Delivering Your Speech
When it comes to delivering your speech, there’s more involved than simply getting the words in your head out of your mouth. You’ll need to pay attention to a number of things, including vocal quality, mannerisms, how you use the space you’ve been given, etc. It’s a lot to learn all at once, but once you get the hang of it, it all becomes second nature.
Tone
When giving a speech, you need to keep in mind that you are communicating with an audience. There’s a tendency with novice public speakers to behave is if they’re talking to a wall rather than a human. Remember that communication is a two-way street, involving both the words coming out of your mouth, and how they’re received by the ears of your listeners. You will likely be tempted to make your speech sound overly formal and professional. In the forensics community, this is what’s known as dropping into “speech voice”. Don’t be embarrassed—we all do it—but one of the most consistent pieces of advice I give my students and those I judge is to imagine they’re having a conversation with friends over lunch and their topic happens to be the topic of their speech. How would you say the same thing if you were trying to convince your peers in a casual setting?
Note
The advice above doesn’t necessarily apply 100% of the time. It’ll depend on your setting and the content of your presentation. That said, it’s a good general rule to keep in mind that a conversational delivery will be more readily received.
Hand Motions
As you’re speaking, you’ll want to use your hands and upper body to convey meaning and add emphasis to your points. That said, there are a number of mannerism to try to avoid, because they will distract your audience and detract from what you’re saying.
Avoid fidgeting with things in your hands: a button, piece of jewelry, clothing, etc.
You don’t want your hands behind your back; rather, you want them in front of you where you can use them.
Generally hand motions below your waist aren’t helpful. Your audience will naturally focus on your face, so hands above the waist are more easily perceived.
Beware of messing with your hair or clothing. If you’ll have a tendency to do so, make sure your hair is pulled back for the speech itself, and plan your clothing appropriately.
There are two things you can do to improve your use of gestures throughout your piece. One is to perform it in front of others, asking them to pay attention to these things, and then debrief with them afterwards. Another is to record yourself speaking, and then watch the performance. Again, it will be helpful to do this with others, as they can give advice for what might be a useful motion here, or something else to try there, etc.
Blocking
We usually use the term blocking to refer to the various movements around the stage in a play. That said, the term also applies to speeches as well. Though you won’t exactly be acting something out in front of your audience, you still have a “stage” on which to work. It won’t be large, and will depend on the space you’ve been given in which to speak, but you’ll usually have roughly an eight-foot by eight-foot square in which to work. This is your stage; how do you utilize it?
Start center stage, fairly far back, for your introduction. Make sure you address the whole audience with your eyes and hand motions. Stay comfortably rooted in place for the duration of your introduction. What I mean by that is you’re not a pole, rigidly planted in the ground, but you do keep yourself in the same spot on the stage without fidgeting. You want all of your motions to be intentional and help convey meaning.
As you transition from the introduction into your first point, take a few steps forward and to one side. This is your new spot on the stage for your first point. As you move from your previous spot to this new one, that’s a subtle indication to your audience that you’ve finished talking about one thing, and you’re moving on to another. When speaking from this position, try to address more of your eye connections, hand motions, etc., to the folks on this side of the room, while at the same time not ignoring everyone else. It’s as if you’re having a more intimate side conversation with a few people over here, but it’s actually for the whole room to hear.
As you transition from your first to your second point, take a few steps toward the other side of the room. Again, this is a subtle indication that one subject is over and you’re moving on to another. This also gives you the opportunity to more intimately connect with the folks on this other side of the room.
Depending on the number of points you have, you can repeat this process of alternating which sections of your audience you’re talking with for each point. When it comes time for the conclusion, you want to wind up front and center, again addressing the entire audience.