech and actually doing it. The only way to convert what you have read into what you can do is topracticeit. Keep in mind that your objective is to sound confident and be natural – just like talking to friends. If you have been envisioning yourself giving a successful speech, you have taken a crucial first move towards confident delivery. Good or bad speeches are a matter of habit. Habits are formed and developed through constant practice.
Feeling confident while speaking is one of the advantages of practicing. The best outcomes are achieved if you prepare in two ways:
By envisioning yourself giving an effective and successful speech, and,
By actually practicing your speech aloud.
Here are pointers when practicing your speech.
First, read through your speech silently several times until you are ready to begin. However, doing this is not practicing speech delivery. It may help you check for problems of organization and may help you familiarize yourself with the material, but it won’t help in any way with your vocal and visual delivery and will only help a little with your verbal delivery.
Practice delivering your speech aloud with your notes and outline. There is no alternative for practicing out loud – standing on your feet, using your notes and visual aids, practicing your gestures and eye contact, and speaking aloud.
Stand straight, if possible, before a full-length mirror placed at a distance where your audience would be.
For the first rehearsals, use your outline until you are sure of your main points and their order.
After the first rehearsal, pause and ask yourself if the order you followed is the best order of ideas possible, if the material you gathered is enough, if the way you expressed your ideas is the best, and if your choice of words is appropriate.
Practice your speech aloud all the way through – noting parts that are rough, rereading your notes, and then practicing once more.
Divide the speech into parts and practice major sections, such as the introduction, several times repeatedly.
Repeat the practice session as many times as needed until you have gained self-confidence and self-assurance, taking note of the proper enunciation and pronunciation of your vowels and consonants, appropriate pausing and phrasing, stress, optimum pitch, and volume.
When you are reasonably sure of your major headings and subtopics and their order, you may set aside your outline and practice with only your notes. (Notes here mean saying quotations from famous authors and speakers that you would like to quote to drive home a point.)
Always take breaks. Avoid practicing so much at one time that you begin to lose your energy, voice, or concentration.
Practice alone at first. Record (either audio or video) your speech and play it back in order to get feedback on your vocal delivery. Avoid dissecting your delivery. Concentrate on major concerns.
If possible, visit the room where you will speak and practice using the equipment there or practice in a room similar to the one in which you will be speaking. If your practice room does not have the equipment necessary for using your visuals, simulate handling them. If you are giving a manuscript speech, make sure that the manuscript is double- or triple-spaced in 14 or 16-point type. Place manuscript pages into a stiff binder. Practice holding the binder high enough that you can glance down at the manuscript without having to bob your head.
When you begin to feel comfortable with your speech, practice in front of a small audience (friends or family members). Ask them for specific comments and feedback on your verbal, visual, and vocal delivery. Practice making direct eye contact and using gestures. If you have a video camera, let a friend film you so that you can observe yourself. If you discover any awkward spots in your speech, decide how to modify the speech to smooth them out.
Over a period of time, practice your speech over again several times, all the way through, but guard against memorization. Note that practice doesn’t mean memorize.
Make sure to time yourself several times. If your speech is too long, make appropriate cuts. For example, you might cut a portion that is less important, use fewer illustrations, edit long quotations, or plan to tell the audience that you will be glad to address an issue more fully during the question-and-answer period. Note that, if your speech is too long or too short, you may violate the audience’s expectations and damage your credibility.
At least once before the actual speech (two or three times would be better), practice using your visual aids with all the needed equipment. Videotape yourself if possible, or ask a friend to observe one of your final practices.
Try to get enough sleep the night before your speech. On the day of the speech, get to the venue early so that you can compose yourself. Check to see that your notes and visuals are in the proper order, and read through your outline one last time.
Bear in mind that no one expects you to be perfect. If you commit a mistake, correct it if necessary and proceed. Then forget it. If you have practiced until you feel comfortable with your speech and have envisioned yourself giving an effective speech, you should feel enthusiastic and confident.
Response to Audience Questions
The key to successful question-and-answer periods is to actually know your topic and expect questions from the audience. One of the most frustrating things about speaking is having to eliminate so much vital information (both personal and research-based) from your speech because of time constraints. But, if you are preparing a question-and-answer period to go with your speech, it is almost impossible to know everything about your topic. The more you know, the better your answers will be.
Besides knowing your topic, expect several questions that you think your audience may ask and prepare one or two visual aids to use when answering these questions. Before preparing entirely new visuals, see if one or more overlays (for instance, one with a line graph that contains new information) could be included to a visual that you want to use in your speech. The overlays would be used only during the question-and-answer period. Certainly, it’s always possible that none of these questions will be asked. But just in case, you can impress your audience tremendously.
The following suggestions may help you with your question-and-answer period. If you conduct audience questions well, you can make your message more convincing.
Listen attentively to each question asked.
If appropriate, repeat the question before answering it so that everyone can hear it and keep track of what is going on.
Rephrase any confusing or negative questions in a clear and positive way.
Think a moment before answering each question. If you don’t know the answer, say so, and refer the questioner to someone in the audience who does know. Or, tell the person that it’s a good question and that you will find the answer and let that person know in the next meeting.
Do not allow one person to dominate the forum period.
If you think a question is irrelevant or will take too long to answer, thank the person for the question and mention that you will talk with that individual personally about it after the period.
Don’t try to fake your way through a response.
Don’t argue or get angry or defensive while answering questions. What you say during the question-and-answer period will influence the audience’s overall judgment of your credibility and your speech.
If appropriate, actively encourage listeners to participate.
If you expect a hostile audience, avoid a question-and-answer period in any way possible. If not, mention in your introduction that there will be a short question-and-answer period at the end of your speech and ask the audience to write out questions during the speech. After your initial conclusion, collect the questions, select three or four good ones, and answer them – ignoring the less desirable ones.
Watch your time, and end the period with a final conclusion that refocuses audience attention and puts a pleasing closure on your speech.
