1. SPEAK TO THE EYES: Stand erect, with your eyes level, in a posture appropriate for giving a speech. Look directly at the eyes of your audience. Do not look at their feet. Do not slouch. Do not stare at the floor when you talk because you cannot be heard when you do that. Do not speak to the carpet. The carpet cannot hear you. People will think you are mumbling because, well, frankly, you are mumbling: you are speaking to the carpet instead of to them.
Do not stare at the ceiling when you talk because people will not believe that you are speaking to them when you do that, either. Do not speak to the ceiling. The ceiling cannot hear you. Speak to the people instead. Do not stare at the “exit sign” over the door. The sign cannot hear you.
And lastly, do not stand there with your eyes closed when you give your speech. I saw a man do this once, and it was probably the most unnerving thing I had ever seen in my entire life. I don’t know what he did to keep himself from falling over as he stood there with his eyes closed. And it was so distracting that you could not concentrate at all on what the man was saying. Standing there with your eyes closed might work well in a DUI screening test. But it doesn’t work in a speech. Open your eyes. Look at your audience. And speak.
2. SYNTACTICAL UNITY: Speak in complete syntactical units of phrase, rather than in periodic bursts of speech. Do not say (as Jimmy Carter would), “I just want to say......that I have come here......to speak to you today...blah, blah, blah.” Instead, speak in complete sentences from beginning to end, without those annoying and unnecessary pauses. Speak from the beginning to the first punctuation point and then pause. Speak until the next punctuation point and pause again. Speak between punctuation points. Understand that: Speak between punctuation points. Continue this process until you have completed your speech. Incidentally, some might argue that the perception of Carter as an incompetent president stems from this very lazy speech habit that he used. The principle is sound: Speak like a fool, and people will come to believe that you really are a fool.
3. DICTION: Speak slowly, clearly and forcefully, from the beginning of a syntactical unit until the very end. Enunciate deliberately and distinctly. Never rush your speech. Never slur your words. Pronounce each word as if it were vitally important. When necessary, repeat important parts of your address - words, phrases or ideas. Be particularly aware of people in your audience who cough (or create disturbances - crying babies, etc.) at precisely the same time you are attempting to make your most important point. It is always better to repeat what you are saying than to risk being misunderstood because some rude person coughed your speech into incomprehension.
Young people, in particular, should study the speech patterns of older people and attempt to emulate that speech. Adults quite often will not tell younger people that their speech patterns are absolutely incomprehensible to anyone other than other young people. The youngsters, quite naturally, then believe that there’s nothing wrong with their speaking habits. But those kids need to be told. Many of them speak like eight-year-old girls at a pajama party - with all of that tittering, breathless, sewing-machine speech. The only way such youngsters could ever be taken seriously would be to stand in front of a dog with a cookie in their hands. No one else on the planet will pay any attention to them because their speech habits make others stop listening to them. Chatter like a monkey and your listeners will go deaf.
4. MODULATION: Speak in a well-modulated tone from the beginning to the end of each sentence. Do not drift off at the end of each sentence, or swallow your words, or turn your head away from your audience so that your meaning is lost to your listeners. Allow them to hear every single word of your speech. Always speak with a chest voice rather than a head voice, and when you do that, project your voice to the far wall of the room in which you’re standing. Speak with enough force that you can hear the natural resonance of the room. When using a microphone, pay attention to the fact that oftentimes such instruments are unidirectional and if you turn your head even slightly away from the microphone, it will not pick up your voice.
Always be aware that a speech can whimper into incomprehensibility when the energy level of the speaker dies before the speech has ended. Often the speaker starts out forcefully, only to allow his speech to die on the vine of muffled speech before his speech has ended. The principle is clear: Speak in a well-modulated tone from the beginning to the end of each sentence, and from the beginning to the end of the speech.
5. ASK QUESTIONS: Engage your audience by asking questions frequently. Make sure that your listeners are required to listen attentively in order to avoid being caught daydreaming and being unable to answer one of those questions because of inattentiveness. Do not allow your listeners to sleep on your watch.
Do not stare at the ceiling when you talk because people will not believe that you are speaking to them when you do that, either. Do not speak to the ceiling. The ceiling cannot hear you. Speak to the people instead. Do not stare at the “exit sign” over the door. The sign cannot hear you.
And lastly, do not stand there with your eyes closed when you give your speech. I saw a man do this once, and it was probably the most unnerving thing I had ever seen in my entire life. I don’t know what he did to keep himself from falling over as he stood there with his eyes closed. And it was so distracting that you could not concentrate at all on what the man was saying. Standing there with your eyes closed might work well in a DUI screening test. But it doesn’t work in a speech. Open your eyes. Look at your audience. And speak.
2. SYNTACTICAL UNITY: Speak in complete syntactical units of phrase, rather than in periodic bursts of speech. Do not say (as Jimmy Carter would), “I just want to say......that I have come here......to speak to you today...blah, blah, blah.” Instead, speak in complete sentences from beginning to end, without those annoying and unnecessary pauses. Speak from the beginning to the first punctuation point and then pause. Speak until the next punctuation point and pause again. Speak between punctuation points. Understand that: Speak between punctuation points. Continue this process until you have completed your speech. Incidentally, some might argue that the perception of Carter as an incompetent president stems from this very lazy speech habit that he used. The principle is sound: Speak like a fool, and people will come to believe that you really are a fool.
3. DICTION: Speak slowly, clearly and forcefully, from the beginning of a syntactical unit until the very end. Enunciate deliberately and distinctly. Never rush your speech. Never slur your words. Pronounce each word as if it were vitally important. When necessary, repeat important parts of your address - words, phrases or ideas. Be particularly aware of people in your audience who cough (or create disturbances - crying babies, etc.) at precisely the same time you are attempting to make your most important point. It is always better to repeat what you are saying than to risk being misunderstood because some rude person coughed your speech into incomprehension.
Young people, in particular, should study the speech patterns of older people and attempt to emulate that speech. Adults quite often will not tell younger people that their speech patterns are absolutely incomprehensible to anyone other than other young people. The youngsters, quite naturally, then believe that there’s nothing wrong with their speaking habits. But those kids need to be told. Many of them speak like eight-year-old girls at a pajama party - with all of that tittering, breathless, sewing-machine speech. The only way such youngsters could ever be taken seriously would be to stand in front of a dog with a cookie in their hands. No one else on the planet will pay any attention to them because their speech habits make others stop listening to them. Chatter like a monkey and your listeners will go deaf.
4. MODULATION: Speak in a well-modulated tone from the beginning to the end of each sentence. Do not drift off at the end of each sentence, or swallow your words, or turn your head away from your audience so that your meaning is lost to your listeners. Allow them to hear every single word of your speech. Always speak with a chest voice rather than a head voice, and when you do that, project your voice to the far wall of the room in which you’re standing. Speak with enough force that you can hear the natural resonance of the room. When using a microphone, pay attention to the fact that oftentimes such instruments are unidirectional and if you turn your head even slightly away from the microphone, it will not pick up your voice.
Always be aware that a speech can whimper into incomprehensibility when the energy level of the speaker dies before the speech has ended. Often the speaker starts out forcefully, only to allow his speech to die on the vine of muffled speech before his speech has ended. The principle is clear: Speak in a well-modulated tone from the beginning to the end of each sentence, and from the beginning to the end of the speech.
5. ASK QUESTIONS: Engage your audience by asking questions frequently. Make sure that your listeners are required to listen attentively in order to avoid being caught daydreaming and being unable to answer one of those questions because of inattentiveness. Do not allow your listeners to sleep on your watch.
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