A speaker who plans his or her speech so that it relates to the audience’s experience is a(n) _____.

A speech is not an assignment that can be done the night before; practice is essential.  Practicing a speech will boost your confidence as a speaker and ease potential anxiety.

Podium/lectern practice

Using or not using a podium does not make or break a speech. If using a podium, it should not be used to hide from the audience.  

• Stand tall—do not hold or lean on the podium
• Come out from behind the podium during the speech
  • Makes an impact especially at the conclusion of the speech
  • Allows audience to see you as a person, not just a face behind the podium
• Use gestures
  • Be sure gestures can be seen
• Make eye contact
  • It is easy with a podium to look down especially if you have notes or outlines
  • Maintain eye contact with the audience

Notes

Notes can be helpful. Know your instructor’s preference as some allow notes and some don’t. 

• Practice using your notes or speaking outline
  • Make sure to look at the audience
  • Know your notes well enough to find what you need
• Practice your speech
  • Know at what point(s) in your speech you may need to look down at your notes
  • Notes should be simple enough to keep the speech on track

Gestures

A gesture is the movement of your hands to express an idea. When practicing your speech, do not practice gestures, let them occur naturally.

• Use natural gestures. Gestures should be relaxed and enhance your speech
• Gestures should become part of the speech
  • If the topic is exciting, then be excited
• Make gestures visible, even if using a podium/lectern
• Use gestures sparingly. Gestures should not be what the audience remembers about your speech

Vocal delivery

Your voice should be loud enough to be heard and have variation (not monotone). This occurs naturally in conversation with friends—so your speech should sound the same.

Try practicing the following to work on vocal variations and delivery.

• Tongue twisters
• Rap
• Funny voices

 These will help you transition to a natural variation in volume and tone.

Adapt to length of the speech

In extemporaneous speaking, there are no ties to a manuscript, so there is flexibility in structure.

• When you have about 1 minute or 30 seconds left
  • Move to conclusion of the speech
• Remember it doesn’t matter if all the material is covered exactly as planned
  • The audience doesn’t know what was planned—they just experience the speech as it is delivered
• Ultimate goal of your speech is that the audience
  • Understands your topic
  • Remembers your thesis and key points

Be direct in speaking

For clarity and time constraints, watch for places where phrases can be more concise. Practicing your speech will allow you to hear where phrases can be shortened and made more concise. For example, instead of “due to the fact” say “because”. 

References

Beebe, S. A., & Beebe, S. J. (2012). A concise public speaking handbook. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Lucas, S. (2012). The art of public speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Sprague, J. & Stuart, D. (2013). The speaker's compact handbook, 4th ed. Portland: Ringgold, Inc.

Vrooman, S. S. (2013). The zombie guide to public speaking: Why most presentations fail, and what you can do to avoid joining the horde. Place of publication not identified: CreateSpace.

Connecting with the Audience

As a speaker, it is vital to make a personal connection with the audience. Your ability to establish this connection can make the difference between being evaluated positively or negatively, being believed or doubted, or delivering an effective or ineffective presentation. So, how do you make this connection? Simple, focus on identification and immediacy. Identification happens when a speaker emphasizes common values, goals, and experiences that exist between him or her and the audience. Immediacy refers to performing behaviors that increase feelings of liking, pleasure, and closeness in the minds of audience members. Below, tips on achieving identification and immediacy are discussed. 

Identification

Finding and highlighting common ground between you, the speaker, and the audience is a great way to create identification during a presentation. Identification allows a speaker to remove the invisible barrier that separates the speaker and audience. Try to find and highlight common values, goals, and experiences.

Common Values:Like a very basic audience analysis, think about what values you have in common with audience members. A sense of the difference between right and wrong, a belief in justice, or adhering to the golden rule are all good starting points for common values.

Common Goals:In line with the same thought process as finding common values, think about goals that you are likely to share with audience members. A desire to be a better person, the pursuits of success and happiness, as well as mental and financial security are goals that many people share.

Common Experiences: While all individuals have unique experiences that shape their worldviews, we often have similar experiences in life. Being part of a family or group, falling in love, and experiencing physical or emotional joy and pain are common to the human experience. Also, try using personal stories, as well as "we/us" language instead of an "I/you" style.

Immediacy

Performing certain behaviors during the delivery of a presentation typically improve an audience's evaluation and perception of a speaker. A few simple behaviors that you might try during your next speech are increased eye contact, relaxed posture, and smiling.

Eye Contact: A speaker's ability to make and maintain eye contact during a presentation impacts the audience's evaluations of how likable and trustworthy the speaker is. More eye contact (though you will want to avoid appearing to stare at the audience) is usually associated with higher evaluations of both categories. Remember to limit your notes and maximize your practice time so that you can make eye contact instead of reading your speech.

Relaxed Posture:A stiff speaker is less likely to connect with an audience than is a relaxed speaker. Relaxed speakers move freely and "own" the room, gesture comfortably, and generally seem conversational.

Smiling:Findings from multiple studies suggest that humans rate those who smile as being more attractive than those who do not smile. Sure, you don't want to smile at inappropriate times or maintain a constant smile during your entire presentation, but when appropriate, remember to "say cheese" during your presentation. 

Prepared by Carl J. Brown

Information partially adapted from Stephen Lucas' The Art of Public Speaking, Tenth Edition; Beebe, Beebe, & Ivy's Communication Principles for a Lifetime, Fourth Edition

Page last modified December 19, 2019

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