Main Principles of Effective Delivery

There are some rules on how the speaker should act once the presentation begins. A well-prepared speech is only a half of a successful presentation: the second half is its delivery.

1. Eye contact is one of the most important and difficult tasks for a speaker. Don’t speak unless you have eye contact with the audience. Maintain your eye contact with your listeners because if you're not paying attention to them, they're not paying attention to you. Vary your eye contact with the audience, changing people as your prose suggests — for example, stay with the same person through the end of a phrase or sentence, then switch. Especially in competitive speech, eye contact is a very important criterion for judging; practice it, make it natural. You'll be glad you did.

2. Posture. Keep your posture erect but relaxed. You want to stand up straight but not stiff. Your feet should be pointed at the audience with your weight evenly distributed. Don't place your weight on one hip, then shift to the other and back again. This shifting can distract the audience.

3. Movement. Typically, speakers tend to stand in one spot, feet rooted like a tree to the ground. If your presentation will be delivered from a lectern, you should experiment. If appropriate, move to the side or front of the lectern to get nearer the audience. Many professional speakers do this. It is engaging, and audiences feel closer to the speaker without barriers. In a formal presentation, or if the lectern is at a head table, this technique may not be practical. When not using a lectern, you should normally stay within 4-8 feet of the front row. Don't stay frozen in one spot but don't pace either. An occasional step to either side, or even a half-step towards the audience for emphasis, can enhance your presentation. Stay close, stay direct, and stay involved with your audience.

4. Gestures. The importance of natural gestures, uninhibited by anxiety, cannot be overstated. Too often anxiety holds back this important channel of communication. We use gestures for emphasis in normal conversation without thinking about what we are doing with our hands. Learn to gesture in front of an audience exactly as you would if you were having an animated conversation with a friend—nothing more, nothing less.

5. Voice. Your delivery should be clear, understandable, and emotional. For this purpose, you should remember about appropriate loudness, i.e. volume. Care about your pronunciation; be sure that all the key-words are pronounced correctly. Don’t be monotonous: vary pitch (the highness and lowness of your voice). The expressiveness of your presentation can be reached with the help of logical pauses and stresses.

6. Rehearse. Run the speech past some people you trust (family, friends, whoever's having you do the speech, etc.) just to get a feeling for their reactions. You'll be more sure of yourself when you find out they don't hate the speech and you get the bonus of a little feedback — you discover some parts that don't work (no speech is perfect) and fix them in time for the real audience. You'll find out if those "applause points" work out the way you planned.

Body language. Bad Habits

Using natural gestures will not distract from a presentation; however, doing one of the following certainly will:

· Keeping hands in your pockets —

· Or handcuffed behind your back —

· Or wringing your hands nervously —

· Or keeping your arms crossed —

· Or in a fig leaf position — (Mandel 76).

· Pacing back and forth .

· Jingling coins in your pocket.

· Jingling bracelets or jewellery .

· Playing with your hair .

· Playing with objects (pointers, markers, etc.) .

· Holding on to the lectern or table for dear life .

· Rocking front-to-back or side-to-side .

· Staring.

· Standing rigidly in one place .

· Speaking with your head down or bowed .

· Frowning.

· Locking hands together or twiddling thumbs .

· Tapping your fingers .

· Pushing up your glasses.

Fighting Nervousness

Your mouth is dry, heart palpitating, and knees knocking. You go into panic, facing a dreaded public speaking assignment. It doesn't have to be so. These five tips will give you some strategies to overcome those symptoms and have the butterflies flying in formation.

1. Deep breathing will pull in oxygen. Adrenalin, secreted to help you deal with the fear brought on by little doubts, causes breaths to become shallow, or causes you to hold your breath. Deep breathing will help your brain work to capacity, and forcing the slower pace will quell the panic.

2. Bluff. Stand tall, with shoulders back and chest out. Smile. Even though you don't feel happy or confident, do it anyway. You will look confident and your body will fool your brain into thinking it is confident. This really works! Bluff — body and smile.

3. Keep your mouth and throat hydrated. Plan to keep a drink on hand while you are speaking, though this sounds impossible. Visualising how you will use it if you need it, and calling up the audacity to do such a thing will carry across to your attitude as you take your place to speak, placing your glass just where you need it to be.

4. Adrenalin sends the blood rushing to the fight/flight centres of your brain at the base of the skull. Place your hand on your forehead and press gently on the bony points. This will bring the blood to the parts of the brain that need it to present your speech best.

5. Know you are prepared. Obviously this depends on actually being prepared, so take every opportunity in the days leading up to the speech to prepare your material. Be familiar with the structure of the presentation, and the ideas to use. Memorise the most important parts, and the parts you are frightened of forgetting.

Practice Assignments