Chapter 12: Delivering Your Speech

Chapter Summary

Speakers use four delivery methods: impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized. For most speeches, you'll want to speak extemporaneously, balancing careful planning with flexibility.

Several factors influence a public speaker's delivery, including culture and gender. Cultural norms that differ from those of the United States might require a public speaking student to develop new and adaptive skills. Similarly, women speakers often have to adapt to the fact that audiences evaluate women and men differently in some aspects of speech delivery. For example, audiences evaluate a female speaker's credibility primarily on her use of trustworthy sources, while they evaluate a male speaker's credibility on a broader range of factors. In addition, women often have trouble being heard because they tend to speak in a lower volume and at a higher pitch. A well-prepared speaker can overcome negative audience perceptions, regardless of gender.

Other factors that influence delivery are language fluency, dialect, and physical impairments. Regarding fluency, stuttering and dialect are common issues. Research has found that speakers who stutter may best manage the problem through acknowledgement and eye contact with the audience. And all speakers should examine their dialect and make any adjustments necessary for audience comprehension. Speakers with physical impairments may need to adjust their delivery in ways that work best for them and the audience.

Delivering your speech well means effectively managing your voice, your body, and your audience. In managing your voice and body, apply strategies such as using good vocal variety, clearly articulating your words, dressing for the occasion, making eye contact with your entire audience, and radiating positivity. To manage your audience effectively, adjust your speaking space as needed, involve the audience in your speech, respect the audience's time, accommodate audience members with impairments, handle hostile or rude audience members calmly, and be prepared for questions, answering as completely as you can.

Careful research, planning, organizing, and preparation provide a solid base for presenting your speech. The presentation outline helps you achieve an organized, engaging, and professional presentation. This outline and your note cards serve as your personal cueing system when you give your speech. Practice your speech in stages, distilling your complete-sentence outline into a brief presentation outline. Incorporate any presentation materials into the speech as you practice, making modifications as necessary. Put in quality practice time so that when speech day arrives you're prepared to give an excellent version of your speech. Closely manage your time, adjusting your speech as needed.

Delivering your speech brings together all your planning and preparation. This is your opportunity to shine--do it with flair and style!