Introduction to Delivering A Good Speech
The world is governed more by appearance than realities so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.
—Daniel Webster, 1782–1852
A good speech is made up of more than just words; our bodies communicate at least as loudly as our voices. In this lesson, we will learn how to communicate with the whole body.
Never judge a book by its cover, we're told, because appearances can be deceiving. These sayings are very true, of course, yet like all our other rules, they have a counterpart. When it comes to public speaking, your appearance can be as important as your words.
Good grooming and appropriate attire are only a small part of this topic. You can be as tastefully dressed and carefully groomed as a professional and still undermine your message by something as subtle as poor posture or unclear delivery. Let's consider some of the things that go into making a good appearance.
Personal Appearance
Good Grooming
We'll start with the most obvious area, our physical appearance. It is important to dress in a manner that is appropriate to the occasion. Always dress one notch better than your audience. Here are some general categories to help you show up with the right amount of style:
- Casual: Jeans, tennis shoes, t-shirts
- Business Casual: Khakis, slacks, casual shirts and blouses, loafers
- Business Formal: Suits, dresses, dress shoes, neckties
- Formal: Tuxedoes, formal gowns, matching accessories
If your audience will be those present at a business meeting on casual Friday, you should plan on dressing in the business formal category. This is just a rule of thumb, however; common sense still applies. You wouldn't address a business audience wearing a top hat and tuxedo.
It's also a good idea to check your facial appearance in a mirror prior to speaking. This will ensure that your hair is in place, there's no spinach in your teeth, and you haven't sneezed out an unwelcome surprise. It will also increase your confidence and decrease your anxiety to know that you don't have to worry about your appearance.
Avoid distracting items such as jangling jewelry or loud colors. I recently sat through an entire lecture staring at the speaker's red tie because I couldn't get over thinking that his tongue was hanging out of his shirt. Bracelets that rustle and make noise are a major distraction whenever you gesture, and even jingling loose change in your pockets can be annoying to the audience.
Good Posture
When I was in elementary school, teachers were constantly admonishing some student or other—frequently me—to stand up straight. There are many reasons for maintaining good posture: Standing erect helps you breathe more comfortably, prevents fatigue, allows you to make eye contact with your audience, and projects your voice better, among other things. But one major reason for good posture is that it projects the image that you are confident and well prepared.
Closely associated with good posture is the notion of "opening out" toward your audience. By this I mean that you face your audience directly, keeping your head up and your eyes at their level, psychologically removing any barrier between you and your listeners and opening up your countenance to them. This is important because it makes your voice project clearly, and it also sends subtle body-language signals to your audience telling them that you are confident and trustworthy.
Of course, like anything else, erect posture can be overdone. You don't need to stand with your chin pressed into your neck and shoulders pushed way back like a Marine—unless you're a Marine. Your goal is to stand comfortably but upright. I have a tendency, evidently, to slump slightly forward and look down. I say "evidently" because I frequently catch myself while speaking in that posture and must consciously remember to square up my shoulders and open out toward the audience. Your best bet is to stand comfortably and remind yourself to keep your face open toward the audience.
Eye Contact, Body Language, and Voice
Eye Contact
Making good eye contact provides you with one of the most powerful methods of connecting with your audience. It simply involves looking at your listeners—straight into their eyes.
This is a natural habit for most people in normal social conversation. It is instinctive to look into the eyes of a person to whom you are speaking because you gain information that way. We go beyond the words of others in conversation by searching their eyes to find whether they are telling the truth, how they feel emotionally about what they're saying, and whether they're paying attention to us or to their surroundings. The same information is conveyed between you and your audience via sustained eye contact.
Remember to look directly at specific people in the audience as you're speaking, holding their gaze for approximately five seconds, then moving on to make eye contact with someone else. Shift your focus to different parts of the audience, looking at someone on your right, then at someone on your left, and then at someone in the back, and so forth. You'll probably also glance down at your notes from time to time, but this entire process of eye movement also contributes to using motion in your favor.
Good eye contact allows your audience to connect with you, but it also enables you to connect with them. It lets you know how your listeners are reacting to your words, and it also gives you good information on what parts of your speech are effective and what parts are less so. This information will prove valuable in future speeches, as you learn what works and what doesn't. And if you notice that your audience is dozing off or is distracted, you can make adjustments to your delivery and timing on the spot.
Gestures and Motion
You've undoubtedly heard television newscasters referred to as "talking heads." And, from an audience perspective, that's pretty much what they amount to. The reason is that the newscasters are sitting passively behind a desk, staring straight into the camera, and talking. That is not what you want to do when you speak publicly.
Physical motion is an important asset in holding the audience's attention. People naturally look at things that are moving, while we tend to lose interest quickly in stationary objects. You can use that knowledge to your advantage by giving your listeners something to attract their eyes.
Simple hand gestures can be very effective in this regard. Beginning speakers frequently wonder what to do with their hands when they stand in front of an audience, particularly if there is no podium—and here is the answer: Use them to your advantage by making natural gestures as you speak. Following are some tips:
- Use gestures to emphasize your words. If you're speaking of an increase in something, use your hands to expand away from each other in an increasing gesture—and vice versa if you're discussing a decrease in something.
- Use the same gestures you would naturally use when speaking to a friend. For example, if you said to a friend, "There are three reasons for this," you would probably hold up three fingers. "There is no way I'm doing that" would be accompanied by a palm-outward wave. These same gestures should be used when speaking to an audience.
- Go with your gut. If you're getting excited about your topic, let your hands reflect that excitement. If you're showing that your opponent's viewpoints make no sense, let your shoulders shrug up and hands move outward in the familiar "hey, I don't get it either" gesture. Your emotional reactions to your own speech—other than simple nervousness—are good indications of where gestures are needed.
- Use short, simple gestures. There are two reasons for this: You don't want to be thinking about your gestures rather than your speech, and you don't want the gestures to become distracting.
- Don't get carried away. As with all the other techniques being considered in these lessons, gestures can be overdone. Some people tend to gesture quite freely when they speak in normal conversation, and such habits can actually work against them instead of in their favor. We'll discuss distracting habits in more detail in Lesson 15; for now, be aware that gestures are like any other spice—best used sparingly.
Control Your Voice
This last element is as much a part of your body language as all the other components we've covered. If you mumble and don't project your voice, it tells the audience that you are unsure of what you're talking about. If you bellow like a bull, it tells your listeners that you are angry and confrontational. Both extremes are undesirable.
Learning to project confidently without shouting takes some practice, and the level of your projection will be dramatically influenced by the environment in which you are speaking. If you find yourself in a large hotel conference room, for example, you'll need to speak loudly and clearly to be heard by the people in the back. On the other hand, if you have a microphone, you'll want to moderate back on volume, lest you blast the people in the front.
The key to voice control ties back to Lesson 2: listening. Listen to the sound of your own voice as you speak in every situation, noting whether it seems to fill the space or simply sound muffled. Acoustics of rooms vary greatly, and the added dimension of microphone amplification will require that you pay attention to how your voice is reacting to the environment.
Finally, be mindful of your enunciation, making an effort to pronounce your words accurately and clearly. If you have a tendency to speak fast, slowing down will help you to carefully pronounce every syllable in your words. If you have a soft voice, deliberately increasing your volume will help you to enunciate. The goal is to avoid slurring syllables together in individual words.
Delivering A Good Speech Practice
Exercise
Use a video camera to record a dress rehearsal of your speech; then use this questionnaire to evaluate your delivery:
- Grooming:
- Were my clothes appropriate for the audience I'll be addressing?
- Was there anything in my appearance that was distracting?
- Did I fidget with clothing, jewelry, eyeglasses, etc.?
- Posture:
- Was I standing straight?
- Was I comfortable?
- Was I opened out toward the camera, or was my face obscured at times?
- Eye Contact:
- Did I connect with the camera?
- If I'd been in the audience, would I have felt connected to the speaker?
- Was I heavily dependent on my notes, or free to gaze into the camera?
- Gestures and Motion:
- Did I use my hands effectively?
- Did my gestures become a distraction?
- Did I move my body, or stand like a frozen statue?
- Voice:
- How well did I project my voice?
- Did I speak clearly?
- Did I enunciate my words well, or did I tend to slur at times?
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From Public Speaking Success in 20 Minutes a Day. Copyright © 2010 by LearningExpress, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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