1.CONTROLLING THE VOICE
As you practice your speech, learn to control the various elements of vocal delivery, these include volume, pitch, speaking rate, pauses, vocal variety, and pronunciation and articulation.
Adjust your speaking volume
The proper volume for delivering a speech is somewhat louder than that of normal conversation. Just how much louder depends on three factors:
The size of the room and the number of people in the audience
Whether or not you use a microphone
i. The level of background noise.
-Vary your intonation
-Pitch is the range of sounds from high to low (or vice versa). Vocal pitch is important in speechmaking because it powerfully affects the meaning associated with spoken words. As you speak, pitch conveys your mood, reveals your level of enthusiasm, expresses your concern for the audience, and signals your overall commitment to the occasion. When there is no variety in pitch, speaking becomes monotonous.
-Adjust your speaking rate
Speaking rate is the pace at which you convey speech. Being alert to the audience’s reactions is the best way to know whether your rate of speech is too fast or too slow. An audience will get fidgety, bored, listless, perhaps even sleepy if you speak too slowly. If you speak too rapidly, listeners will appear irritated and confused, as though they can’t catch what you’re saying.
-Use strategic pauses
Pauses enhance meaning by providing a type of punctuation, emphasizing a point, drawing attention to a key thought, or just allowing listeners a moment to contemplate what is being said. In short, they make a speech far more effective than it might otherwise be.
-Strive for Vocal Variety
Rather than operating separately, all the vocal elements (volume, pitch, speaking rate, and pauses) work together to create an effective delivery. Indeed, the real key to effective vocal delivery is to vary all these elements.
-Carefully Pronounce and Articulate Words
Pronunciation is the correct formation of word sounds. Articulation is the clarity or forcefulness with which the sounds are made, regardless of whether they are pronounced correctly. A very common pattern of poor articulation is mumbling—slurring words together at a low level of volume and pitch so that they are barely audible.
-Like any habit, poor articulation can be overcome by unlearning the problem behavior:
If you mumble, practice speaking more loudly and with emphatic pronunciation.
If you tend toward lazy speech, put more effort into your articulation. Lazy speech is when you use slang/join words e.g, “wanna” instead of “want to.”
Consciously try to say each word clearly and correctly.
Practice clear and precise enunciation of proper word sounds.
As you practice, consider words that might pose articulation and pronunciation problems for you. Say them over and over until doing so feels as natural as saying your own name.
2.PAY ATTENTION TO BODY LANGUAGE
As audience members listen to you, they are simultaneously evaluating the messages sent by your facial expressions, eye behavior, gestures, and general body movements.
-Animate Your Facial Expressions
From our facial expressions, audiences can gauge whether we are excited about, disenchanted by, or indifferent to our speech and the audience to whom we are presenting it. Facial expressions need to correspond to the tenor of the speech.
Tips for Using Effective Facial Expressions
Use animated expressions that feel natural and express your meaning.
-Avoid a deadpan expression.
Never use expressions that are out of character for you or inappropriate to the speech occasion.
In practice sessions, loosen your facial features with exercises such as widening the eyes and moving the mouth.
Establish rapport with the audience by smiling naturally when appropriate.
-Maintain Eye Contact
Having eye contact with the audience is one of the most important physical actions in public speaking. If the audience is too large use a technique such as scanning. Eye contact does the following:
Maintains the quality of directness in speech delivery
-Lets people know they are recognized
-Indicates acknowledgment and respect
Signals to audience members that you see them as unique human beings.
-Use Gestures That Feel Natural
Words alone seldom suffice to convey what we want to express. Physical gestures fill in the gaps, e.g, while illustrating the size or shape of an object.
-Use natural, spontaneous gestures.
Avoid exaggerated gestures, but use gestures that are broad enough to be seen by each audience member.
Eliminate distracting gestures, such as fidgeting with pens or pencils, brushing back hair from your eyes, or jingling coins in your pockets.
Analyze your gestures for effectiveness in practice sessions.
Practice movements that feel natural to you
-Be Aware of General Body Movement
General body movement is also important in maintaining audience attention and processing of your message. Audience members soon tire of listening to a “talking head” that remains steadily positioned in one place behind a microphone or a podium. As space and time allow, try to get out
from behind the podium and stand with the audience. As you do, move around at a comfortable, natural pace.
-Dress Appropriately
The first thing an audience is likely to notice about you as you approach the speaker’s position is your clothing. The critical criteria in determining appropriate dress for a speech are audience expectations and the nature of the speech occasion.
Titany answered the question on August 13, 2021 at 08:45