Physical Aspects of Speaking 

One of the most important takeaways from RCM 401 is learning how to prepare to give a speech. Understanding the best way that works for you to prepare for speeches can be very challenging. But by following a few basic guidelines, you will be well on your way to developing solid speech preparation skills.

When practicing your speech keep these four things in mind:

RCM 401 speeches are meant to be extemporaneous in style. Extemporaneous means to do or say something without any preparation or thought. They are meant to feel conversational and not robotic or memorized. In order to achieve this feeling with your audience you must prepare yourself to do so.

By practicing your speech a different way every time, you will get comfortable with your material, without being able to memorize your speech. This will help your speech sound more extemporaneous to your audience.

You should also practice giving your speech in a physical sense. You will be expected to stand in front of your audience at the front of the classroom when giving your speech. So by practicing your speech while standing in a wide space, you can begin to familiarize yourself with what is comfortable to you. You will also be able to notice if you do things that may be distracting to your audience ( swaying, tapping your feet, etc.).

One of the best ways to prepare for your speech is by practicing in front of an audience. This audience can include stuffed animals, pets, people, etc. you just need to replicate the feeling of having eyes on you. This will help to put you in the right mind set, and it will also encourage you to look at your audience instead of blank spaces around the room.

The card you use to help keep you on track during your speech can be a fantastic aid, but it can also work against you if you are not prepared. When practicing with your card you should use the same card every time. Some people will practice their speech with a card that looks “messy”, and then will make a new card for their speech day. You should always try and practice with the same card that you use during your actual speech. By having something you are familiar with while you are speaking, it will lessen the chance of you getting distracted if you need to look down at your card. You should also practice holding your card in one hand during your speech, and refrain from switching the card between hands or playing with it while you are speaking. These things could be distracting to your audience and lead their focus away from the message you are trying to convey.

It is important to remember that speech preparation will vary from person to person. By following a few of these guidelines you will begin to develop your own system to prepare for speeches that will best suit you in your public speaking careers.

Resources:

Here are a few more things to consider when practicing your speeches.

How to practice giving a speech:

Speech delivery practice: https://www.unr.edu/writing-speaking-center/student-resources/writing-speaking-resources/speech-delivery

Vocal Delivery Preparation

Practicing Vocal Delivery 

Vocal delivery influences how your audience will respond to your message. If you’ve ever watched someone present a speech, just to have them speak with low energy, a monotone voice, or with a great deal of nerves, it probably impacted your receptiveness to the message. By practicing how you will vocally deliver your speech, you can prevent this from happening to you.

To get the most out of preparation, try recording yourself doing a test run of the speech to identify areas on which you can improve on. Behaviors to look for will be identified in the coming sections.

Energy

As soon as you walk up in front of your audience, they pick up on the energy you subconsciously project. The way you walk up, prepare yourself, and present your speech will all be influenced on your energy level. Ex. when someone walks up tired or stressed vs. alert and calm.

When you are practicing your speech, consider the impact of your vocal delivery. Firstly, consider what is appropriate for your topic. The tone of your speech should match with the tone of your vocal delivery.

Energy levels appropriate for your topic are important as the wrong type of energy can send the wrong message to your audience. For example, if you are presenting a speech on will writing, you will want to have a positive energy, but not too giddy that it’s inappropriate for the topic.

The energy you bring to your delivery subconsciously affects your ethos, pathos, and logos appeals. For example, say your call to action is getting the audience to take a risk. A major constraint is that people are scared to fail. In addressing this constraint, you have, for say, 2 options with your energy projection:

1. Have a negative, mellow energy that amplifies the negative feeling of failure.
2. Have a positive, upbeat energy that amplifies the positive outcomes and growth that comes with failure.

If you choose to focus only on the negative feelings, you risk a negative pathos appeal. But a greater ethos appeals because you let your audience know that you understand and have thoroughly thought through the constraint. If you focus only on the positives, you will have a greater pathos appeal, and a better enabling action because the constraint doesn’t feel as scary. But this approach risks your ethos appeal in the sense that your audience may see you as ignorant of the negative feelings associated. Consider choosing a mix of both energies to best match what you want to project.

Voice projection 

When practicing the delivery of your speech, be conscious of what you will encounter when you actually are in action.

Take into consideration your nerves. When we are nervous we tend to speak at a faster pace than normal, and use ‘filler’ words. Counteract these nervous behaviors by:

• talking at a slower pace.
• talking with the same energy you are going to project the day of.
• catch yourself using filler words, and replace it with a pause.
  • Check out more here: How to Stop Saying “Um,” “Ah,” and “You Know” (hbr.org)
• remember this speech is meant to be a dialogue between you and your audience.

Everyone will be different in their own nervous behaviors. To get a sense of what yours are, practice your speech and videotape yourself while you do so.

Other important considerations when practicing your vocal delivery are:

• Speak loud enough. Even if you are practicing in your bedroom, speak as loud as you would in your presentation space.
• Consider the pitch you’re talking at.
  • Fluctuating your voice shows passion
  • Do what feels natural, avoid over fluctuating as it will seem unnatural and forced. (Remember -it’s a dialogue between you and your audience)

Linked here is an excellent resource for volume and pitch control: 4 Tips for Better Vocal Delivery | Ethos3 – A Presentation Training and Design Agency .

Enabling devices 

Enabling devices are small tactics that make it easier for the audience to address the exigence presented in a speech. This can be built into the structure of the speech, be presented during the speech to be considered throughout the duration, or a small token to be taken from the speech and utilized while completing the action.

From this class experience, the best enabling devices presented were worked into the speech in creative and subtle ways that enhances the logos, pathos, or ethos appeals of the speech. These extremely effective enabling devices are so effective as they utilize the short time of the speech to further your point while being the most accessible form of enabling device. The tools that are presented in a speech are memorable and accessible, anyone present for the speech has access to the enabling device.

Less effective enabling devices would be hard to access. For example, a link within the pages of the course. Rather than searching within course materials for a posted link, an interested audience member would likely search that information out themselves with a quick google search.  Though links are extremely useful sources of information, the internet can quickly become overwhelming.

In-class examples of extremely successful physical, verbal, and written enabling devices that each further developed the speaker’s ethos, logos, or pathos appeals as they were presented in the speech are as follows:

One example of an effective Physical enabling device that developed Logos:

Throughout a speech on  ecologically friendly alternatives to single-use products, the speaker displayed ecofriendly options that she personally used and the stores that she had purchased them from. The physical viewing of these products provided a strong understanding of the product alternatives that enabled the audience to act.

One example of an effective Verbal enabling device that developed Ethos:

During a speech on mindful moments, the speaker guided the entire audience through a mindful moment. This was extremely effective in laying out the steps to enter a mindful state and drew the entire audience into the speaker’s mind shift throughout and following the mindful moment. This was an exercise in trust that drew the audience into a deeper understanding of the topic.

One example of an effective Written enabling device that developed Pathos:

At the beginning of a very heartfelt speech about taking the initiative to connect with a loved one, the speaker had the audience members write the name of a loved one they wished they could talk to on a cue card. It was a very ingenious way to immediately create a personal connection to the topic at hand and carry that connection throughout the entire speech.

Constraints 

An effective enabling device addresses the constraints of the audience. Each persuasive speech will have things preventing or stopping the audience from enacting the task that the speaker is attempting to persuade the audience to do.The constraints of a topic will heavily depend upon the topic itself and the audience that you present it to. Here are some common constraints and how speakers may overcome these constraints by utilizing their enabling device.

Time constraints 

People are busy and usually try to streamline their lives as much as possible. By coming up with an enabling strategy that makes the action easy to fit into an existing schedule. An example of this would be a speech proposing altered study habits. The enabling device of this speech could be included in the benefits of restructured but not more study time. This framing of the action eliminated the time constraint of the audience, and a more efficient approach appeals to an audience furthering the appeal for the audience.

Monetary concerns

Some topics could have a monetary aspect associated with the execution of the action. This can be mitigated with low-cost or no-cost alternatives. This can be through the distribution of coupons for the proposed action, a free alternative, or a careful topic selection to make sure the action is feasible and accessible.

Preconceived objections

In today’s world, there are many preconceived notions about the way of the world. If your speech is informative the goal of a persuasive speech may be to shift the mindset of the audience. A complete reversal of the audience’s perspective may be out of the realm of possibility throughout a five-minute speech but a shift in attitude to view the subject to a more neutral position may be more achievable. This shift can then be supplemented with the enabling device of links and further research which will build upon the facts presented in the speech. Though internet links are perhaps not the most effective enabling device a very focused resource page can help narrow a large topic into something more manageable and encourage the audience to look to the reputable sources you have gathered for them on the topic at hand.

Remember an enabling device is supposed to help the audience complete whatever you’re trying to persuade them to do plan your enabling device to make that action as easy for the audience as possible.