public speaking is all about the presentation of quality monologues

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1.2 The Process of Public Speaking

Learning objectives.

• Identify the three components of getting your message across to others.
• Distinguish between the interactional models of communication and the transactional model of communication.
• Explain the three principles discussed in the dialogical theory of public speaking.

Looking4poetry – megaphone head man – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

As noted earlier, all of us encounter thousands of messages in our everyday environments, so getting your idea heard above all the other ones is a constant battle. Some speakers will try gimmicks, but we strongly believe that getting your message heard depends on three fundamental components: message, skill, and passion. The first part of getting your message across is the message itself. When what you are saying is clear and coherent, people are more likely to pay attention to it. On the other hand, when a message is ambiguous, people will often stop paying attention. Our discussions in the first part of this book involve how to have clear and coherent content.

The second part of getting your message heard is having effective communication skills. You may have the best ideas in the world, but if you do not possess basic public speaking skills, you’re going to have a problem getting anyone to listen. In this book, we will address the skills you must possess to effectively communicate your ideas to others.

Lastly, if you want your message to be heard, you must communicate passion for your message. One mistake that novice public speakers make is picking topics in which they have no emotional investment. If an audience can tell that you don’t really care about your topic, they will just tune you out. Passion is the extra spark that draws people’s attention and makes them want to listen to your message.

In this section, we’re going to examine the process of public speaking by first introducing you to a basic model of public speaking and then discussing how public speaking functions as dialogue. These models will give you a basic understanding of the communication process and some challenges that you may face as a speaker.

Models of Public Speaking

A basic model of human communication is one of the first topics that most communication teachers start with in any class. For our focus on public speaking, we will introduce two widely discussed models in communication: interactional and transactional.

Interactional Model of Public Speaking

Linear model.

The interactional model of public speaking comes from the work of Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). The original model mirrored how radio and telephone technologies functioned and consisted of three primary parts: source, channel, and receiver. The source was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with listening to a telephone conversation, which they called noise.

Although there are a number of problems with applying this model to human communication, it does have some useful parallels to public speaking. In public speaking, the source is the person who is giving the speech, the channel is the speaker’s use of verbal and nonverbal communication , and the receivers are the audience members listening to the speech. As with a telephone call, a wide range of distractions ( noise ) can inhibit an audience member from accurately attending to a speaker’s speech. Avoiding or adapting to these types of noise is an important challenge for public speakers.

Interactional Model

The interactional model of communication developed by Wilbur Schramm builds upon the linear model (Schramm, 1954). Schramm added three major components to the Shannon and Weaver model. First, Schramm identified two basic processes of communication: encoding and decoding. Encoding is what a source does when “creating a message, adapting it to the receiver, and transmitting it across some source-selected channel” (Wrench, McCroskey & Richmond, 2008). When you are at home preparing your speech or standing in front of your classroom talking to your peers, you are participating in the encoding process.

The second major process is the decoding process, or “sensing (for example, hearing or seeing) a source’s message, interpreting the source’s message, evaluating the source’s message, and responding to the source’s message” (Wrench, McCroskey & Richmond, 2008). Decoding is relevant in the public speaking context when, as an audience member, you listen to the words of the speech, pay attention to nonverbal behaviors of the speaker, and attend to any presentation aids that the speaker uses. You must then interpret what the speaker is saying.

Although interpreting a speaker’s message may sound easy in theory, in practice many problems can arise. A speaker’s verbal message, nonverbal communication, and mediated presentation aids can all make a message either clearer or harder to understand. For example, unfamiliar vocabulary, speaking too fast or too softly, or small print on presentation aids may make it difficult for you to figure out what the speaker means. Conversely, by providing definitions of complex terms, using well-timed gestures, or displaying graphs of quantitative information, the speaker can help you interpret his or her meaning.

Once you have interpreted what the speaker is communicating, you then evaluate the message. Was it good? Do you agree or disagree with the speaker? Is a speaker’s argument logical? These are all questions that you may ask yourself when evaluating a speech.

The last part of decoding is “responding to a source’s message,” when the receiver encodes a message to send to the source. When a receiver sends a message back to a source, we call this process feedback . Schramm talks about three types of feedback: direct, moderately direct, and indirect (Schramm, 1954). The first type, direct feedback, occurs when the receiver directly talks to the source. For example, if a speech ends with a question-and-answer period, listeners will openly agree or disagree with the speaker. The second type of feedback, moderately direct, focuses on nonverbal messages sent while a source is speaking, such as audience members smiling and nodding their heads in agreement or looking at their watches or surreptitiously sending text messages during the speech. The final type of feedback, indirect, often involves a greater time gap between the actual message and the receiver’s feedback. For example, suppose you run for student body president and give speeches to a variety of groups all over campus, only to lose on student election day. Your audiences (the different groups you spoke to) have offered you indirect feedback on your message through their votes. One of the challenges you’ll face as a public speaker is how to respond effectively to audience feedback, particularly the direct and moderately direct forms of feedback you receive during your presentation.

Transactional Model of Public Speaking

One of the biggest concerns that some people have with the interactional model of communication is that it tends to place people into the category of either source or receiver with no overlap. Even with Schramm’s model, encoding and decoding are perceived as distinct for sources and receivers. Furthermore, the interactional model cannot handle situations where multiple sources are interacting at the same time (Mortenson, 1972). To address these weaknesses, Dean Barnlund proposed a transactional model of communication (Barnlund, 2008). The basic premise of the transactional model is that individuals are sending and receiving messages at the same time. Whereas the interactional model has individuals engaging in the role of either source or receiver and the meaning of a message is sent from the source to the receiver, the transactional model assumes that meaning is cocreated by both people interacting together.

The idea that meanings are cocreated between people is based on a concept called the “field of experience.” According to West and Turner, a field of experience involves “how a person’s culture, experiences, and heredity influence his or her ability to communicate with another” (West & Turner, 2010). Our education, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, personality, beliefs, actions, attitudes, languages, social status, past experiences, and customs are all aspects of our field of experience, which we bring to every interaction. For meaning to occur, we must have some shared experiences with our audience; this makes it challenging to speak effectively to audiences with very different experiences from our own. Our goal as public speakers is to build upon shared fields of experience so that we can help audience members interpret our message.

Dialogic Theory of Public Speaking

Most people think of public speaking as engaging in a monologue where the speaker stands and delivers information and the audience passively listens. Based on the work of numerous philosophers, however, Ronald Arnett and Pat Arneson proposed that all communication, even public speaking, could be viewed as a dialogue (Arnett & Arneson, 1999). The dialogic theory is based on three overarching principles:

• Dialogue is more natural than monologue.
• Meanings are in people not words.
• Contexts and social situations impact perceived meanings (Bakhtin, 2001a; Bakhtin, 2001b).

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Dialogue vs. Monologue

The first tenet of the dialogic perspective is that communication should be a dialogue and not a monologue. Lev Yakubinsky argued that even public speaking situations often turn into dialogues when audience members actively engage speakers by asking questions. He even claimed that nonverbal behavior (e.g., nodding one’s head in agreement or scowling) functions as feedback for speakers and contributes to a dialogue (Yakubinsky, 1997). Overall, if you approach your public speaking experience as a dialogue, you’ll be more actively engaged as a speaker and more attentive to how your audience is responding, which will, in turn, lead to more actively engaged audience members.

Meanings Are in People, Not Words

Part of the dialogic process in public speaking is realizing that you and your audience may differ in how you see your speech. Hellmut Geissner and Edith Slembeck (1986) discussed Geissner’s idea of responsibility, or the notion that the meanings of words must be mutually agreed upon by people interacting with each other (Geissner & Slembek, 1986). If you say the word “dog” and think of a soft, furry pet and your audience member thinks of the animal that attacked him as a child, the two of you perceive the word from very different vantage points. As speakers, we must do our best to craft messages that take our audience into account and use audience feedback to determine whether the meaning we intend is the one that is received. To be successful at conveying our desired meaning, we must know quite a bit about our audience so we can make language choices that will be the most appropriate for the context. Although we cannot predict how all our audience members will interpret specific words, we do know that—for example—using teenage slang when speaking to the audience at a senior center would most likely hurt our ability to convey our meaning clearly.

Contexts and Social Situations

Russian scholar Mikhail Bahktin notes that human interactions take place according to cultural norms and rules (Bakhtin, 2001a; Bakhtin, 2001b). How we approach people, the words we choose, and how we deliver speeches are all dependent on different speaking contexts and social situations. On September 8, 2009, President Barack Obama addressed school children with a televised speech ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/PreparedSchoolRemarks ). If you look at the speech he delivered to kids around the country and then at his speeches targeted toward adults, you’ll see lots of differences. These dissimilar speeches are necessary because the audiences (speaking to kids vs. speaking to adults) have different experiences and levels of knowledge. Ultimately, good public speaking is a matter of taking into account the cultural background of your audience and attempting to engage your audience in a dialogue from their own vantage point.

Considering the context of a public speech involves thinking about four dimensions: physical, temporal, social-psychological, and cultural (DeVito, 2009).

Physical Dimension

The physical dimension of communication involves the real or touchable environment where communication occurs. For example, you may find yourself speaking in a classroom, a corporate board room, or a large amphitheater. Each of these real environments will influence your ability to interact with your audience. Larger physical spaces may require you to use a microphone and speaker system to make yourself heard or to use projected presentation aids to convey visual material.

How the room is physically decorated or designed can also impact your interaction with your audience. If the room is dimly lit or is decorated with interesting posters, audience members’ minds may start wandering. If the room is too hot, you’ll find people becoming sleepy. As speakers, we often have little or no control over our physical environment, but we always need to take it into account when planning and delivering our messages.

Temporal Dimension

According to Joseph DeVito, the temporal dimension “has to do not only with the time of day and moment in history but also with where a particular message fits into the sequence of communication events” (DeVito, 2009). The time of day can have a dramatic effect on how alert one’s audience is. Don’t believe us? Try giving a speech in front of a class around 12:30 p.m. when no one’s had lunch. It’s amazing how impatient audience members get once hunger sets in.

In addition to the time of day, we often face temporal dimensions related to how our speech will be viewed in light of societal events. Imagine how a speech on the importance of campus security would be interpreted on the day after a shooting occurred. Compare this with the interpretation of the same speech given at a time when the campus had not had any shootings for years, if ever.

Another element of the temporal dimension is how a message fits with what happens immediately before it. For example, if another speaker has just given an intense speech on death and dying and you stand up to speak about something more trivial, people may downplay your message because it doesn’t fit with the serious tone established by the earlier speech. You never want to be the funny speaker who has to follow an emotional speech where people cried. Most of the time in a speech class, you will have no advance notice as to what the speaker before you will be talking about. Therefore, it is wise to plan on being sensitive to previous topics and be prepared to ease your way subtly into your message if the situation so dictates.

Social-Psychological Dimension

The social-psychological dimension of context refers to “status relationships among participants, roles and games that people play, norms of the society or group, and the friendliness, formality, or gravity of the situation” (DeVito, 2009). You have to know the types of people in your audience and how they react to a wide range of messages.

Cultural Dimension

The final context dimension Joseph DeVito mentions is the cultural dimension (DeVito, 2009). When we interact with others from different cultures, misunderstandings can result from differing cultural beliefs, norms, and practices. As public speakers engaging in a dialogue with our audience members, we must attempt to understand the cultural makeup of our audience so that we can avoid these misunderstandings as much as possible.

Each of these elements of context is a challenge for you as a speaker. Throughout the rest of the book, we’ll discuss how you can meet the challenges presented by the audience and context and become a more effective public speaker in the process.

Key Takeaways

• Getting your message across to others effectively requires attention to message content, skill in communicating content, and your passion for the information presented.
• The interactional models of communication provide a useful foundation for understanding communication and outline basic concepts such as sender, receiver, noise, message, channel, encoding, decoding, and feedback. The transactional model builds on the interactional models by recognizing that people can enact the roles of sender and receiver simultaneously and that interactants cocreate meaning through shared fields of experience.
• The dialogic theory of public speaking understands public speaking as a dialogue between speaker and audience. This dialogue requires the speaker to understand that meaning depends on the speaker’s and hearer’s vantage points and that context affects how we must design and deliver our messages.
• Draw the major models of communication on a piece of paper and then explain how each component is important to public speaking.
• When thinking about your first speech in class, explain the context of your speech using DeVito’s four dimensions: physical, temporal, social-psychological, and cultural. How might you address challenges posed by each of these four dimensions?

Arnett, R. C., & Arneson, P. (1999). Dialogic civility in a cynical age: Community, hope, and interpersonal relationships . Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Bakhtin, M. (2001a). The problem of speech genres. (V. W. McGee, Trans., 1986). In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.), The rhetorical tradition (pp. 1227–1245). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published in 1953.).

Bakhtin, M. (2001b). Marxism and the philosophy of language. (L. Matejka & I. R. Titunik, Trans., 1973). In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.), The rhetorical tradition (pp. 1210–1226). Boston, MA: Medford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published in 1953).

Barnlund, D. C. (2008). A transactional model of communication. In C. D. Mortensen (Ed.), Communication theory (2nd ed., pp. 47–57). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

DeVito, J. A. (2009). The interpersonal communication book (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Geissner, H., & Slembek, E. (1986). Miteinander sprechen und handeln [Speak and act: Living and working together]. Frankfurt, Germany: Scriptor.

Mortenson, C. D. (1972). Communication: The study of human communication . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. In W. Schramm (Ed.), The process and effects of communication (pp. 3–26). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2010). Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, p. 13.

Wrench, J. S., McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications . Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, p. 17.

Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Understanding the 5 Ps of Public Speaking (& How They Can Help You)

Hrideep barot.

• Body Language & Delivery , Presentation , Public Speaking , Speech Writing , Workplace Communication

Imagine you have just given a presentation or a speech in public. As soon as you have completed speaking there is a moment of silence, a moment of soaking in the presentation and and understanding it while staying in the awe of that moment. This is immediately followed by resounding applause, of the kind that is made when the audience feels excited and appreciative. This moment of validation is all you need to drown the nervousness that you were feeling a while ago before and during the presentation. At this instant, you realize how the audience felt a connection with you and portrayed their approval through a harmonious cacophony.

It feels too good to even imagine it, doesn’t it? What if you could make this a reality? Further ahead in this article, you will read about how to make your public speeches a resounding success through the 5 Ps of public speaking. However, we will first need to get our base clear of what exactly is public speaking 

What is Public Speaking?

Public Speaking is an act of speaking in front of a live public or even a group of 8-10 people. It can be either impromptu or fully practiced. Public speaking is generally listed as a skill in an individual’s resume or profile as it has gained a lot of importance in these days of technological advancements where one can have access to millions of people with the press of one button from the comfort of their homes. Additionally, being able to put out your opinion confidently has become a necessity based on which people as well as organizations would make decisions about you.

Public speaking is a soft skill as it is categorized under communication also known as a people skill which helps one have an effective interaction with others. Public speaking as a soft nowadays is much needed to create a positive and efficient work environment. To know more in detail about why public speaking is a soft skill and not a hard skill you can refer to our article Public Speaking Skills: Soft Or Hard?

Now you have an almost clear idea of public speaking but ever wondered if there are any types of public speaking?

Types of Public Speaking 

Indeed there are! Public speaking is further classified into these types to make it easier for you to separate and focus on your intention for giving the speech. These types include ceremonial, demonstrative, informative, and persuasive.

Ceremonial 

Starting with ceremonial public speaking, as the word suggests this kind of public speaking is done during ceremonies or special occasions like weddings, graduation parties, funerals, etc. In this one, you usually have a preexisting emotional or personal connection with the majority of your audience and you must also prepare your speech keeping that in mind.

Demonstrative 

Again as the word suggests here the speaker demonstrates something to the audience while also speaking. It is more like an instructional speech where the audience along with being told is demonstrated how something happens or works and is taught to do the same. This public speaking category practically involves a lot of observational learning from the audience’s side.

Informative 

This classification of public speaking is the one that is used most often. It does not do anything more than increase the knowledge of the audience and inform or educate them in detail about a new topic. Informative speeches are as common as the morning meetings or announcements where the people are updated about forthcoming events.

Persuasive 

Last but the most used type by the sales and marketing team is persuasive public speaking. Here the speeches are given in order to persuade the audience. It often uses plenty of compelling language which includes various tools like rhetorical devices, emphasis, repetition, personal pronouns, emotive language, comparison, etc. which makes it easier to persuade the audience. Having persuasive speaking skills is very important when you want the majority to agree with you and believe you.

Want to learn more about the 4 types of public speaking along with appropriate examples? We’ve got you covered, our article 4 Types Of Public Speaking (A Complete Guide) exemplifies these four types and uncomplicatedly explains them in brief.

However, knowing what type of public speaking you are going to do is an effective contributor to focusing on your intention but it is not enough to make your public speech a soaring success. In order to give an effective presentation as well as have an impactful speech one also needs to learn about the basic elements of public speaking, also quite popularly known as the 5 Ps of public speaking.

The 5 Ps of Public Speaking        

So, what are the 5 Ps of public speaking? The 5 Ps of public speaking comprise purpose, passion, preparation, practice, and performance. 

Starting with purpose, it is essential to know the purpose of why you are presenting or giving a public speech on a particular subject matter. It helps you to set an achievable goal for your speech in your mind. Subsequently, having a goal also helps you narrow down your focus so that you have a space to put all your attention. To get to know the purpose of your presentation you need to ask these questions – “Why am I here on this stage”, “Why did I choose this topic”, and “What will I get out of this?”.

For instance, if you are standing in a school election for a student body president and you are going to talk about too many books being asked to bring from home in your bag, the answer to the first question would be to convince teachers to lessen the number of books they ask the student to bring and to ensure students that their issues will be heard and worked upon. The answer to your second question would be to help students lighten the weight of their bags, especially for those who frequently have back pain due to this issue. Lastly, the answer to your third question will be that you yourself won’t have to carry heavier bags, and after successfully convincing the teachers you could get votes from the impressed students.

2. Passion 

If you are passionate about your subject matter or the message you want to convey then you automatically tend to do in-depth research about it. When you have more knowledge about your topic, you never fall short of words and get an urge to share your knowledge with others too, which makes you a good speaker. Therefore this skill makes an important part of public speaking by contributing to encourage you to speak to a group of people and share your knowledge. Additionally, the audience also respects and believes when you are passionate about your topic. The passion they can see on your face and your delivery resonates with them and increases their interest in your speech.

For instance, when you are passionate about saving the planet you list down all the points possible in your head that you think, and you try very strongly to convince your audience to think and act in a way to save our planet, so much so that it resonates on your face and makes an impact in the audience’s mind. Here you are encouraged from inside to make your public speech compelling.

3. Preparation 

Preparation is the key when it comes to engaging your audience and making a good speech as preparation involves researching your audience and adding content that they can understand and relate to. Likewise, preparation helps you gain a piece of in-depth and greater knowledge about your topic resulting in having strong grounds to support your topic.

For instance, if your audience is 7-year-olds and your topic is how junk and food with fats are not good for health, they might not understand complicated jargon like “some junk food might contain saturated fats high in low-density lipids which might result in a plaque buildup clogging your blood vessels”. One needs to make it easier for them to understand like “junk food has fats that can stick together and make your blood tubes messy. This mess can block the tubes and make it hard for your blood to move. It’s like when things get stuck in a straw. So, it’s good to eat healthy foods and not eat too much of those junk foods”.

4. Practice 

“Practice makes perfect” is a quote very well-known and unquestionably correct. Practicing means listening to your speech again and again and again. When you listen to yourself repeatedly it helps you point out any mistakes or improvements that you could make, avoiding you to fumble or misspeak in front of your audience. While practicing you could also take the help of your friends and family to help you have another perspective and give criticisms about the good points and bad points that you may have missed. Additionally, whenever you practice you can note down the errors and improvements that you have made. This way you could repeatedly work on the error till you perfect it and through noting your improvements you could see how far you have come. 

For instance, if you have an issue with using repetitive connectives like ‘but’, you could note that fault down while practicing and then learn some new connectives, add them to your speech, and stop when repeating the connective ‘but’ and try to think of another alternative connective of ‘but’ like ‘however’, ‘although’, ‘yet’, etc.

During practice, along with your speech, you also need to work out your presentation style or how you would present yourself in front of the audience. This includes your body language, your facial expressions, your tone, and your eye contact; all of this resonates with how you personally feel about the topic and can make either a negative or a positive impact on the audience. 

For instance, a slouched body and a tired expression with a monotone make the audience also feel tired and bored.

An additional tip to remember is if possible you should go on the stage where you are going to deliver your speech and practice there, this will help you get comfortable with your presentation space and help you have one less unfamiliarity to worry about.

5. Performance

Your performance is like the grand finale of your 5 Ps where you are directly put in front of an audience and are evaluated on how well you have understood and efficiently used the 5 Ps of public speaking, to have a great performance you need to have worked very well on the previous four Ps. Showing a good presentation style that you practiced is equally important as it contributes to 50 percent of your speech. Therefore, maintain eye contact, have a good posture, avoid having a monotone, have a perfect pace, and exude confidence through your expressions. Additionally, remember to show your passion as it will be appreciated by the audience and they will tend to become more invested in what you would be saying (Also remember the purpose and move ahead accordingly)

Lastly, perform while focusing on your audience. If you notice that the audience is bored, try to change the mode and make it interactive. If they seem tired and find something to eat, give them a break to refresh. This is important as at the end of the day you are performing for them to listen, understand, and get impacted.

People Also Ask 

What are the 3 ps of public speaking .

The 3 Ps of public speaking include preparing, practicing, and presenting. Prepare is when you do in-detail research and organize your content in an orderly fashion. Practice is when you work on your speech till you perfect it and feel confident about presenting. Lastly, presenting is how effectively you present what you have prepared and practiced and engage the audience.

What are the 4 Ps of public speaking?

Public speaking could broken down into four aspects namely preparation, practice, presentation, and performance. The difference between presentation and performance here is that in presentation speaks about how you present yourself, your look, your clothes, and your presentation slides as well, however performance is evaluated on how you perform how you maintain eye contact, your pace, your tone, your way of performing (more interactive with the audience or more monologue type)

What are the 6 Ps of public speaking?

The 6 Ps of public speaking specifically talks about your presentation style which includes pace, passion, pause, power, and pronunciation. To know more about these presentation skills and how to improve them you could refer to our article Top 9 Speech AI Tools To Teach You Public Speaking .

What are the 7 Ps of public speaking?

The 7 Ps of public speaking is an extended version of the 6 Ps of public speaking consisting of pace, passion, pause, posture, power, pronunciation, and punch. Here punch is used to put emphasis on or draw attention to a point. It is basically stressing a point. Likewise, power is the nonverbal communication done by the speaker to portray their effectiveness. This nonverbal communication includes eye contact, posture, facial expression, etc. 

Conclusion 

Public speaking is an important soft skill to master. These 5 Ps of public speaking are a holistic and important medium to help you achieve the skill. All these elements skillfully assist us in transforming our simple message or speech into an influential narrative. By having a purpose for the public speech and passion for the topic one strengthens the foundation on which they build their speech. Meticulous preparation also fortifies our base along with tailoring the speech perfectly for the target audience and creating a connection with them. Furthermore, practice polishes our speech and delivery until we emerge perfect and feel confident on the stage. Lastly, our performance will indicate how we have conveyed our opinion or knowledge and made an impact on the audience.

All of this together makes public speaking a joyful experience for the speaker as well as the audience. So, go ahead and conquer public speaking and the hearts of your audience through these 5 Ps of public speaking. Happy public speaking!

Want to polish your public speaking skills even further by practicing with professionals? We have got you covered! Through Frantically Speaking’s online coaching sessions (which you can access from the comfort of your home) you can improve your public speaking skills along with interview skills, presentation skills, negotiation and persuasion skills, group discussion abilities, and more all the way summatively acing your communication skills. Click here to learn more about the Frantically Speaking training program.

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Monologues in Speech and Composition

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

Robert R McElroy / Getty Images

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A monologue is a speech or composition  presenting the words or thoughts of a single character (compare with dialogue ). Monologues are also known as dramatic soliloquies. Someone who delivers a monologue is called a monologist or monologuist .

Leonard Peters describes a monologue as "a dialogue between two people ... [with] [o]ne person speaking, the other listening and reacting, creating a relationship between the two," (Peters 2006).

Etymology: Derived from the Greek word monologos , which means "speaking alone"

Definition of a Monologue

"A monologue is a predominantly verbal presentation given by a single person featuring a collection of ideas, often loosely assembled around one or more themes ," begins Jay Sankey. "Note that I do not define it as a strictly verbal presentation; many, though certainly not all, successful monologuists also employ nonverbal elements to great effect, such as, their use of facial expressions and hand gestures, along with a variety of props and stage devices," (Sankey 2000).

Monologues Vs. Dialogues

For many reasons, monologues and dialogues are not the same as far as most people are concerned. For one, monologues don't exactly have a place in regular speech, let alone conversation. In the words of Truman Capote, "A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue . That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet."​ A dialogue is a discussion between two or more people, while a monologue involves a person talking almost to themselves.

However, some people, such as author Rebecca West, argue that a dialogue is just the combination of two or more monologues. "There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues , that is all. We speak; we spread round us with sounds, with words, an emanation from ourselves. Sometimes they overlap the circles that others are spreading around themselves. They are affected by those other circles, to be sure, but not because of any real communication that has taken place, merely as a scarf of blue chiffon lying on a woman's dressing table will change color if she casts down on it a scarf of red chiffon,"​ (West 1937).

Monologue Example

Spalding Gray provides a great example of a monologue in the book "Swimming to Cambodia": It was the first day off in a long time, and all of us were trying to get a little rest and relaxation out by the pool at this big, modern hotel that looked something like a prison. If I had to call it anything I would call it a 'pleasure prison.' It was the kind of place you might come to on a package tour out of Bangkok. You'd come down on a chartered bus—and you'd probably not wander off the grounds because of the high barbed-wire fence they have to keep you in and the bandits out.

And every so often you would hear shotguns going off as the hotel guards fired at rabid dogs down along the beach on the Gulf of Siam. But if you really wanted to walk on the beach, all you had to learn to do was pick up a piece of seaweed, shake it in the dog's face and everything would be hunky-dory," (Gray 2005).

Two Versions of Hamlet's Famous Monologue

Monologues can be profoundly moving. One of the most well-known dramatic soliloquies out there is Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" speech. The following two versions, one from 1603 and the other from 1604/1605, are different from each other in many ways and demonstrate how versatile and powerful a monologue can be.

1603 Version ('First Quarto')

"To be, or not to be, aye there's the point,

To die, to sleep, is that all? Aye, all.

No, to sleep, to dream, aye, marry, there it goes,

For in that dream of death, when we awake,

And born before an everlasting judge,

From whence no passenger ever returned,

The undiscovered country, at whose sight

The happy smile, and the accursed damned.

But for this, the joyful hope of this.

Who'd bear the scorns and flattery of the world,

Scorned by the right rich, the rich cursed of the poor?

The widow being oppressed, the orphan wronged,

The taste of hunger, or a tyrant's reign,

And thousand more calamities besides,

To grunt and sweat under this weary life,

When that he may his full quietus make,

With a bare bodkin, who would this endure,

But for a hope of something after death?

Which puzzles the brain, and doth confound the sense,

Which makes us rather bear those evils we have,

Than fly to others that we know not of.

Aye that—O this conscience makes cowards of us all," (Shakespeare 1603).

1604-1605 Version ('Second Quarto')

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep—

No more—and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to! 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep—

To sleep—perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life:

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied over with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action," (Shakespeare 1604).

The Lighter Side of Monologues

But monologues don't always have to be as serious as they are in Hamlet. Take this quote from the popular TV show 30 Rock , for example: "I don't need anyone. Because I can do every single thing that a person in a relationship can. Everything. Even zip up my own dress. You know, there are some things that are actually harder to do with two people. Such as monologues, " (Fey, "Anna Howard Shaw Day").

• “Anna Howard Shaw Day.” Whittingham, Ken, director.  30 Rock , season 4, episode 13, NBC, 11 Feb. 2010.
• Gray, Spalding. Swimming to Cambodia . Theatre Communications Group, 2005.
• Peters, Leonard. Demystifying the Monologue . Heinemann Drama, 2006.
• Sankey, Jay. Zen and the Art of the Monologue . 1st ed., Routledge, 2000.
• Shakespeare, William. Hamlet . Nicholas Ling and John Trundell, 1603.
• Shakespeare, William. Hamlet . James Roberts, 1604.
• West, Rebecca. "There Is No Conversation." The Harsh Voice. 1937.
• Hamlet and Revenge
• What Is a Soliloquy? Literary Definition and Examples
• 'Hamlet' Quotes Explained
• 100 Awfully Good Examples of Oxymorons
• Death Quotes
• Interior Monologues
• A Complete List of Shakespeare’s Plays
• Understanding Anthimeria in Language
• Dialogue Definition, Examples and Observations
• Reported Speech
• What Are Reporting Verbs in English Grammar?
• How to Read Shakespeare Dialogue Aloud
• Constructed Dialogue in Storytelling and Conversation
• What Is a Rhetorical Question? Definition and Examples
• How to Write Interesting and Effective Dialogue
• Mercutio Monologues

Chapter 1 Why Public Speaking Matters Today

Public speaking in the twenty-first century.

Public speaking is the process of designing and delivering a message Any verbal or nonverbal stimulus that is meaningful to a receiver. to an audience. Effective public speaking involves understanding your audience and speaking goals, choosing elements for the speech that will engage your audience with your topic, and delivering your message skillfully. Good public speakers understand that they must plan, organize, and revise their material in order to develop an effective speech. This book will help you understand the basics of effective public speaking and guide you through the process of creating your own presentations. We’ll begin by discussing the ways in which public speaking is relevant to you and can benefit you in your career, education, and personal life.

In a world where people are bombarded with messages through television, social media, and the Internet, one of the first questions you may ask is, “Do people still give speeches?” Well, type the words “public speaking” into Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com, and you will find more than two thousand books with the words “public speaking” in the title. Most of these and other books related to public speaking are not college textbooks. In fact, many books written about public speaking are intended for very specific audiences: A Handbook of Public Speaking for Scientists and Engineers (by Peter Kenny), Excuse Me! Let Me Speak!: A Young Person’s Guide to Public Speaking (by Michelle J. Dyett-Welcome), Professionally Speaking: Public Speaking for Health Professionals (by Frank De Piano and Arnold Melnick), and Speaking Effectively: A Guide for Air Force Speakers (by John A. Kline). Although these different books address specific issues related to nurses, engineers, or air force officers, the content is basically the same. If you search for “public speaking” in an online academic database, you’ll find numerous articles on public speaking in business magazines (e.g., BusinessWeek , Nonprofit World ) and academic journals (e.g., Harvard Business Review , Journal of Business Communication ). There is so much information available about public speaking because it continues to be relevant even with the growth of technological means of communication. As author and speaker Scott Berkun writes in his blog, “For all our tech, we’re still very fond of the most low tech thing there is: a monologue.” Berkun, S. (2009, March 4). Does public speaking matter in 2009? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.scottberkun.com/blog People continue to spend millions of dollars every year to listen to professional speakers. For example, attendees of the 2010 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, which invites speakers from around the world to share their ideas in short, eighteen-minute presentations, paid six thousand dollars per person to listen to fifty speeches over a four-day period.

Technology can also help public speakers reach audiences that were not possible to reach in the past. Millions of people heard about and then watched Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” online. In this captivating speech, Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who retired at age forty-six after developing inoperable tumors, delivered his last lecture to the students, faculty, and staff. This inspiring speech was turned into a DVD and a best-selling book that was eventually published in more than thirty-five languages. Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). Randy Pausch’s last lecture. Retrieved June 6, 2011, from http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture

We realize that you may not be invited to TED to give the speech of your life or create a speech so inspirational that it touches the lives of millions via YouTube; however, all of us will find ourselves in situations where we will be asked to give a speech, make a presentation, or just deliver a few words. In this chapter, we will first address why public speaking is important, and then we will discuss models that illustrate the process of public speaking itself.

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Learning Objectives

• Identify elements of vocal delivery that make a speech more engaging.
• Identify elements of vocal delivery that make a speech clearer.
• Discuss the relationship between vocal delivery and speaker credibility.

Vocal delivery includes components of speech delivery that relate to your voice. These include rate, volume, pitch, articulation, pronunciation, and fluency. Our voice is important to consider when delivering our speech for two main reasons. First, vocal delivery can help us engage and interest the audience. Second, vocal delivery helps ensure that our ideas are communicated clearly.

Speaking for Engagement

We have all had the displeasure of listening to an unengaging speaker. Even though the person may care about his or her topic, an unengaging delivery that doesn’t communicate enthusiasm will translate into a lack of interest for most audience members. Although a speaker can be visually engaging by incorporating movement and gestures, which we will discuss more later, a flat or monotone vocal delivery can be sedating or even annoying. Incorporating vocal variety in terms of rate, volume, and pitch is key to being a successful speaker.

Rate of speaking refers to how fast or slow you speak. If you speak too fast, your audience will not be able to absorb the information you present. If you speak too slowly, the audience may lose interest. The key is to vary your rate of speaking in a middle range, staying away from either extreme, in order to keep your audience engaged. In general, a higher rate of speaking signals that a speaker is enthusiastic about his or her topic. Speaking slowly may lead the audience to infer that the speaker is uninterested, uninformed, or unprepared to present his or her own topic. These negative assumptions, whether they are true or not, are likely to hurt the credibility of the speaker. Having evaluated thousands of speeches, I can say that, in terms of rate, the issue speakers face is speaking too fast. The goal is to speak at a rate that will interest the audience and will effectively convey your information. Speaking at a slow rate throughout a speech would likely bore an audience, but that is not a common occurrence.

Some people naturally speak faster than others, which is fine, but we can all alter our rate of speaking with practice. If you find that you are a naturally fast speaker, make sure that you do not “speed talk” through your speech when practicing it. Even if you try to hold back when actually delivering your speech, you may fall back into your practice routine and speak too fast. You can also include reminders to “slow down” on your speaking outline.

Volume refers to how loud or soft your voice is. As with speaking rate, you want to avoid the extremes of being too loud or too soft, but still vary your volume within an acceptable middle range. When speaking in a typically sized classroom or office setting that seats about twenty-five people, using a volume a few steps above a typical conversational volume is usually sufficient. When speaking in larger rooms, you will need to project your voice. You may want to look for nonverbal cues from people in the back rows or corners, like leaning forward or straining to hear, to see if you need to adjust your volume more. Obviously, in some settings, a microphone will be necessary to be heard by the entire audience. Like rate, audiences use volume to make a variety of judgments about a speaker. Softer speakers are sometimes judged as meek, which may lead to lowered expectations for the speech or less perceived credibility. Loud speakers may be seen as overbearing or annoying, which can lead audience members to disengage from the speaker and message. Be aware of the volume of your voice and, when in doubt, increase your volume a notch, since beginning speakers are more likely to have an issue of speaking too softly rather than too loudly.

Speak a couple steps above your regular volume for speeches that occur in typically sized classrooms or meeting rooms that seat twenty to forty people. A microphone may be necessary for larger groups or rooms.

Speaker at Podium – CC BY 2.0.

Pitch refers to how high or low a speaker’s voice is. As with other vocal qualities, there are natural variations among people’s vocal pitch. Unlike rate and volume, there are more physiological limitations on the control we have over pitch. For example, males generally have lower pitched voices than females. Despite these limitations, each person still has the capability to intentionally change their pitch across a range large enough to engage an audience. Changing pitch is a good way to communicate enthusiasm and indicate emphasis or closure. In general, our pitch goes up when we are discussing something exciting. Our pitch goes down slightly when we emphasize a serious or important point. Lowering pitch is also an effective way to signal transitions between sections of your speech or the end of your speech, which cues your audience to applaud and avoids an awkward ending.

Of the vocal components of delivery discussed so far, pitch seems to give beginning speakers the most difficulty. There is a stark difference between the way I hear students speak before and after class and the way they speak when they get in front of the class. It’s like giving a speech temporarily numbs their ability to vary their pitch. Record yourself practicing your speech to help determine if the amount of pitch variety and enthusiasm you think you convey while speaking actually comes through. Speakers often assume that their pitch is more varied and their delivery more enthusiastic than the audience actually perceives it to be. Many of my students note this on the self-evaluations they write after viewing their recorded speech.

Vocal Variety

Overall, the lesson to take away from this section on vocal delivery is that variety is key. Vocal variety includes changes in your rate, volume, and pitch that can make you look more prepared, seem more credible, and be able to engage your audience better. Employing vocal variety is not something that takes natural ability or advanced skills training. It is something that beginning speakers can start working on immediately and everyone can accomplish. The key is to become aware of how you use your voice when you speak, and the best way to do this is to record yourself. We all use vocal variety naturally without thinking about it during our regular conversations, and many of us think that this tendency will translate over to our speaking voices. This is definitely not the case for most beginning speakers. Unlike in your regular conversations, it will take some awareness and practice to use vocal variety in speeches. I encourage students to make this a delivery priority early on. Since it’s something anyone can do, improving in this area will add to your speaking confidence, which usually translates into better speeches and better grades further on.

Fluency refers to the flow of your speaking. To speak with fluency means that your speech flows well and that there are not many interruptions to that flow. There are two main disfluencies, or problems that affect the flow of a speech. Fluency hiccups are unintended pauses in a speech that usually result from forgetting what you were saying, being distracted, or losing your place in your speaking notes. Fluency hiccups are not the same as intended pauses, which are useful for adding emphasis or transitioning between parts of a speech. While speakers should try to minimize fluency hiccups, even experienced speakers need to take an unintended pause sometimes to get their bearings or to recover from an unexpected distraction. Fluency hiccups become a problem when they happen regularly enough to detract from the speaker’s message.

Verbal fillers are words that speakers use to fill in a gap between what they were saying and what they’re saying next. Common verbal fillers include um , uh , ah , er , you know , and like . The best way to minimize verbal fillers is to become a higher self-monitor and realize that you use them. Many students are surprised when they watch the video of their first speech and realize they said “um” thirty times in three minutes. Gaining that awareness is the first step in eliminating verbal fillers, and students make noticeable progress with this between their first and second speeches. If you do lose your train of thought, having a brief fluency hiccup is better than injecting a verbal filler, because the audience may not even notice the pause or may think it was intentional.

Common Causes of Fluency Hiccups

• Lack of preparation. Effective practice sessions are the best way to prevent fluency hiccups.
• Not writing for speaking. If you write your speech the way you’ve been taught to write papers, you will have fluency hiccups. You must translate the written words into something easier for you to present orally. To do this, read your speech aloud and edit as you write to make sure your speech is easy for you to speak.
• A poorly prepared speaking outline. Whether it is on paper or note cards, sloppy writing, unorganized bullet points, or incomplete/insufficient information on a speaking outline leads to fluency hiccups.
• Distractions. Audience members and the external environment are unpredictable. Hopefully audience members will be polite and will silence their phones, avoid talking while the speaker is presenting, and avoid moving excessively. There could also be external noise that comes through a door or window. A speaker can also be distracted by internal noise such as thinking about other things.

“Getting Plugged In”

Delivering Presentations Online

As many people and organizations are trying to do more with smaller budgets, and new software becomes available, online presentations are becoming more common. Whether using a Webinar format, a WebEx, Skype, FaceTime, Elluminate Live, or some other program, the live, face-to-face audience is now mediated through a computer screen. Despite this change in format, many of the same basic principles of public speaking apply when speaking to people virtually. Yet many business professionals seem to forget the best practices of public speaking when presenting online or don’t get that they apply in both settings. The website TheVirtualPresenter.com offers many tips for presenting online that we’ve covered in this book, including be audience focused, have engaging delivery, and use visual aids effectively (Courville, 2012). Yet speakers need to think about some of these things differently when presenting online. We have natural ways to engage an audience when presenting face-to-face, but since many online presentations are only one-way in terms of video, speakers have to rely on technology like audience polls, live chat, or options for audience members to virtually raise their hand when they have a question to get feedback while speaking. Also, in some formats, the audience can only see the presenter’s computer desktop or slide show, which pulls attention away from physical delivery and makes vocal delivery and visual aids more important. Extemporaneous delivery and vocal variety are still key when presenting online. Reading from your slides or having a monotone voice will likely not make a favorable impression on your audience. The lesson to take away is that presenting online requires the same skills as presenting in person, so don’t let the change in format lead you to make mistakes that will make you a less effective speaker.

• Have you ever presented online or been an audience member for an online presentation? If so, describe your experience and compare it to face-to-face speaking.
• What are some of the key differences between presenting online and presenting in person that a speaker should consider?
• How might online presentations play into your future career goals? What types of presentations do you think you would give? What could you do to ensure the presentations are effective?

Key Takeaways

• Speakers should use vocal variety, which is changes in rate, volume, and pitch, to make a speech more engaging.
• Interruptions to the fluency of a speech, including fluency hiccups and verbal fillers, detract from the speaker’s message and can lessen a speaker’s credibility.
• Record yourself practicing your speech. How does your speech sound in terms of vocal variety? Cite specific examples.
• Over the course of a day, take note of verbal fillers that you tend to use. List them here so you can be a higher self-monitor and begin to notice and lessen your use of them.

Courville, R., “Delivery,” TheVirtualPresenter.com, accessed November 5, 2012, http://thevirtualpresenter.com/category/delivery .

Public Speaking Copyright © 2023 by University of Nebraska at Omaha is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Module 5: Delivering Your Speech

Objectives, outline, and introduction, chapter 12: delivering your speech.

By Victor Capecce, M.F.A. Millersville University, Millersville, PA

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Identify, define and give an example of each of 
the four main types of 
delivery
• Determine the best 
speaking style for different types of speaking occasions
• Identify and utilize voice aspects of speaking
• Recognize and utilize the key “ingredients” of a 
well-performed speech
• Adapt to the physical aspects of a speaking 
venue
• Plan the speech in 
preparation for delivery/performance of a speech.

Chapter Outline

Introduction.

• Manuscript Style
• Memorized Style
• Impromptu Style
• Extemporaneous Style
• Articulation
• Pronunciation
• Accent, Dialect, and Regionalisms
• Vocal Quality
• Pitch and Inflection
• Rate of Speaking
• Pauses Versus Vocalized Pauses
• Vocal Projection
• Personal Appearance
• Movement and Gesture
• Facial Expressions
• Eye Contact
• The Equipment
• Using a Microphone
• Water Rules
• Preparing Notes
• Rehearsing the Speech
• Managing Stress
• Delivering the Speech
• Review Questions and Activities

“Allida Black Speaking at Courage to Lead Summit” by United States Mission Geneva. CC-BY-ND .

Imagine this. A speech topic is perfectly chosen; the content is nicely organized and flawlessly researched; a great deal of work was invested in preparing the “text” or “script” of the speech, but the speech is poorly delivered. Will the speech be effective? Will the audience stay alert and follow it? Will the audience properly interpret the speaker’s intended message? These last questions contribute to the universal fear of public speaking. It is not the preparation of a speech that strikes terror in the hearts of so many, but the performance of a speech!

Don’t lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality. – Ralph Marston

Since an audience does not usually read the text of a speech, but simply listens to it, all the preparation of the content by the speaker must be encoded into a complex combination of communication channels (words, sounds, visual elements, etc.) ready to be performed. The purpose of this chapter is to offer guidance to transfer the speech from the page to the stage.

There is an old Burlesque joke:

One man on a New York street comes up to another and asks, “How can I get to Carnegie Hall?”

The second man answers, “PRACTICE.”

Practice is the key to excellent performance. Trite as it might sound (or obvious), the basic foundation for a good speech delivery involves the two “P’s”: Preparation and Practice. There is not an actor, athlete, or musician worth his/her salary who does not prepare and practice. Even when a performance is given with spontaneity, the “P’s” are crucial.

Stand-up comedy is everywhere; and those who are successful comedians do not make up their monologues on the spot. The phrasing, the pauses, the timing, is all rehearsed to assure the laughs will happen on cue. Good stand up comics are skilled in making it look as though they are making up their routine on the spot, which is part of the success of a good comedy performance. New speakers should think of themselves as performers facing an audience; actors ascending to stage; athletes stepping up to bat.

This chapter will describe the basic methods of delivery, and offer guidance in the aspects of presentation (such as voice, inflection, eye contact, and body and facial language). Some basic strategies for in setting up the room and podium for speaking will also be covered.

It is delivery that makes the orator’s success. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

• Chapter 12 Objectives and Outline. Authored by : Victor Capecce, M.F.A.. Provided by : Millersville University, Millersville, PA. Located at : http://publicspeakingproject.org/psvirtualtext.html . Project : The Public Speaking Project. License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives

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Chapter Thirteen – Speech Delivery

Maryland GovPics –  House of Ruth Luncheon  – CC BY 2.0.

The easiest approach to speech delivery is not always the best. Substantial work goes into the careful preparation of an interesting and ethical message, so it is understandable that students may have the impulse to avoid “messing it up” by simply reading it word for word. But students who do this miss out on one of the major reasons for studying public speaking: to learn ways to “connect” with one’s audience and to increase one’s confidence in doing so. You already know how to read, and you already know how to talk. But public speaking is neither reading nor talking.

Speaking in public has more formality than talking. During a speech, you should present yourself professionally. This doesn’t mean you must wear a suit or “dress up” (unless your instructor asks you to), but it does mean making yourself presentable by being well groomed and wearing clean, appropriate clothes. It also means being prepared to use language correctly and appropriately for the audience and the topic, to make eye contact with your audience, and to look like you know your topic very well.

While speaking has more formality than talking, it has less formality than reading. Speaking allows for meaningful pauses, eye contact, small changes in word order, and vocal emphasis. Reading is a more or less exact replication of words on paper without the use of any nonverbal interpretation. Speaking, as you will realize if you think about excellent speakers you have seen and heard, provides a more animated message.

The next sections introduce four methods of delivery that can help you balance between too much and too little formality when giving a public speech.

Types of Delivery

Impromptu Speaking

Impromptu speaking is the presentation of a short message without advance preparation. You have probably done impromptu speaking many times in informal, conversational settings. Self-introductions in group settings are examples of impromptu speaking: “Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m a volunteer with the Homes for the Brave program.” Another example of impromptu speaking occurs when you answer a question such as, “What did you think of the movie?” Your response has not been preplanned, and you are constructing your arguments and points as you speak. Even worse, you might find yourself going into a meeting and your boss says, “I want you to talk about the last stage of the project. . .” and you have no warning.

The advantage of this kind of speaking is that it’s spontaneous and responsive in an animated group context. The disadvantage is that the speaker is given little or no time to contemplate the central theme of their message. As a result, the message may be disorganized and difficult for listeners to follow.

Here is a step-by-step guide that may be useful if you are called upon to give an impromptu speech in public:

• Take a moment to collect your thoughts and plan the main point that you want to make (like a mini thesis statement).
• Thank the person for inviting you to speak. Do not make comments about being unprepared, called upon at the last moment, on the spot, or uneasy. In other words, try to avoid being self-deprecating!
• Deliver your message, making your main point as briefly as you can while still covering it adequately and at a pace your listeners can follow.
• If you can use a structure, use numbers if possible: “Two main reasons. . .” or “Three parts of our plan. . .” or “Two side effects of this drug. . .” Past, present, and future or East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast are prefab structures.
• Thank the person again for the opportunity to speak.
• Stop talking (it is easy to “ramble on” when you don’t have something prepared). If in front of an audience, don’t keep talking as you move back to your seat.

Impromptu speeches are generally most successful when they are brief and focus on a single point.

We recommend practicing your impromptu speaking regularly and every day. Do you want to work on reducing your vocalized pauses in a formal setting? Cool! You can begin that process by being conscious of your vocalized fillers during informal conversations and settings.

Extemporaneous

Extemporaneous speaking  is the presentation of a carefully planned and rehearsed speech, spoken in a conversational manner using brief notes.

Speaking extemporaneously has some advantages. It promotes the likelihood that you, the speaker, will be perceived as knowledgeable and credible since you know the speech well enough that you don’t need to read it. In addition, your audience is likely to pay better attention to the message because it is engaging both verbally and nonverbally. By using notes rather than a full manuscript (or everything that you’re going to say), the extemporaneous speaker can establish and maintain eye contact with the audience and assess how well they are understanding the speech as it progresses. It also allows flexibility; you are working from the strong foundation of an outline, but if you need to delete, add, or rephrase something at the last minute or to adapt to your audience, you can do so. The outline also helps you be aware of main ideas vs. subordinate ones.

Because extemporaneous speaking is the style used in the great majority of public speaking situations, most of the information in the subsequent sections of this chapter is targeted toward this kind of speaking.

Manuscript  speaking is the word-for-word iteration of a written message. In a manuscript speech, the speaker maintains their attention on the printed page except when using presentation aids.

The advantage to reading from a manuscript is the exact repetition of original words. This can be extremely important in some circumstances. For example, reading a statement about your organization’s legal responsibilities to customers may require that the original words be exact. In reading one word at a time, in order, the only errors would typically be mispronunciation of a word or stumbling over complex sentence structure. A manuscript speech may also be appropriate at a more formal affair (like a funeral), when your speech must be said exactly as written in order to convey the proper emotion or decorum the situation deserves.

However, there are costs involved in manuscript speaking. First, it’s typically an uninteresting way to present. Unless the speaker has rehearsed the reading as a complete performance animated with vocal expression and gestures (well-known authors often do this for book readings), the presentation tends to be dull. Keeping one’s eyes glued to the script prevents eye contact with the audience. For this kind of “straight” manuscript speech to hold audience attention, the audience must be already interested in the message and speaker before the delivery begins. Finally, because the full notes are required, speakers often require a lectern to place their notes, restricting movement and the ability to engage with the audience. Without something to place the notes on, speakers have to manage full-page speaking notes, and that can be distracting.

It is worth noting that professional speakers, actors, news reporters, and politicians often read from an autocue device, such as a teleprompter, especially when appearing on television, where eye contact with the camera is crucial. With practice, a speaker can achieve a conversational tone and give the impression of speaking extemporaneously and maintaining eye contact while using an autocue device. However, success in this medium depends on two factors: (1) the speaker is already an accomplished public speaker who has learned to use a conversational tone while delivering a prepared script, and (2) the speech is written in a style that sounds conversational.

Memorized speaking is reciting a written message that the speaker has committed to memory. Actors, of course, recite from memory whenever they perform from a script in a stage play, television program, or movie. When it comes to speeches, memorization can be useful when the message needs to be exact, and the speaker doesn’t want to be confined by notes.

The advantage to memorization is that it enables the speaker to maintain eye contact with the audience throughout the speech. Being free of notes means that you can move freely around the stage and use your hands to make gestures. If your speech uses presentation aids, this freedom is even more of an advantage.

Memorization, however, can be tricky. First, if you lose your place and start trying to ad lib, the contrast in your style of delivery will alert your audience that something is wrong. If you go completely blank during the presentation, it will be extremely difficult to find your place and keep going. Obviously, memorizing a typical seven-minute classroom speech takes a great deal of time and effort, and if you aren’t used to memorizing, it is very difficult to pull off.

We recommend playing with all 4 types of delivery (though extemporaneous is most common in public speaking). Once you identify what type of delivery style you’ll use in a speech, it’s time to rehearse. We will discuss best practices for rehearsing in Chapter 20. Let us focus now on elements of effective speech delivery.

Vocal Aspects of Delivery

Though we speak frequently during the course of a day, a formal speech requires extra attention to detail in preparation of a more formal speech presentation. What can one do in advance to prepare for a speech? The challenge is partly determined by the speaker’s experience, background and sometimes cultural influence and existing habits of speaking. Articulation, Pronunciation, Dialect, Tone, Pitch, and Projection each depends on long-term practice for success. These aspects are like signatures and should be developed and used by each speaker according to his own persona.

Voice, or vocal sound, is made when controlled air being exhaled from the lungs, passes over the vocal cords causing a controlled vibration. The vibrating air resonates in the body, chest cavity, mouth, and nasal passages. The vibrating air causes a chain reaction with the air in the room. The room’s air, set in motion by the voice, is captured by the listener’s ear. The vibration of the air against the eardrum is transferred to electrical impulses that are interpreted by the listener’s brain. Thus, the sounds we can make are predicated on the breaths that we take.

“Crying baby”  by Brazzouk.  CC-BY-SA .

TRY THIS! BREATHING

Talk without breathing. It cannot be done. So, if you are screaming (like a baby), you are also breathing!

The first word of advice on speaking to an audience: BREATHE!

Articulation

We are often judged by how well we speak in general. A measure of perceived intellect or education is how well we  articulate . That is: how well and correctly we form our vowels and consonants using our lips, jaw, tongue, and palate to form the sounds that are identified as speech.  Diction  and  enunciation  are other terms that refer to the same idea. For instance, saying “going to” instead of “gonna” or “did not” instead of “dint” are examples of good versus poor articulation. Consonant and vowels are spoken with standard accepted precision, and serious students and speakers will strive to practice the clarity of their sounds. Proper diction is as integral to the English language as proper spelling, but it takes practice.

Pronunciation

Proper  articulation  applied to a given word is that word’s  pronunciation . The pronunciation includes how the vowels and consonants are produced as well as which syllable is emphasized. For generations, speakers depended on “markings (such as the International Phonetics Alphabet or similar Dictionary Symbols) to discover or decide how words were officially pronounced. With online dictionaries now readily available, one needs only to “look up” a word and select “play” to hear an audible recording of the official and precise way a word should be pronounced. Now there is no excuse for mispronouncing a word in a speech. A mispronounced word will obliterate a speaker’s credibility, and the audience’s attention will be focused on the fault rather than the message.

TRY THIS! PRONUNCIATION

1. Flip through a book, article or scholarly work until you come to a word that is unfamiliar and you can only guess its pronunciation.

2. Go to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website and look up the word.

3. When the definition appears, click the icon of the loudspeaker. The word is audibly pronounced for you.

The online dictionary is useful in both articulation as well as pronunciation.

Accent, Dialect, and Regionalisms

“Iraqi speaker”  by Office of United States Rep. Ellen Tauscher. Public domain.

Subtleties in the way we pronounce words and phrase our speech within a given language are evident in  accents ,  regionalisms , and  dialects . An accent refers to the degree of prominence of the way syllables are spoken in words, as when someone from Australia says “undah” whereas we say “under.” A  regionalism  is a type of expression, as when someone says “The dog wants walked,” instead of “the dog wants to go for a walk.” Dialect is a variety of language where one is distinguished from others by grammar and vocabulary. In Pennsylvania you might hear people say that they are going to “red up the room,” which means “to clean the room.”

Those who depend on speaking for a career (broadcasters, politicians, and entertainers) will often strive for unaccented General or Standard English. Listen to most major network newscasters for examples of  regionalism-free  speech. A given audience may be prejudiced towards or against a speaker with an identifiable accent or dialect. Though we would wish prejudice were not the case, the way we speak implies so much about our education, cultural background, and economic status, that prejudice is inevitable. Any speaker should be aware of how accent,  dialect , and regionalisms can be perceived by a given audience. If you speak in a way that the audience might find difficult to understand, make an extra effort to pay attention to the accent and phrasing of your speech. Ask a sympathetic and objective listener to help you when you practice.

We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us. – Friedrich Nietzsche

Vocal Quality

The quality of the voice, its  timbre (distinctive sound) and texture, affects audibility and can affect the articulation. Our voices are unique to each of us. It is a result of our physical vocal instrument, including diaphragm, vocal cords, lungs and body mass. Some examples of vocal quality include warm, clear, soft, scratchy, mellow and breathy. Each speaker should practice at maximizing the vocal effect of their instrument, which can be developed with vocal exercises. There are numerous books, recordings and trainers available to develop one’s vocal quality when needed. The quality of one’s voice is related to its range of pitch.

TRY THIS! INFLECTION

Your voice goes UP, and then your voice goes d o w n.

Pitch and Inflection

Identical to musical parlance, the  pitch is the “highness” or “lowness” of the voice. Each of us has a range of  tone . Vocal sounds are actually vibrations sent out from the vocal cords resonating through chambers in the body. The vibrations can literally be measured in terms of audio frequency in the same way music is measured. When the  pitch  is altered to convey a meaning (like raising the pitch at the end of a sentence that is a question), it is the inflection.  Inflections  are variations, turns and slides in pitch to achieve the meaning.

In his writing “Poetics,” Aristotle lists “Music” as an element of the Drama. Some scholars interpret that to include the musicalization of the spoken word with  dramatic inflection . The meaning and effectiveness of a spoken line is greatly dependent on the “melody” of its inflection.

Though archaic, the study of  elocution formalizes the conventions of inflection. In some contemporary cultures, inflection has been minimized because it sounds too “melodramatic” for the taste of the demographic group. It would be sensible to be aware of and avoid both extremes. With effective animated inflection, a speaker is more interesting, and the inflection conveys energy and “aliveness” that compels the audience to listen.

“Ice-T”  by Tino Jacobs.  CC-BY .

When public speaking was known as elocution, sentences were “scored” like music, and spoken using formal rules. Sentences ending as a question went UP at the end. Sentences ending in a period, ended with a base note. And everyone had fun with exclamation points!

For most of music in history, including Opera, Broadway, and early Rock and Roll, songs were written so that the melody (raising and lowering the pitch) was consistent with what would be spoken. Many of today’s songs, notably Rap songs, depend solely on rhythm. There is little if any inflection (melody) to enhance a lyric’s meaning. Certain languages differ in their dependence on inflection. Japanese and German seem monotonic compared to Italian and French, which offer great variety of inflection.

The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play. – Richard Strauss  

Even someone one who is not a singer can be expressive with inflection and pitch. Like the “Think System” of Professor Harold Hill in the musical The Music Man. If you THINK varied pitch, you can SPEAK varied pitch. Think of pitch inflections as seasoning spices that can make the speech more interesting. Sing “Happy Birthday.” You do not have to concentrate or analyze how to create the melody in your voice. Your memory and instinct take over. Notice how the pitch also provides an audible version of punctuation, letting the audience know if your sentence has ended, if it is a question, and so on. The melody lets the audience know that there is more to come (a comma) and when the phrase is ended (a period). Remember that in a speech, the audience does not have the written punctuation to follow, so you have to provide the punctuation with your inflection.

TRY THIS! VOCAL VARIATION 

Find a listening partner. Using only the sounds of “la” ha,” and “oh,” convey the meaning of the following:

1. It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen!

2. I’ve fallen and can’t get up!

3. That soup is disgusting and spoiled.

4. I got an “A” in my Speech Final!

If you cannot relay the meaning with just sounds, try a second time (each) with gestures and facial expressions until the listener understands. Then say the lines with the expressive inflections you have developed using only the sounds.

Those who do not use inflection, or use a range of pitch, are speaking in monotone . And, as the word implies, it can be monotonous, boring, and dull. A balance between melodramatic and monotonous would be preferred. The inflection should have a meaningful and interesting variety. Be careful not to turn a pattern of inflection into a repetitious sound. Think through each phrase and its musicalization separately.

Many speakers have developed the habit of ending each sentence as though it is a question. It may be becoming increasingly common. In the wake of the Valley Girl syndrome of the 1980’s, a bad inflection habit has entered the speech pattern: Some speakers end a declarative sentence with the inflection of a question.

Do you know what I mean?

A word of caution: Inflection and varied pitch must be “organic,” that is to say, natural for the speaker. You cannot fake it, or it sounds artificial and disingenuous. It is a skill that needs to develop over a period of time.

Rate of Speaking

In order to retain clarity of the speech with articulation and inflection, the speaker must be aware that there is a range of appropriate  tempo for speaking. If the tempo is too slow, the speech might resemble a monotonous peal. If it is too fast, the articulation could suffer if consonants or vowels are dropped or rushed to keep up the speed. An audience could become frustrated with either extreme. The tempo needs to be appropriate to the speaker’s style, but neither paced like a Gilbertian Lyric (as in “Gilbert and Sullivan”) patter nor a funereal dirge. A comfortable and clear pace is the best. An ideal speaking rate will allow you to comfortably increase your pace to create a sense of excitement, or slow down to emphasize the seriousness of a topic.

It is simple nonsense to speak of the fixed tempo of any particular vocal phrase. Each voice has its peculiarities. – Anton Seidl

Pauses Versus Vocalized Pauses

A text that is read has punctuation that the reader can see…miniature landmarks to define the text. When spoken, similar punctuation is needed for comprehension, and the speaker’s responsibility is to offer the text with pauses. Space between phrases, properly planted, gives the audience the opportunity to understand the structure of the speaker’s sentences and paragraphs. It also gives time for the audience to “digest” crucial phrases.

Generally, spoken sentences and paragraphs need to be simpler and shorter than what can be comprehended by reading. Pauses can help increase comprehension.

However, pauses that are filled with “uh’s, “um’s,” etc., are called  vocalized pauses , or  fillers , and should be avoided. They can be distracting, annoying, and give the impression of a lack of preparation if used excessively. Even worse is the use of vernacular phrases like, “y’know” (a contraction of “Do You Know”) which gives the impression of lack of education or lack of concern for the audience. The use of vocalized pauses may be the result of a habit that deserves an effort to be overcome. Avoid using phrases such as “Uh,” “OK?”, “y’know”, “like…, I mean,” “right?”

Vocal Projection

The volume produced by the vocal instrument is  projection . Supporting the voice volume with good breathing and energy can be practiced, and helping a speaker develop the correct volume is a main task of a vocal trainer, teacher or coach. Good vocal support with good posture, breathing, and energy should be practiced regularly, long before a speech is delivered. There are numerous exercises devoted to developing projection capabilities.

While there is no need to shout, a speaker should project to be easily heard from the furthest part of the audience. Even if the speech is amplified with a microphone/sound system, one must speak with projection and energy. As with your rate of speech, you should speak at a volume that comfortably allows you to increase the volume of your voice without seeming to shout or decrease the volume of your voice and still be heard by all audience members.

Do not expect to walk up to the podium and have a full voice. Actors spend about a half-hour doing vocal warm-ups, and singers warm up much more. You might not have an opportunity to warm up immediately before your speech, but when you can, warm up with humming, yawning (loudly) or singing scales: all while breathing deeply and efficiently. It will loosen your voice, prevent irritation, and fire up your vocal energy.

TRY THIS! PROJECTION

Go to the room in which you are to speak. Have a friend sit as far away from the podium is possible. Rehearse your speech, talking loudly enough so your friend can hear you comfortably. That is the projection you will need. When you mentally focus on the distant listener, you will tend to project better.

One final note: If public speaking is or will be an important part of your career, it would be sensible to have an evaluation of your voice, articulation and projection done by an objective professional so you can take any remedial action that might be recommended. There are courses of study, private lessons, and professional voice coaches to work with your voice projection, tone, and pitch.

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning. – Maya Angelou

While vocal aspects of delivery are certainly important, they do not paint the entire picture.  Nonverbal aspects of delivery are discussed next; these include your appearance, posture, gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions.

Nonverbal Aspects of Delivery

Women in Business Leadership Conf.  by UCLA Anderson.  CC-BY-NC-SA .

Personal Appearance

Here is the golden rule: Dress appropriately for the situation. You don’t need to sport a power tie (the predictable red tie politicians wore in the 1980s), but you should be comfortable and confident knowing that you look good.

With the exception of wearing formal black-tie tuxedo to a hockey game, it is good practice to dress a bit more formal than less. Err on the side of formal. Most class speeches would be best in business casual (which can vary from place to place and in time). The culture or standards of the audience should be considered.

There are exceptions depending on the speech. A student once arrived in pajamas to deliver his 9 a.m. speech. At first, I thought he got up too late to dress for class. However, his speech was on Sleep Deprivation, and his costume was deliberate. What he wore contributed to his speech.

If you have long hair, be sure it is out of the way so it won’t cover your face. Flipping hair out of your face is very distracting, so it is wise to secure it with clips, gel, or some other method. Be sure you can be seen, especially your eyes and your mouth, even as you glance down to the podium.

Think of it as an interview…just like in an interview, you will want to make a good first impression. The corporate culture of the business will determine the dress. Always dress at the level of the person conducting the interview. For example, a construction supervisor (or project manager) will conduct an interview to hire you as a carpenter. Do not dress like a carpenter, dress like the project manager.

Actors know when they audition, the role is won by the time they step into the room. A speaker can launch success by stepping confidently to the podium.

Be tidy and clean. If you appear as though you took time to prepare because your speech is important, then your audience will recognize and respect what you have to say.

Movement and Gestures

Overall movement and specific gestures are integral to a speech. Body stance, gestures and facial expressions can be generally categorized as  body language . Movement should be relaxed and natural, and not excessive. How you move takes practice. Actors usually have the advantage of directors helping to make decisions about movement, but a good objective listener or a rehearsal in front of a large mirror can yield productive observations.

“Barack Obama at Las Vegas Presidential Forum”  by Center for American Progress Action Fund.  CC-BY-SA .

Moving around the performance space can be a very powerful component of a speech; however, it should be rehearsed as part of the presentation. Too much movement can be distracting. This is particularly true if the movement appears to be a result of nervousness. Avoid fidgeting, stroking your hair, and any other nervousness-related movement.

Among the traditional common fears of novice speakers is not knowing what to do with one’s hands. Sometimes the speaker relies on clutching to the podium or keeping hands in pockets. Neither is a good pose. From my own observation, hand gestures are very common in Italy. We Italians can be seen in conversation from across the street, and an observer can often tell what is being said. There is no need to imitate an Italian in delivering a speech, but hand movement and the energy that the movement represents, can help hold attention as well as help express the message.

An actor practices using the entire body for expression, and regularly practices physical exercises to keep the body and hands and arms relaxed and in motion. An actor’s hand gestures are developed in rehearsal. A speaker’s gestures should also be considered during practice.

During the period when elocution was taught, hand gestures were regimented like a sign language. This is nonsense. Like inflections, gestures and movement should be organic and spontaneous, not contrived. If there is a hint of artificiality in your presentation, you will sacrifice your credibility.

TRY THIS! GESTURES

Using only your hands, convey the following:

• “I give up.”
• “I caught a fish, and it was THIS big!”
• “We will be victorious.”

Facial Expressions

Most readers are very familiar with emoticons like these:

🙂   🙁   :p  😀  😉  :/

Emoticons were not casual inventions, but graphic depictions of facial expressions that convey various meanings of emotions. They are based on a nearly universal language of expression that we begin learning soon after birth. We smile, we frown, we roll our eyes, and we wink. We open eyes wide with astonishment. We raise our eyebrows…occasionally one at a time, in suspicion; both, in astonishment. Sometimes we pucker our lips, either to offer a kiss or express disapproval, disappointment, or grave concern.

“Castefest 2011, Gothic”  by Qsimple.  CC-BY-NC-SA .

Since facial expression is a valid form of communication, it is integral to delivering a speech. The face supports the text, and the speaker’s commitment to the material is validated. The press scrutinizes a politician for every twitch of insincerity. Detectives have created a science of facial communication for interviewing suspects. Like inflections, gestures and movement: facial expressions should be organic and spontaneous, not contrived. If there is a hint of artificiality in your expression, you will sacrifice your credibility.

TRY THIS! FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

While looking in a mirror, try to express these thoughts without words:

• “I am thrilled that I am getting a raise.”
• “I am worried about tomorrow.”
• “Lemons are too sour for me.”
• “I am suspicious about what he did.”

After you have determined a facial expression for each, say the phrase. And see how well the verbal expression goes with the nonverbal expression.

Eye Contact

Next to clearly speaking an organized text, eye contact is another very important element of speaking. An audience must feel interested in the speaker and know the speaker cares about them. Whether addressing an audience of 1000 or speaking across a “deuce” (table for two), eye contact solidifies the relationship between the speaker and audience. Good eye contact takes practice. The best practice is to scan the audience, making contact with each member of the audience.

However, there are some eye contact failures.

Head Bobber

People who bob their head looking down on the notes and up to the audience in an almost rhythmic pattern.

Balcony Gazer

People who look over the heads of their audience to avoid looking at any individual.

The Obsessor

A person who looks at one or two audience members or who only looks in one direction.

Developing Good Eye Contact

The best way to develop good eye contact is to have an objective listener watch and comment on the eye contact.

The eyes are called the windows to the soul, and the importance of eye contact in communication cannot be overemphasized. Ideally, a speaker should include 80% to 90% of the delivery time with eye contact.

Eye contact is so important that modern teleprompters are designed to allow the speaker to look at the audience while actually reading the speech. The Presidential Teleprompter (two angled pieces of glass functioning like a periscope) is used so the politician can “connect” to the audience without missing a single syllable. Audience members will be much more attentive and responsive if they believe the speech is directed to them.

With good eye contact, the speaker can also observe and gauge the attention and response of the audience. This is actually part of the feedback process of communication. The ideal is that the audience is not overly aware of the speaker using notes.

How do you develop good eye contact? First, practice the speech with a generous amount of eye contact. Second, know the speech well enough to only periodically (and quickly) glance at your notes. Third, prepare your notes so they can be easily read and followed without hesitation.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure . – Colin Powell

LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY

• Types of delivery adapted from Speak out, Call In. Speak Out, Call In: Public Speaking as Advocacy  by Meggie Mapes is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
• Chapter 12 Vocal Aspects of Delivery. Authored by : Victor Capecce, M.F.A..  Provided by : Millersville University, Millersville, PA.  Located at :  http://publicspeakingproject.org/psvirtualtext.html .  Project : The Public Speaking Project.  License :  CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Crying baby.  Authored by : Brazzouk.  Provided by : MorgueFile.  Located at :  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crying_baby.jpg .  License :  CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Ice-T.  Authored by : Tino Jacobs.  Located at :  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ice-T_(2).jpg .  License :  CC BY: Attribution
• Chapter 12 Nonverbal Aspects of Delivery.  Authored by : Victor Capecce, M.F.A..  Provided by : Millersville University, Millersville, PA.  Located at :  http://publicspeakingproject.org/psvirtualtext.html .  Project : The Public Speaking Project.  License :  CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Barack Obama at Las Vegas Presidential Forum.  Provided by : Center for American Progress Action Fund.  Located at :  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barack_Obama_at_Las_Vegas_Presidential_Forum.jpg .  License :  CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Women in Business Leadership Conf..  Authored by : UCLA Anderson.  Located at :  https://flic.kr/p/kvxbXN .  License :  CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

PUBLIC DOMAIN CONTENT

• Iraqi Speaker.  Authored by : Office of United States Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D – California).  Located at :  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iraqi_Speaker.jpg .  License :  Public Domain: No Known Copyright Castlefest 2011, Gothic.  Authored by : Qsimple, Memories For The Future Photography.  Located at :  https://www.flickr.com/photos/qsimple/6029566567/ .  License :  CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Media Attributions

Principles of Public Speaking Copyright © 2022 by Katie Gruber is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Vocal Quality

In a speech, obviously, the human voice delivers the majority of the message. While other nonverbal qualities may complement or supplement that message, the vast majority of the literal message gets delivered via the voice, and as such, the speaker must consider all of the qualities of the voice to ensure the most effective and memorable delivery possible.

Volume vs. Projection

Ever gone to a concert one night and noticed a difference in vocal quality the following day? The hoarse voice that resulted is most likely due to the strain placed on the vocal cords due to an increase in volume, which can be avoided by using the art of projection. Actors refer to projection as having a “stage voice,” which they employ by filling the diaphragm with air while breathing. This shifts that strain away from the vocal cords. Most people when they want to be heard loudly, simply increase the volume of their voice. Do this often and sustain it long enough and the throat will suffer. Learning to project the voice , however, involves using the diaphragm, the muscle below the lungs that fills and contracts the lungs during breathing, to expel more air through the vocal cords as they work. This effectively projects the voice throughout the room. Projection removes strain from the vocal cords and prevents the feeling associated with having a tired, hoarse voice the next day.

To develop projection, practice the presentation with a partner who slowly increases the volume of background music during the speech’s delivery. As the volume of the music increases, try projecting the message over the music, concentrating on expelling more air while speaking.

During conversations, most people are relaxed enough not to have to think about the clarity of their enunciation, and as a result, they tend to slur their words, drop syllables off the ends of words, and mumble. During practice session, slow down and pronounce consonant sounds sharply and crisply. Speakers that exaggerate effectively train their voice to articulate the sounds more clearly when it comes time to deliver the speech.

Additionally, certain words may present problems with pronunciation, such as the word phenomenological (go ahead, try to say it five times fast). Devote extra time to practicing these words to ensure proper pronunciation of them effortlessly and correctly. Look up the words using a tool such as YouTube to hear others use the words organically. Don’t settle for one source. Look up several in this manner to ensure the correct pronunciation, especially when using foreign language-based words or medical/science-based terminology. Saying words correctly improves the credibility of a speaker.

Pitch and Intonation

Pitch refers to the highs and lows of a vocal tone, while intonation indicates variations of pitch. When a speaker reads an entire speech off of a prewritten manuscript, things like pitch and intonation often get sacrificed, while in everyday conversation, pitch and intonation vary widely, leading to often engaging conversations that draw people in and keep them hooked. Even a staggering statistical fact could end up lost on the audience if the speaker used a monotonic voice while presenting it. However, adding enthusiasm and the right amount of emphasis will help the audience recognize the sheer importance of the fact.

Speakers demonstrate intensity by varying the loudness and softness of their voice.

Note to Self

To experience this, try saying the following aloud, as directed:

(Softly) “Are we going to put up with this?”

(Switch to loudly) “No! Today, we fight!”

As you tried this exercise, did you notice the meaning change as you altered the intensity?

Playing with intensity can drastically alter the mood or feel of the message. Try to vary the intensity throughout a speech. Start soft at first, but then build toward a climax near the end of the speech. This technique works especially well when utilizing narratives (stories) to convey important points.

Most people speak at a conversational rate of around 150 words per minute (roughly two words for every heartbeat), and as the heart rate increases, so will the rate of speaking. Auctioneers have the capability to say up to 300 words per minute, but in doing so, they sacrifice clarity and complexity in order to deliver their messages rapidly. Public speakers should want to keep their rates down to around the 150-word range. Keeping the rate of speech conversational helps demonstrate confidence and control to the audience. Breathing offers an effective solution to combat anxiety and regulate the heart rate. Novice speakers often forget to breathe, and instead, take short, choppy breaths that often lead to an oxygen deficiency that quickens the heart rate, leading to an increased rate of speaking. By using controlled breathing and pauses in between sentences to take deeper and purposeful breaths, the speaking rate should sound comfortable and relaxed.

Pauses and Fillers

During regular conversations, people often insert filler words, such as “um,” “uh,” “you know,” and others while talking. Filler words serve as a sort of placeholder for the conversation, used when someone needs to retreat into her or his mind to think of a word or what to say next. People insert those filler words or paralanguage , which represent the sounds people make that are not necessarily language, to let the other person know they have not finished their thoughts yet. In a speech, however, such words provide no function since the audience will not interrupt the delivery of the speech (unless dealing with a hostile audience). The audience will likely forgive the usage of some filler words. They may make the speaker come across as more natural and conversational, but at some point, too many of them becomes a distraction from the message. Instead of filler words, allow silence to fill the void between thoughts and sentences. Silence sounds much more eloquent and provides the audience with the impression that the speaker remains in control of the speech’s delivery, helping them to exude confidence.

Using pauses regularly augments the message’s impact. Short pauses (two seconds or less) add emphasis by using the silence to draw brief attention to the previous point. They can also separate ideas, serving almost as a nonverbal transition. Speakers should employ long pauses (3–4 seconds) more sparingly, such as following a rhetorical question or after making a powerful or provocative point. Long pauses command audience attention in dramatic fashion, but used too frequently, can give the audience the impression that the speaker’s unprepared or overly nervous. Save long pauses only for the most powerful moments within the message. Speakers may also try to use the “spontaneity pause,” a planned pause that appears unplanned from the perspective of the audience. When using such a pause, stop for a moment to consider the right word or way to phrase a point, only to miraculously come up with the perfect word at the last moment.

Messages that Matter: Public Speaking in the Information Age - Third Edition Copyright © 2023 by North Idaho College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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9 Chapter 9: Presentation Aids in Speaking

The materials below are attributed fully to the free online Open Education Resource, Exploring Public Speaking: The Free Dalton State College Public Speaking Textbook, 4th Edition (Chapter 11).

Chapter 9 Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, the student will be able to:

• List and explain reasons why presentation aids are important in public speaking
• Explain how presentation aids function in public speaking
• Describe the various computer-based and non-computer-based types of presentation aids available to the students
• Explain the correct use of various types of presentation aids
• Design professional-looking slides using presentation software

Chapter Preview

9.1 – What are Presentation Aids?

9.2 – Functions of Presentation Aids

9.3 – Types of Presentation Aids

9.4 – Using Presentation Slides

9.5 – Low-Tech Presentation Aids

9.1 –  What Are Presentation Aids?

When you give a speech, you are presenting much more than just a collection of words and ideas. Because you are speaking “live and in person,”  your audience members will experience your speech through all five of their senses: hearing, vision, smell, taste, and touch . In  some speaking situations, the speaker appeals only to the sense of hearing. They more or less ignore the other senses except to avoid visual distractions by dressing and presenting themselves in an appropriate manner. But the speaking event can be greatly enriched by appeals to the other senses. This is the role of presentation aids.

Professor West: What makes for an effective visual aid?

Presentation aids  are the resources beyond the speech words and delivery that a speaker uses to enhance the message conveyed to the audience .  The type of presentation aids that  speakers most typically make use of are  visual aids: pictures, diagrams, charts and graphs, maps, and the like.  Audible aids include musical excerpts, audio speech excerpts, and sound effects .  A speaker may also use   fragrance samples or food samples as  olfactory  (sense of smell) or  gustatory  (sense of taste) aids.  Finally,  presentation aids can be three-dimensional objects, animals, and people; they can also change over a period of time, as in the case of a how-to demonstration .

P resentation aid s

the resources beyond the speech words and delivery that a speaker uses to enhance the message conveyed to the audience

of or relating to the sense of smell

of or relating to the sense of taste

As you can see, the range of possible presentation aids is almost unlimited. However, all presentation aids have  one thing in common:  To be effective, each presentation aid a speaker uses must be a direct, uncluttered example of a specific element of the speech .  It is understandable that someone presenting a speech about Abraham Lincoln might want to include a photograph of him, but because everyone already knows what Lincoln looked like, the picture would not contribute much to the message unless, perhaps, the message was specifically about the changes in Lincoln’s appearance during his time in office.

Other visual artifacts are more likely to deliver information more directly relevant to the speech—a diagram of the interior of Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was assassinated, a facsimile of the messy and much-edited Gettysburg Address, or a photograph of the Lincoln family, for example.  The key is that each presentation aid must directly express an idea in your speech.

Moreover,  presentation aids must be used at the time when you are presenting the specific ideas related to the aid . For example, if you are speaking about coral reefs and one of your supporting points is about the location of the world’s major reefs, it would make sense to display a map of these reefs while you’re talking about location. If you display it while you are explaining what coral actually is, or describing the kinds of fish that feed on a reef, the map will not serve as a useful visual aid—in fact, it’s likely to be a distraction.

To be effective,  presentation aids must also be easy to use and easy for the listeners to see and understand .   In this chapter, we will present some principles and strategies to help you incorporate effective presentation aids into your speech. We will begin by discussing the functions that good presentation aids fulfill. Next, we will explore some of the many types of presentation aids and how best to design and utilize them. We will also describe various media that can be used for presentation aids. We will conclude with tips for successful preparation and use of presentation aids in a speech.

Why should you use presentation aids? If you have prepared and rehearsed your speech adequately, shouldn’t a good speech with a good delivery be enough to stand on its own? While it is true that impressive presentation aids will not rescue a poor speech,  a good speech can often be made even better by the strategic use of presentation aids .  Presentation aids can fulfill several functions:  they can serve to improve your audience’s understanding of the information you are conveying, enhance audience memory and retention of the message, add variety and interest to your speech, and enhance your credibility as a speaker.  Let’s examine each of these functions.

Improving Audience Understanding

Human communication is a complex process that often leads to misunderstandings. If you are like most people, you can easily remember incidents when you misunderstood a message or when someone else misunderstood what you said to them. Misunderstandings happen in public speaking just as they do in everyday conversations.

One reason for misunderstandings is the fact that perception and interpretation are highly complex individual processes .  Most of us have seen the image in which, depending on your perception, you see either the outline of a vase or the facial profiles of two people facing each other. Or perhaps you have seen the image of the woman who may or may not be young, depending on your frame of reference at the time. This shows how interpretations can differ, and it means that  your  presentations must be based on careful thought and preparation to maximize the likelihood that your listeners will understand your presentations as you intend them to do so .  (You can see these images at http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Drawing/vases.htm and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9iv173VtGM.)

As a speaker,  one of your basic goals is to help your audience understand your message.  To  reduce misunderstanding, presentation aids can be used to clarify or to emphasize.

Clarification is important in a speech because  if some of the information you convey is unclear, your listeners will come away puzzled or possibly even misled.   Presentation aids can help clarify a message if the information is complex  or if the point being made is a visual one .

If your speech is about the impact of the Coriolis Effect on tropical storms, for instance, you will have great difficulty clarifying it without a diagram because the process is a complex one. The diagram in Figure 9.1 (“Coriolis Effect”) would be effective because it shows the audience the interaction between equatorial wind patterns and wind patterns moving in other directions.   The  diagram allows the audience to process the information in two ways: through your verbal explanation and through the visual elements of the diagram . By the way,  t he  Coriolis Effect i s defined as “an effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force (the Coriolis force ) acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation .  On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems.” You can see why a picture really helps with this definition.

Figure 9.2 (“Model of Communication”) is another example of a diagram that maps out the process of human communication. In this image you clearly have a speaker and an audience with the labels of source, channel, message, receivers, and feedback to illustrate a basic model of human communication. As with most models, it is simplified. (Can you remember what two components of the communication process, explained in Chapter 1, that are missing here?)

Another aspect of clarifying occurs  when a speaker wants to help audience members understand a visual concept.  For example, if a speaker is talking about the importance of petroglyphs in Native American culture, just describing the petroglyphs won’t completely help your audience to visualize what they look like. Instead, showing an example of a petroglyph, as in Figure 9.3 (“Petroglyph”) can more easily help your audience form a clear mental image of your intended meaning.

Emphasizin g

When you use a presentational aid for emphasis,  you impress your listeners with the importance of an idea .   In a speech on water conservation, you might try to show the environmental proportions of the resource. When you use a conceptual drawing like the one in Figure 9.4 (“Planetary Water Supply”), you show that if the world water supply were equal to ten gallons, only ten drops would be available and drinkable for human or household consumption. This drawing is effective because it emphasizes the scarcity of useful water and thus draws attention to this important information in your speech.

Another way of emphasizing that can be done visually is to zoom in on a specific aspect of interest within your speech .  In Figure 9.5 (“Chinese Lettering Amplified”), we see a visual aid used in a speech on the importance of various parts of Chinese characters. On the left side of the visual aid, we see how the characters all fit together, with an emphasized version of a single character on the right.

So,  clarifying  and  emphasizing  are two roles that support the “Improving Audience Understanding” purpose of presentation aids .   What are other purposes?

Aiding Retention and Recall

The second function that presentation aids can serve is to increase the audience’s chances of remembering your speech.   An article by the U.S. Department of Labor (1996) summarized research on how people learn and remember.  The authors found that “83% of human learning occurs visually, and the remaining 17% through the other senses—11% through hearing, 3.5% through smell, 1% through taste, and 1.5% through touch.”

For this reason, exposure to an image can serve as a memory aid to your listeners. When your graphic images deliver information effectively and when your listeners understand them clearly, audience members are  likely to remember your message long after your speech is over.  Moreover,  people often are able to remember information that is presented in sequential steps more easily than if that information is presented in an unorganized pattern.   When you use a presentation aid to display the organization of your speech (such as can be done with PowerPoint slides), you will help your listeners to observe, follow, and remember the sequence of information you conveyed to them.  T his is why some instructors display a lecture outline for their students to follow during class and why a slide with a preview of your main points can be helpful as you move into the body of your speech.

An added plus of using  presentation aids is that they can boost  your  memory while you are speaking .   Using your presentation aids while you rehearse your speech will familiarize you with the association between a given place in your speech and the presentation aid that accompanies that material.

Adding Variety and Interest

A third function of presentation aids is simply  to make your speech more interesting .  For example, wouldn’t a speech on varieties of roses have greater impact if you accompanied your remarks with a picture of each rose? You can imagine that your audience would be even more enthralled if you had the ability to display an actual flower of each variety in a bud vase. Similarly, if you were speaking to a group of gourmet cooks about Indian spices, you might want to provide tiny samples of spices that they could smell and taste during your speech.

Enhancing a Speaker’s Credibilit y

Presentation aids alone will not be enough to create a professional image . As we mentioned earlier, impressive presentation aids will not rescue a poor speech .  Even if you give a good speech, you run the risk of appearing unprofessional if your presentation aids are poorly executed. Conversely, a high quality presentation will contribute to your professional image.  This means that in addition to containing important information, your presentation aids must be  clear, clean, uncluttered, organized, and large enough for the audience to see and interpret correctly .   Misspellings and poorly designed presentation aids can damage your credibility as a speaker.

In addition, make sure that you  give proper credit to the source of any presentation aids that you take from other source s.  Using a statistical chart or a map without proper credit will detract from your credibility, just as using a quotation in your speech without credit would. This situation will usually take place with digital aids such as PowerPoint slides.  The source of a chart or the data shown in a chart form should be cited at the bottom the slide.

If you focus your efforts on producing presentation aids that contribute effectively to your meaning, that look professional, and that are handled well, your audience will most likely appreciate your efforts and pay close attention to your message . That attention will help them learn or understand your topic in a new way and will thus help the audience see you as a knowledgeable, competent, and credible speaker. With the prevalence of digital communication, the audience expectation of quality visual aids has increased .

Avoiding Problems with Presentation Aids

Using presentation aids can come with some risks. However, with a little forethought and adequate practice, you can choose presentation aids that enhance your message and boost your professional appearance in front of an audience.  One principle to keep in mind is to use only as many presentation aids as necessary to present your message or to fulfill your classroom assignment.   The number and the technical sophistication of your presentation aids  should never overshadow your speech .

Another important consideration is technology.  Keep your presentation aids within the limits of the working technology available to you.  Whether or not your classroom technology works on the day of your speech, you will still have to present. What will you do if the computer file containing your slides is corrupted? What will you do if the easel is broken? What if you had counted on stacking your visuals on a table that disappears right when you need it? Or the Internet connection is down for a YouTube video you plan to show?

You must be prepared to adapt to an uncomfortable and scary situation .  This is why we urge students to go to the classroom well ahead of time to test the equipment and ascertain the condition of items they’re planning to use. As the speaker, you are responsible for arranging the things you need to make your presentation aids work as intended.  Carry a roll of masking tape so you can display your poster even if the easel is gone. Test the computer setup. Have your slides on a flash drive AND send it to yourself as an attachment or upload to a Cloud service. Have an alternative plan prepared in case there is some glitch that prevents your computer-based presentation aids from being usable.  And of course, you must know how to use the technology.

More important than the method of delivery is the audience’s ability to see and understand the presentation aid.   It must deliver clear information, and it must not distract from the message. Avoid overly elaborate presentation aids. Instead, simplify as much as possible, emphasizing the information you want your audience to understand.

Another thing to remember is that  presentation aids do not  “speak for themselves.”   When you display a visual aid, you should explain what it shows, pointing out and naming the most important features .  If you use an audio aid such as a musical excerpt, you need to tell your audience what to listen for. Similarly, if you use a video clip, it is up to you as the speaker to point out the characteristics in the video that support the point you are making—but probably beforehand, so you are not speaking over the video. At the same time, a visual aid should be quickly accessible to the audience. This is where simplicity comes in. Just as in organization of a speech you would n ot want to use 20 main points, but more like 3-5, you should limit categories of information on a visual aid.

9.3 –  Types of Presentation Aids

Now that we’ve explored some basic hints for preparing visual aids, let’s look at the most common types of visual aids:  charts, graphs, representations, objects/models, and peopl e.

A  chart  is commonly defined as a graphical representation of data (often numerical) or a sketch representing an ordered process.  Whether you create your charts or do research to find charts that already exist, it is important for them to exactly match the specific purpose in your speech. Figure 9.6 (“Acupuncture Charts”) shows two charts related to acupuncture. Although both charts are good, they are not equal. One chart might be useful in a speech about the history and development of acupuncture while the other chart would be more useful for showing the locations of meridians (the lines along which energy flows) and the acupuncture points.

graphical representation of data (often numerical) or a sketch representing an ordered process

The rest of this section will explore three common types of charts: statistical charts, sequence-of-steps chart, and decision trees.

Statistical Charts

For most audiences,  statistical presentations  must be kept as simple as possible , and they must be explained.  The statistical chart shown in Figure 9.7 (“Birth Weight Chi-Square”) is from a study examining the effects of maternal smoking on a range of congenital birth defects. Unless you are familiar with statistics, this chart may be very confusing. When visually displaying information from a quantitative study, you need to  make sure that you understand the material and can successfully and simply explain how one should interpret the data.  If you are unsure about the data yourself, then you should probably not use this type of information. This is definitely an example of a visual aid that, although it delivers a limited kind of information, does not speak for itself. On the other hand, if you are presenting to an upper level or graduate class in health sciences or to professionals in health occupations, this chart would be appropriate. As with all other principles of public speaking, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

Sequence-of-Steps Charts

Charts are also useful  when you are trying to  explain a process that involves several steps .   The two visual aids in Figure 9.8 (“Steps in Cell Reproduction”) both depict the process of cell division called mitosis using a sequence-of-steps chart, but they each deliver different information. The first chart lacks labels to indicate the different phases of cell division. Although the first chart has more visual detail and may look more scientific, the missing information may confuse your audience. In the second chart, each phase is labeled with a brief explanation of what is happening, which can help your audience understand the process.

Decision Trees

Decision trees are  useful for showing the relationships between ideas .  The example in Figure 9.9 (“Open Educational Resource Decision Tree”) shows how a decision tree could be used to determine whether to use open-source textbook material. As with the other types of charts, you want to be sure that the information in the chart is relevant to the purpose of your speech and that each question and decision is clearly labeled. This particular tree is pertinent to this textbook, which is an open educational resource drawing from other open educational resources, and the decision tree shows some of the processes the authors went through to decide on the content of this text.

Strictly speaking, a   graph  may be considered a type of chart, but graphs are so widely used that we will discuss them separately . A  graph is a pictorial representation of the relationships of quantitative data using dots, lines, bars, pie slices, and the like.   Graphs show how one factor (such as size, weight, number of items) varies in comparison to other items .  Whereas a statistical chart may report the mean ages of individuals entering college, a graph would show how the mean age changes over time.  A statistical chart may report the amount of computers sold in the United States, while a graph will use bars or lines to show their breakdown by operating systems such as Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

a pictorial representation of the relationships of quantitative data using dots, lines, bars, pie slices, and the like

Public speakers can show graphs using a range of different formats. Some of those formats are specialized for various professional fields. Very complex graphs often contain too much information that is not related to the purpose of a student’s speech.  If the graph is cluttered, it becomes difficult to comprehend. In this section, we’re going to analyze the common graphs speakers utilize in their speeches: line graphs, bar graphs, pie graphs, and pictographs.

Line Gra ph

A  line graph  is designed to show trends over time .  In Figure 9.10 (“Enron’s Stock Price”), we see a line graph depicting the fall of Enron’s stock price from August 2000 to January 2002. Notice that although it has some steep rises, the line has an overall downward trend clearly depicting the plummeting of Enron’s stock price. This is far more effective in showing the relationship of numbers than a chart (as in Figure 9.7) or reading the numbers aloud.

a graph designed to show trends over time

Bar graphs  are useful for showing the differences between quantities .  They can be used for population demographics, fuel costs, math ability in different grades, and many other kinds of data.  The graph in Figure 9.11  (“Suicide vs. Homicide”) is well designed. It is relatively simple and is carefully labeled, making it easy for the speaker to guide the audience through the recorded numbers of each type of death. The bar graph is designed to show the difference between rates of suicides and homicides across various age groups. When you look at the data, the first grouping clearly shows that eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds are more likely to die because of a homicide than any of the other age groups.

a graph designed to show the differences between quantities

The graph in Figure 9.12 (“Distribution of Income and Wealth in the United States”) is a complicated bar graph depicting the disparity between the so-called “haves” and the “have nots” within the United States. On the left hand side of the graph you can see that the Top 20% of people within the United States account for 84.7% of all of the wealth and 50.1% of all of the income. On the other hand, those in the bottom 40% account for only 0.2% of the wealth and 12.1% of the actual income.

While the graph is very well designed, it presents a great deal of information. For example, it shows “wealth” and “income,” for several groups; however, these are related but different concepts.  In a written publication, readers will have time to sit and analyze the graph, but  in a speaking situation, audience members need to be able to understand the information in a graph very quickly. For that reason, this graph is probably not as effective for speeches as the one in  Figure 9.11 (“Suicide vs. Homicide”).

Pie graphs  are usually depicted as circles and are designed to show proportional relationships within sets of data; in other words, they show parts of or percentages of a whole.   They should be simplified as much as possible without eliminating important information . As with other graphs,  the sections of the pie need to be plotted proportionally . In the pie graph shown in Figure 9.13 (“Causes of Concussions in Children”) we see a clear and proportional chart that has been color-coded.  Color-coding is useful when it’s difficult to fit the explanations in the actual sections of the graph; in that case, you need to include a legend, or key, to indicate what the colors in the graph mean.  In this graph, audience members can see very quickly that falls are the primary reason children receive concussions. However, the pie graph in Figure 9.14 (“World Populations”) is jumbled, illegible, confusing, and overwhelming in every way. The use of color coding doesn’t help. Overall, this graph simply contains too much information and is more likely to confuse an audience than help them understand something.

a graph designed to show proportional relationships within sets of data

Similar to bar graphs,   pictographs  use numbers and/or sizes of iconic symbols to dramatize differences in amounts.  An example is found in Figure 9.15. Pictographs, although interesting, do not allow for depiction of specific statistical data. If you were trying to show the output of oil from various countries through oil wells, each oil well representing a ten million barrels a day, it might be hard for the audience to see the difference between a third of an oil well and a fourth of one, but that is a significant difference in amounts (3.3 million versus 2.5 million).

P ictograph

a graph using iconic symbols to dramatize differences in amounts

Graphs can present challenges in being effective but also in being ethical.  To be both ethical and effective,  you need a good understanding of what statistics mean, and you need to create or use graphs that show amounts clearly . If you were showing GPAs of freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior students at your college, and the bottom number on the graph was 2.25 rather than 0.0, that would result in a visually bigger difference than what really exists (see Figure 9.16).

Diagrams  are drawings or sketches that outline and explain the parts of an object, process, or phenomenon that cannot be readily seen.  Like graphs, diagrams can be considered a type of chart, as in the case of organizational charts and process-flow charts .

drawings or sketches that outline and explain the parts of an object, process, or phenomenon that cannot be readily seen

When you use a diagram, be sure to explain each part of the phenomenon, paying special attention to elements that are complicated or prone to misunderstanding.  In the example shown in Figure 9.17 (“The Human Eye”), you might wish to highlight that the light stimulus is reversed when it is processed through the brain or that the optic nerve is not a single stalk as many people think.

Maps are extremely useful if the information is clear and limited.  There are all kinds of maps, including population, weather, ocean current, political, and economic maps, so you should find the right kind for the purpose of your speech.  Choose a map that emphasizes the information you need to deliver.  The map shown in Figure 9.18  (“African Map with Nigerian Emphasis”) is simple, showing clearly the geographic location of Nigeria. This can be extremely valuable for some audiences who might not be able to name and locate countries on the continent of Africa. The map also shows the relative size of Nigeria compared to its neighbors. Figure 9.19 (“Rhode Island Map”) is a map of the state of Rhode Island, and it emphasizes the complicated configuration of islands and waterways that characterize this state’s geography.

Photographs and Drawings

Sometimes a photograph or a drawing is the best way to show an unfamiliar but important detail .  Figure 9.20 (“Wigwam Photograph”) is a photograph of a wigwam, a dwelling used by Native Americans in the North East. Audiences expect high quality in photographs now, and as with all presentation aids they should enhance the speech and not just “be there.” It is common to put stock photographs on PowerPoint slides as “clip art,” but they should be relevant and not detract from the message of the slide.

Video or Audio Recordings

Another very useful type of presentation aid is a video or audio recording.  Whether it is a short video from a website such as YouTube or Vimeo, a segment from a song, or a piece of a podcast, a well-chosen video or audio recording may be a good choice to enhance your speech.  Imagine, for example, that you’re giving a speech on how Lap-Band surgeries help people lose weight. One of the sections of your speech could explain how the Lap-Band works, so you could easily show a forty-three second video available on YouTube to demonstrate the part of the surgery. Maybe you could include a recording of a real patient explaining why they decided to get the Lap-Band.

There is one major warning to using audio and video clips during a speech: do not forget that they are supposed to be aids to your speech, not the speech itself . In addition,  be sure to  avoid these five mistakes that speakers often make when using audio and video clips:

• Avoid choosing clips that are  too long  for the overall length of the speech .  Your instructor can give you some guidelines for how long video and audio clips should be for the speeches in your class, if they are allowed (and make sure they are).
• Practice with the audio or video equipment  prior to speaking.  If you are unfamiliar with the equipment, you’ll look foolish trying to figure out how it works . This fiddling around will not only take your audience out of your speech but also have a negative impact on your credibility. It also wastes valuable time. Finally, be sure that the speakers on the computer are on and at the right volume level.
• Cue the clip  to the appropriate place prior to beginning your speech.   We cannot tell you the number of times we’ve seen students spend valuable speech time trying to find a clip on YouTube or a DVD. You need to make sure your clip is ready to go before you start speaking. Later in this chapter we will look at using video links in slides.
• In addition to cuing the clip to the appropriate place,  the  browser window should be open and ready to go .  If there are advertisements before the video, be sure to have the video cued to play after the ad. The audience should not have to sit through a commercial. There is a website called TubeChop that can allow you to cut a segment out of a YouTube video, then creating a new link. It has limitations but can be useful.
• The audience must be  given context  before a video or audio clip is played,  specifically what the clip is and why it relates to the speech.  At the same time, the video should not repeat what you have already said, but add to it.

Objects or Models

Objects and models are another form of presentation aid that can be very helpful in getting your audience to understand your message .  O bjects refer to anything you could hold up and talk about during your speech.  If you’re talking about the importance of not using plastic water bottles, you might hold up a plastic water bottle and a stainless steel water bottle as examples.

Models, on the other hand, are re-creations of physical objects that you cannot have readily available with you during a speech . If you’re giving a speech on heart murmurs, you may be able to show how heart murmurs work by holding up a model of the human heart. As will be discussed in the section on handouts below, a  speaker should not pass an object or model around during a speech. It is highly distracting.

People and Animals

The next category of presentation aids are people and animals. We can often use ourselves or other people to adequately demonstrate an idea during our speeches.

Animals as Presentation Aids

When giving a speech on a topic relating to animals, it is often tempting to bring an animal to serve as your presentation aid. While this can sometimes add a very engaging dimension to the speech, it carries some serious risks that you need to consider.

The first risk is that animal behavior tends to be unpredictable.  You may think this won’t be a problem if your presentation aid animal is small enough to be kept confined throughout your speech—for example, a goldfish in a bowl or a lizard or bird in a cage. However, even caged animals can be very distracting to your audience if they run about, chirp, or exhibit other agitated behavior.  The chances are great that an animal will react to the stress of an unfamiliar situation by displaying behavior that does not contribute positively to your speech or to the cleanliness of the physical environment.  Additionally, the animal’s behavior may not only affect audience attention during your speech, but potentially during your classmates’ speeches as well.

The second risk is that some audience members may respond negatively to a live animal .  In addition to common fears and aversions to animals like snakes, spiders, and mice, many people have allergies to various animals.  One of the authors had an experience where a student brought his six-foot yellow python to class for a speech. As a result, one of the other students refused to stay in the room because of her snake phobia (the instructor was not too comfortable either).

The third risk is that some locations may have regulations about bringing non-service animals onto the premises . If animals are allowed, the person bringing the animal may be required to bring a veterinary certificate or may be legally responsible for any damage caused by the animal.

For these reasons, before you decide to use an animal as a presentation aid, ask yourself if you could make your point equally well with a picture, model, diagram, or other representation of the animal in question.

Speaker  as Presentation Aid

Speakers can often use their own bodies to demonstrate facets of a speech . If your speech is about ballroom dancing or ballet, you might use your body to demonstrate the basic moves in the cha-cha or the five basic ballet positions.

Other People  as Presentation Aids

In some cases, such as for a demonstration speech, you might want to ask someone else to serve as your presentation aid. You should arrange ahead of time for a person (or persons) to be an effective aid— do not assume that an audience member will volunteer on the spot . If you plan to demonstrate how to immobilize a broken bone, your volunteer must know ahead of time that you will touch them as much as necessary to splint the break.

You must also  make certain that they will arrive dressed presentably and that they will not draw attention away from your message through their appearance or behavior.   The transaction between you and your human presentation aid must be appropriate,  especially if you are going to demonstrate something like a dance step. In short,  make sure your helper will know what is expected of them and consents to it.

9.4 –  Using Presentation Slides

Ever since the 1990s and the mainstreaming of personal computer technology, speakers have had the option of using slide presentation software to accompany their speeches and presentations. The most commonly known one is PowerPoint, although there are several others:

• Prezi, available at www.prezi.com
• Slide Rocket, available at www.sliderocket.com
• Google Slides, available in Google Drive and useful for collaborative assignments
• Keynote, the Apple presentation slide software on MACs
• Impress, an Open Office product (http://www.openoffice.org/product/impress.html)
• AdobeAcrobat Presenter

These products, some of which are offered free for trial or basic subscriptions (called a “freemium), allow you to present professional-looking slides.   Each one is “robust,” a word used to mean it has a large number of functions and features,  some of which are helpful and some of which are distracting.   For example, you can use the full range of fonts, although many  of them are not appropriate for presentations because they are hard to read. In this section we will discuss the proper use of presentation slides, with the assumption that you understand the basics of cutting, pasting, inserting, etc. involved in these products. You may have taken a class in high school where you learned to use the technology, but that is not the same as learning to use them for actual presentations.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Presentation Slides

In some industries and businesses, there is an assumption that speakers will use presentation slides. They allow visualization of concepts, they are easily portable, they can be embedded with videos and audio, words can dance around the screen —why wouldn’t a speaker use them? You will probably also be expected to have slide presentations in future assignments in college. Knowing how to use them, beyond the basic technology, is vital to being a proficient presenter.

But why not use them?  F ranck Frommer, a French journalist and communication expert, published the book  How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid  (2012), whose title says it all. He criticizes the “linearity” of PowerPoint and similar presentation software, meaning that audiences are not encouraged to see the relationship of ideas and that PowerPoint hurts critical thinking in the audience.  Slide follows slide of bulleted information without one slide being more important or the logical connections being clear.

As recently as the mid-2000s, critics such as well-known graphic expert and NASA consultant  Edward Tufte (2005) charged that  PowerPoint’s tendency to force the user to put a certain number of bullet points on each slide in a certain format was a serious threat to the accurate presentation of data.  As Tufte put it, “ the rigid slide-by-slide hierarchies, indifferent to content, slice and dice the evidence into arbitrary compartments, producing an anti-narrative with choppy continuity.”

Tufte argues that poor decision making, such as was involved with the 2003 space shuttle  Columbia  disaster, may have been related to the shortcomings of such presentation aids in NASA meetings. While more recent versions of PowerPoint and similar programs allow much more creative freedom in designing slides,  this freedom comes with a responsibility— the user needs to take responsibility for using the technology to support the speech and not get carried away with the many special effects the software is capable of producing.

It should be mentioned here that Prezi helps address one of the major criticisms of PowerPoint. Because Prezi, in its design stage, looks something like a mind map on a very large canvas with grid lines, it allows you to show the relationship and hierarchy of ideas better. For example, you can see and design the slides so that the “Big Ideas” are in big circles and the subordinate ideas are in smaller ones.

In addition to recognizing the truth behind Frommer’s and Tufte’s critiques, we have all sat through a presenter who committed the errors of putting far too much text on the slide. When a speaker does this, the audience is confused— do they read the text or listen to the speaker?  An audience member cannot do bot h.  (Remember the pipeline graphic in Chapter 7.)  Then, the speaker feels the need to read the slides rather than use PowerPoint for what it does best, visual reinforcement and clarification .  We have also seen many poorly designed PowerPoint slides, either through haste or lack of knowledge: slides where the graphics are distorted (elongated or squatty), words and graphics not balanced, text too small, words printed over photographs, garish or nauseating colors, or animated figures left up on the screen for too long and distracting the audience. What about you? Can you think about PowerPoint “don’ts” that have hurt your reception of a presentation or lecture? This would be a good discussion for class, and a good way to know what not to do with your own slides.

Creating Quality Slide Shows

Slides should show the principles of good design, which include unity, emphasis or focal point, scale and proportion, balance, and rhythm  (Lauer & Pentak, 2000).  Presenters should also pay attention to tone and usability.  With those principles in mind,  here are some tips for creating and then using presentation software .

Unity and Consistency

Generally it is best to  use a single font  for the text on your visuals so that they look like a unified set .  Or you can use two different fonts in consistent ways, such as having all headings and titles in the same font and all bullet points in the same font . Additionally, the  background should probably remain consistent,  whether you choose one of the many design templates or if you just opt for a background color .

In terms of unity, the adage, “ Keep It Simple, Speaker”  definitely applies to presentation slides.  Each slide should have one message, one photo, one graphic .  The audience members should know what they are supposed to look at on the slide. A phrase to remember about presentation slides and the wide range of design elements available is “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

Another area related to unity and consistency, as well as audience response, is the use of animation or movemen t. There are  three types of animation in slideshows. First, you can embed little characters or icons that have movement.  These may seem like fun, but they have limited use and should not stay on the screen very long—you can use the second type of animation to take them off the screen.

That second type is the designed movement of text or objects on and off the screen .  Although using this function takes up time in preparing your slides , especially if you want to do it well and be creative with it, it is very useful. You can control what your audience is seeing.  It also avoids bringing up all the text and material on a slide at one time, which tempts the audience again to pay more attention to the screen than to you.  Movement on the screen attracts attention (see Factors of Attention in Chapter 7), for better or worse. PowerPoint, for example, allows bouncing words, pulsating text, swirling phrases, even  Star Wars  scroll, which may or may not serve your purpose.

The third type of animation is called slide transitions, which is the design of how the next slide appears . In PowerPoint you can have the slides appear automatically or as blinds, as little checkerboards, from different sides of the screen, in opening circles, etc. (You can also use sound effects, but that is strongly discouraged.) In Prezi, the slides transition by zooming in and out, which is a clever effect but does make some audience members experience motion sickness.  In general, you want to use a consistent and efficient pattern of movement with the second and third types of animation.

Emphasis, Focal Point, and Visibility

Several points should be made about how to make sure the audience sees what they need to see on the slides.

• It  is essential to make sure the information is  large enough  for the audience to see ; and since the display size may vary according to the projector you are using, this is another reason for practicing in advance with the equipment you intend to use.
• T he standard rule is for text is 7 X 7, or sometimes (if the screen is smaller) 6 X 6. Does this mean 49 or 36 words on the slide? No. It means, in the case of 7 X 7, that you should have  no more than seven horizontal lines of text (this does not mean bullet points, but lines of text, including the heading) and the longest line should not exceed seven words.
• Following the 7 X 7 rule will keep you from putting too much information on a slide, and you should also avoid too many slides . Less sometimes really is more. Again, there is no hard and fast rule, but a ten-minute speech probably needs  fewer than ten slides, unless you can make a good argument for more based on the content of the speech.  If, however, the slides are just text, more than ten is too many.
• Do not assume that all the templates feature visible text.  Text should not be smaller than 22 point font for best visibility,  and some of the templates use much smaller fonts than 22 point.   This is especially important in those situations where the speaker creates handouts. Text smaller than 22 is very difficult to see on handouts of your slides. (However, handouts are not recommended for most situations.)
• H igh contrast between the text and slides is extremely important . White fonts against very dark backgrounds and black fonts against very light backgrounds are probably your safest bet here . Remember that the way it looks on your computer screen is not the exactly how it will look when projected—the light is coming from a different place.  Avoid words on photos.  Figure 9.21 shows a photo with the words placed across the center of the image. Not only does this obviously obscure some of the picture, it also makes the words difficult to read . Figure 9.22, by contrast, has the accompanying text placed just blow the image, making both much easier to see, and a citation is provided.

• Al so in terms of visibility, most experts say that  sans serif fonts  such as Arial, Tahoma, and Verdana are better for reading from screens than serif fonts such as Times New Roman, Bookface, Georgia, or Garamond.  Merriam-Webster (2018) defines “serif” as “any of the short lines stemming from and at an angle to the upper and lower ends of the strokes of a letter.” Serifs are additions to the letters on different fonts that give them a different appearance and help the flow of eye when reading .

How does the slide in Figure 9.23 stack up beside these rules for visibility? You probably noticed that slide is a “fail” in terms of high contrast between the font and background and the use of a block of text not broken up for easy reading. The audience would feel like they are supposed to read it but not be able to. Also, since the text is a quotation from John Dewey, the text should have quotation marks around it.

F onts, color, clip art, photographs, and templates all contribute to  tone , which is the attitude being conveyed in the slides.  If you want a light tone, such as for a speech about cruises, some colors (springtime, pastel, cool, warm, or primary colors) and fonts (such as Comic Sans) and lots of photographs will be more appropriate . For a speech about the Holocaust, more somber colors and design elements would be more fitting, whereas clip art would not be.

the attitude of a given artifact (humorous, serious, light-hearted, etc.)

Scale and Proportion

Although there are several ways to think about scale and proportion, we will discuss three here.  First, bullet points.  Bullet points infer that the items in the bulleted list are equal and the sequence doesn’t matter.   If you want to communicate order or sequence or priority, use numbers.  Do not mix outline points or numerical points with bullet points. Also, you should not put your outline (Roman numerals, etc.) on the slide.

Bullet points should be short—not long, full sentences—but at the same time should be long enough to mean something . In a speech on spaying and neutering pets, the bullet point “pain” may be better replaced with “Pet feels little pain.”  Second, when you are designing your slides, it is best to choose a template and stick with it . If you input all your graphics and material and then change the template, the format of the slide will change, in some cases dramatically, and you will have distorted graphics and words covered up. You will then have to redesign each slide, which can be unnecessarily time-consuming.

The third aspect of scale and proportion is the relationship between the graphics and text in terms of size.  This aspect is discussed below in the next section on “Balance.” Also, a graphic should be surrounded by some empty space and not just take up the whole slide.

In general you want symmetrical slides . Below are four examples of slides that are unbalanced  (Figures 9.24-9.27); the last one (Figure 9. 28) achieves a better symmetry and design.

Rhythm in Presenting

The rhythm of your slide display should be reasonably consistent—you would not want to display a dozen different slides in the first minute of a five-minute presentation and then display only one slide per minute for the rest of the speech .  Timing them so that the audience can actually take them in is important.  Presenters often overdo the number of slides, thinking they will get a better grade, but  too many slides just causes overkill.

If you can obtain a remote mouse to change slides, that can help you feel independent of the mouse attached to the computer . However, you have to practice with the remote “clicker.” But if you have to use the mouse to change slide, keep your hands off of it between clicks. We have seen students wiggle the little arrow all over the screen. It is extremely annoying.

Whether using a remote “clicker” or the attached mouse, you must attend to the connection between what is on the screen and what you are actually talking about at the moment. Put reminders in your notes about when you need to change slides during your speech.

For better or worse, we have become very screen-oriented in our communication, largely because screens change often and that changing teaches us to expect new stimuli, which we crave. If the screen is up but you are not talking about what is on the screen, it is very confusing to the audience.

If you are using PowerPoint and if you are not talking about something on a slide, hit the “B” key or the blank screen button on the remote mouse. This action will turn the screen to black. You can also hit the “W” key, which turns the screen to white, but that will make the audience think something is coming. Unfortunately, the downside of the “B” key action is that it will return you to the previous screen. To avoid this, some presenters put a black slide between slides in the presentation so that hitting the forward key gives the same effect, but hitting it again takes them to a new screen. (Other programs have similar functions; for example, if using Prezi, the “B” key also shows a black screen.)

In fact, a basic presentation rule is to only  show your visual aid when you are talking about it , and  remove it when you no longer are talking about it.   Some other practical considerations are as follows:

• Be sure the file is saved in a format that will be  “readable” on the computer  where you are presenting.   A common example is that a Keynote presentation (Apple) does not open on all PCs. You can save Keynote as a .ppt file for use on a PC. Likewise, if you chose to use Prezi or other web-based presentation software, you will need a strong, reliable Internet connection to show the slides.
• Any borrowed graphic must be cited on the slide where it is used; the same would be true of borrowed textual material.  Putting your sources only on the last slide is insufficient.
• A very strong temptation for speakers is to look at the projected image rather than the audience during the speech.   This practice cuts down on eye contact, of course, and is distracting for the audience. Two solutions for that are to print your notes from the presentation slides and/or use the slides as your note structure. Also remember that if the image is on the computer monitor in front of you, it is on the screen behind you.
• Always remember—and this cannot be emphasized enough—technology works for you, not you for the technology.  The presentation aids are aids, not the speech itself.
• As mentioned before, sometimes life happens—technology does not work. It could be that the projector bulb goes out or the Internet connection is down.  The show must go on.
• If you are using a video or audio clip from an Internet source, it is probably best to hyperlink the URL on one of the slides rather than minimize the program and change to the Internet site.   You can do this by highlighting a key word on the slide, right clicking to find “hyperlink,” and then  pasting the URL there. Although you can also embed video in a PowerPoint, it makes the file extremely large and that may cause problems of its own.
• Finally, it is common for speakers to think “the slide changes, so the audience know there is a change, so I don’t need a verbal transition.”  Please do not fall into this trap.  Verbal transitions are just as, and maybe more, necessary for a speech using slides.

9.5 –   Low-Tech Presentation Aids

One reason for using digital media is that they can’t be prone to physical damage in the form of smudges, scratches, dents, and rips.  Unlike posters and objects, presentation software can be kept professional looking if you have to carry them through a rainstorm or blizzard. However, there are times when it makes sense to use “low-tech” media for presentations. Here are some directions for those times.

Dry-Erase Board

If you use a chalkboard or dry-erase board, you are not using a prepared presentation aid.  Your failure to prepare visuals ahead of time can be interpreted in several ways, mostly negative. If other speakers carefully design, produce, and use attractive visual aids, yours will stand out by contrast. You will be seen as the speaker who does not take the time to prepare even a simple aid.  Do not use a chalkboard or dry-erase board and pretend it’s a prepared presentation aid .

However, numerous speakers do utilize chalk and dry-erase boards effectively. Typically, these speakers use the chalk or dry-erase board for interactive components of a speech.   For example, maybe you’re giving a speech in front of a group of executives. You may have a PowerPoint all prepared, but at various points in your speech you want to get your audience’s responses. (More recent technologies, such as on iPads, allow you to do the interaction on the screen, but this would have to be supported by the environment.) Chalk or dry-erase boards are very useful when you want to visually show information that you are receiving from your audience.  If you ever use a chalk or dry-erase board, follow these four simple rules:

• W rite large enough so that everyone in the room can see  (which is harder than it sounds; it is also hard to write and talk at the same time!).
• Pr int legibly; don’t write in cursive script.
• Write short phrases; don’t take time to write complete sentences.
• Be  sure you have markers that will not go dry, and clean the board afterward.

A flipchart is useful for situations when you want to save what you have written for future reference or to distribute to the audience after the presentation .  As with whiteboards, you will need good markers and readable handwriting, as well as a strong easel to keep the flipchart upright.

You may have the opportunity in your college years to attend or participate in a “poster session.” These are times during an academic conference where visitors can view a well-designed poster depicting a research project and discuss it one-on-one with the researcher. These kinds of posters are quite large and involve a great deal of work. They can be generated from PowerPoint but often require a special printer.  Otherwise, posters are probably not the best way to approach presentation aids in a speech .  There are problems with visibility as well as portability. Avoid producing a presentation aid that looks like you simply cut pictures out of magazines and pasted them on. Slapping some text and images on a board looks unprofessional and will not be viewed as credible or effective.

Handouts are appropriate for delivering information that audience members can take away with them.  As we will see, handouts require a great deal of management if they are to contribute to your credibility as a speaker.

First, make sure the handout is worth the trouble of making, copying, and distributing it.  Does the audience really need the handout?  Second, make sure to bring enough copies of the handout for each audience member to get one . Having to share or look on with one’s neighbor does not contribute to a professional image.  Under no circumstances should you ever provide a single copy of a handout to pass around.  It is distracting and everyone will see it at different times in the speech, which is also true about passing any object around the room.

There are three possible times to distribute handouts: before you begin your speech, during the speech, and after your speech is over.  Naturally,  if you need your listeners to follow along in a handout, you will need to distribute it before your speech begins .  If you have access to the room ahead of time, place a copy of the handout at or on each seat in the audience . If not, ask a volunteer to distribute them as quickly as possible while you prepare to begin speaking. If the handout is a “ takeaway,” leave it on a table near the door so that those audience members who are interested can take one on their way out; in this case, don’t forget to tell them to do so as you conclude your speech.   It is almost never appropriate to distribute handouts during your speech, as it is distracting, takes up time, and interrupts the pace of your presentation.

To finish this chapter, we will recap and remind you about the principles of effective presentation aids. Whether your aid is a slide show, object, a person, or dry erase board, these standards are essential:

• Presentation aids must be easily seen or heard by your audience.  Squinting and head-cocking are not good reactions. Neither should they look at the screen the whole time and ignore the speaker.
• Presentation aids must be portable, easily handled, and efficient.
• Presentation aids should disappear when not in use.
• Presentation aids should be aesthetically pleasing, which includes in good taste. Avoid shock value just for shock value . You might want to show pictures of diseased organs and teeth, deformities, or corpses for your speech to make a point, but context is everything. Will your audience react so strongly that the overall point is missed? Additionally, electronic media today allows you to create very “busy” slides with varieties of fonts, colors, collages of photos, etc. Keep in mind the principles of unity and focal point.
• Color is another aesthetic aspect . Some colors are just more soothing, readable, and appropriate than others. Also, the color on your slides may be different when projected from what is on your computer. Finally, presentation aids must support your speech and have high relevance to your content.

This chapter has covered a wide range of information about all kinds of audio and visual aids, but audiences today expect and appreciate professionally designed and handled presentation aids. The stakes are higher now, but the tools are many.

Something to Think About

What are some attention problems caused by using projection equipment during a speech?

Which kind of presentation aid would be most useful for the following?

• data on how the average American family uses its income
• discussing the number of wind turbines in five Midwestern states
• explaining the changes in enrollment of minority students at your college over 20 year
• a speech on the chambers of the human heart
• a speech on the differences between North and South Korea
• a speech the Sutton Hoo archaeological dig in England

Chapter Nine Attribution:

Manley, J. A., & Rhodes, K. (2020). Exploring Public Speaking: The Free Dalton State College Public Speaking Textbook, 4th Edition. Manifold. Retrieved from https://alg.manifoldapp.org/read/exploring-public-speaking-the-free-dalton-state-college-public-speaking-textbook-4th-edition/

Also, thank you to Professor Dan West for generously sharing your Public Speaking videos.

Creative Commons License

Authors and Contributors

Barbara G. Tucker (Editor and Primary Author)

As chair of the Department of Communication at Dalton State College, Dr. Tucker oversees programs in communication, general studies, music, theatre, and interdisciplinary studies. She is a Professor of Communication and has worked in higher education for over 40 years. She lives in Ringgold, Georgia, with her husband; they have one son. She is a novelist and playwright. Her research areas are the basic course, open educational resources, historical perspectives on rhetoric, and gratitude.

Matthew LeHew (Editor)

As Assistant Professor at Dalton State College, Matthew LeHew teaches courses in public relations, integrated marketing communication, film studies, and video production. His research interests include various areas of media studies, especially examination of virtual communities for online games. He is currently writing his dissertation for the Ph.D. in Communication (Media and Society track) at Georgia State University. He lives in Marietta, Georgia with his wife, son, and two dogs.

The Public Speaking Resource Project Copyright © 2018 by Lori Halverson-Wente and Mark Halverson-Wente is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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1.3: The Process of Public Speaking

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Learning Objectives

• Identify the three components of getting your message across to others.
• Distinguish between the interactional models of communication and the transactional model of communication.
• Explain the three principles discussed in the dialogical theory of public speaking.

Looking4poetry – megaphone head man – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

As noted earlier, all of us encounter thousands of messages in our everyday environments, so getting your idea heard above all the other ones is a constant battle. Some speakers will try gimmicks, but we strongly believe that getting your message heard depends on three fundamental components: message, skill, and passion. The first part of getting your message across is the message itself. When what you are saying is clear and coherent, people are more likely to pay attention to it. On the other hand, when a message is ambiguous, people will often stop paying attention. Our discussions in the first part of this book involve how to have clear and coherent content.

The second part of getting your message heard is having effective communication skills. You may have the best ideas in the world, but if you do not possess basic public speaking skills, you’re going to have a problem getting anyone to listen. In this book, we will address the skills you must possess to effectively communicate your ideas to others.

Lastly, if you want your message to be heard, you must communicate passion for your message. One mistake that novice public speakers make is picking topics in which they have no emotional investment. If an audience can tell that you don’t really care about your topic, they will just tune you out. Passion is the extra spark that draws people’s attention and makes them want to listen to your message.

In this section, we’re going to examine the process of public speaking by first introducing you to a basic model of public speaking and then discussing how public speaking functions as dialogue. These models will give you a basic understanding of the communication process and some challenges that you may face as a speaker.

Models of Public Speaking

A basic model of human communication is one of the first topics that most communication teachers start with in any class. For our focus on public speaking, we will introduce two widely discussed models in communication: interactional and transactional.

Interactional Model of Public Speaking

Linear model.

The interactional model of public speaking comes from the work of Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). The original model mirrored how radio and telephone technologies functioned and consisted of three primary parts: source, channel, and receiver. The source was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with listening to a telephone conversation, which they called noise.

Although there are a number of problems with applying this model to human communication, it does have some useful parallels to public speaking. In public speaking, the source is the person who is giving the speech, the channel is the speaker’s use of verbal and nonverbal communication , and the receivers are the audience members listening to the speech. As with a telephone call, a wide range of distractions ( noise ) can inhibit an audience member from accurately attending to a speaker’s speech. Avoiding or adapting to these types of noise is an important challenge for public speakers.

Interactional Model

The interactional model of communication developed by Wilbur Schramm builds upon the linear model (Schramm, 1954). Schramm added three major components to the Shannon and Weaver model. First, Schramm identified two basic processes of communication: encoding and decoding. Encoding is what a source does when “creating a message, adapting it to the receiver, and transmitting it across some source-selected channel” (Wrench, McCroskey & Richmond, 2008). When you are at home preparing your speech or standing in front of your classroom talking to your peers, you are participating in the encoding process.

The second major process is the decoding process, or “sensing (for example, hearing or seeing) a source’s message, interpreting the source’s message, evaluating the source’s message, and responding to the source’s message” (Wrench, McCroskey & Richmond, 2008). Decoding is relevant in the public speaking context when, as an audience member, you listen to the words of the speech, pay attention to nonverbal behaviors of the speaker, and attend to any presentation aids that the speaker uses. You must then interpret what the speaker is saying.

Although interpreting a speaker’s message may sound easy in theory, in practice many problems can arise. A speaker’s verbal message, nonverbal communication, and mediated presentation aids can all make a message either clearer or harder to understand. For example, unfamiliar vocabulary, speaking too fast or too softly, or small print on presentation aids may make it difficult for you to figure out what the speaker means. Conversely, by providing definitions of complex terms, using well-timed gestures, or displaying graphs of quantitative information, the speaker can help you interpret his or her meaning.

Once you have interpreted what the speaker is communicating, you then evaluate the message. Was it good? Do you agree or disagree with the speaker? Is a speaker’s argument logical? These are all questions that you may ask yourself when evaluating a speech.

The last part of decoding is “responding to a source’s message,” when the receiver encodes a message to send to the source. When a receiver sends a message back to a source, we call this process feedback . Schramm talks about three types of feedback: direct, moderately direct, and indirect (Schramm, 1954). The first type, direct feedback, occurs when the receiver directly talks to the source. For example, if a speech ends with a question-and-answer period, listeners will openly agree or disagree with the speaker. The second type of feedback, moderately direct, focuses on nonverbal messages sent while a source is speaking, such as audience members smiling and nodding their heads in agreement or looking at their watches or surreptitiously sending text messages during the speech. The final type of feedback, indirect, often involves a greater time gap between the actual message and the receiver’s feedback. For example, suppose you run for student body president and give speeches to a variety of groups all over campus, only to lose on student election day. Your audiences (the different groups you spoke to) have offered you indirect feedback on your message through their votes. One of the challenges you’ll face as a public speaker is how to respond effectively to audience feedback, particularly the direct and moderately direct forms of feedback you receive during your presentation.

Transactional Model of Public Speaking

One of the biggest concerns that some people have with the interactional model of communication is that it tends to place people into the category of either source or receiver with no overlap. Even with Schramm’s model, encoding and decoding are perceived as distinct for sources and receivers. Furthermore, the interactional model cannot handle situations where multiple sources are interacting at the same time (Mortenson, 1972). To address these weaknesses, Dean Barnlund proposed a transactional model of communication (Barnlund, 2008). The basic premise of the transactional model is that individuals are sending and receiving messages at the same time. Whereas the interactional model has individuals engaging in the role of either source or receiver and the meaning of a message is sent from the source to the receiver, the transactional model assumes that meaning is cocreated by both people interacting together.

The idea that meanings are cocreated between people is based on a concept called the “field of experience.” According to West and Turner, a field of experience involves “how a person’s culture, experiences, and heredity influence his or her ability to communicate with another” (West & Turner, 2010). Our education, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, personality, beliefs, actions, attitudes, languages, social status, past experiences, and customs are all aspects of our field of experience, which we bring to every interaction. For meaning to occur, we must have some shared experiences with our audience; this makes it challenging to speak effectively to audiences with very different experiences from our own. Our goal as public speakers is to build upon shared fields of experience so that we can help audience members interpret our message.

Dialogic Theory of Public Speaking

Most people think of public speaking as engaging in a monologue where the speaker stands and delivers information and the audience passively listens. Based on the work of numerous philosophers, however, Ronald Arnett and Pat Arneson proposed that all communication, even public speaking, could be viewed as a dialogue (Arnett & Arneson, 1999). The dialogic theory is based on three overarching principles:

• Dialogue is more natural than monologue.
• Meanings are in people not words.
• Contexts and social situations impact perceived meanings (Bakhtin, 2001a; Bakhtin, 2001b).

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Dialogue vs. Monologue

The first tenet of the dialogic perspective is that communication should be a dialogue and not a monologue. Lev Yakubinsky argued that even public speaking situations often turn into dialogues when audience members actively engage speakers by asking questions. He even claimed that nonverbal behavior (e.g., nodding one’s head in agreement or scowling) functions as feedback for speakers and contributes to a dialogue (Yakubinsky, 1997). Overall, if you approach your public speaking experience as a dialogue, you’ll be more actively engaged as a speaker and more attentive to how your audience is responding, which will, in turn, lead to more actively engaged audience members.

Meanings Are in People, Not Words

Part of the dialogic process in public speaking is realizing that you and your audience may differ in how you see your speech. Hellmut Geissner and Edith Slembeck (1986) discussed Geissner’s idea of responsibility, or the notion that the meanings of words must be mutually agreed upon by people interacting with each other (Geissner & Slembek, 1986). If you say the word “dog” and think of a soft, furry pet and your audience member thinks of the animal that attacked him as a child, the two of you perceive the word from very different vantage points. As speakers, we must do our best to craft messages that take our audience into account and use audience feedback to determine whether the meaning we intend is the one that is received. To be successful at conveying our desired meaning, we must know quite a bit about our audience so we can make language choices that will be the most appropriate for the context. Although we cannot predict how all our audience members will interpret specific words, we do know that—for example—using teenage slang when speaking to the audience at a senior center would most likely hurt our ability to convey our meaning clearly.

Contexts and Social Situations

Russian scholar Mikhail Bahktin notes that human interactions take place according to cultural norms and rules (Bakhtin, 2001a; Bakhtin, 2001b). How we approach people, the words we choose, and how we deliver speeches are all dependent on different speaking contexts and social situations. On September 8, 2009, President Barack Obama addressed school children with a televised speech ( www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/PreparedSchoolRemarks ). If you look at the speech he delivered to kids around the country and then at his speeches targeted toward adults, you’ll see lots of differences. These dissimilar speeches are necessary because the audiences (speaking to kids vs. speaking to adults) have different experiences and levels of knowledge. Ultimately, good public speaking is a matter of taking into account the cultural background of your audience and attempting to engage your audience in a dialogue from their own vantage point.

Considering the context of a public speech involves thinking about four dimensions: physical, temporal, social-psychological, and cultural (DeVito, 2009).

Physical Dimension

The physical dimension of communication involves the real or touchable environment where communication occurs. For example, you may find yourself speaking in a classroom, a corporate board room, or a large amphitheater. Each of these real environments will influence your ability to interact with your audience. Larger physical spaces may require you to use a microphone and speaker system to make yourself heard or to use projected presentation aids to convey visual material.

How the room is physically decorated or designed can also impact your interaction with your audience. If the room is dimly lit or is decorated with interesting posters, audience members’ minds may start wandering. If the room is too hot, you’ll find people becoming sleepy. As speakers, we often have little or no control over our physical environment, but we always need to take it into account when planning and delivering our messages.

Temporal Dimension

According to Joseph DeVito, the temporal dimension “has to do not only with the time of day and moment in history but also with where a particular message fits into the sequence of communication events” (DeVito, 2009). The time of day can have a dramatic effect on how alert one’s audience is. Don’t believe us? Try giving a speech in front of a class around 12:30 p.m. when no one’s had lunch. It’s amazing how impatient audience members get once hunger sets in.

In addition to the time of day, we often face temporal dimensions related to how our speech will be viewed in light of societal events. Imagine how a speech on the importance of campus security would be interpreted on the day after a shooting occurred. Compare this with the interpretation of the same speech given at a time when the campus had not had any shootings for years, if ever.

Another element of the temporal dimension is how a message fits with what happens immediately before it. For example, if another speaker has just given an intense speech on death and dying and you stand up to speak about something more trivial, people may downplay your message because it doesn’t fit with the serious tone established by the earlier speech. You never want to be the funny speaker who has to follow an emotional speech where people cried. Most of the time in a speech class, you will have no advance notice as to what the speaker before you will be talking about. Therefore, it is wise to plan on being sensitive to previous topics and be prepared to ease your way subtly into your message if the situation so dictates.

Social-Psychological Dimension

The social-psychological dimension of context refers to “status relationships among participants, roles and games that people play, norms of the society or group, and the friendliness, formality, or gravity of the situation” (DeVito, 2009). You have to know the types of people in your audience and how they react to a wide range of messages.

Cultural Dimension

The final context dimension Joseph DeVito mentions is the cultural dimension (DeVito, 2009). When we interact with others from different cultures, misunderstandings can result from differing cultural beliefs, norms, and practices. As public speakers engaging in a dialogue with our audience members, we must attempt to understand the cultural makeup of our audience so that we can avoid these misunderstandings as much as possible.

Each of these elements of context is a challenge for you as a speaker. Throughout the rest of the book, we’ll discuss how you can meet the challenges presented by the audience and context and become a more effective public speaker in the process.

Key Takeaways

• Getting your message across to others effectively requires attention to message content, skill in communicating content, and your passion for the information presented.
• The interactional models of communication provide a useful foundation for understanding communication and outline basic concepts such as sender, receiver, noise, message, channel, encoding, decoding, and feedback. The transactional model builds on the interactional models by recognizing that people can enact the roles of sender and receiver simultaneously and that interactants cocreate meaning through shared fields of experience.
• The dialogic theory of public speaking understands public speaking as a dialogue between speaker and audience. This dialogue requires the speaker to understand that meaning depends on the speaker’s and hearer’s vantage points and that context affects how we must design and deliver our messages.
• Draw the major models of communication on a piece of paper and then explain how each component is important to public speaking.
• When thinking about your first speech in class, explain the context of your speech using DeVito’s four dimensions: physical, temporal, social-psychological, and cultural. How might you address challenges posed by each of these four dimensions?

Arnett, R. C., & Arneson, P. (1999). Dialogic civility in a cynical age: Community, hope, and interpersonal relationships . Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Bakhtin, M. (2001a). The problem of speech genres. (V. W. McGee, Trans., 1986). In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.), The rhetorical tradition (pp. 1227–1245). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published in 1953.).

Bakhtin, M. (2001b). Marxism and the philosophy of language. (L. Matejka & I. R. Titunik, Trans., 1973). In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.), The rhetorical tradition (pp. 1210–1226). Boston, MA: Medford/St. Martin’s. (Original work published in 1953).

Barnlund, D. C. (2008). A transactional model of communication. In C. D. Mortensen (Ed.), Communication theory (2nd ed., pp. 47–57). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

DeVito, J. A. (2009). The interpersonal communication book (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Geissner, H., & Slembek, E. (1986). Miteinander sprechen und handeln [Speak and act: Living and working together]. Frankfurt, Germany: Scriptor.

Mortenson, C. D. (1972). Communication: The study of human communication . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. In W. Schramm (Ed.), The process and effects of communication (pp. 3–26). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

West, R., & Turner, L. H. (2010). Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, p. 13.

Wrench, J. S., McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (2008). Human communication in everyday life: Explanations and applications . Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, p. 17.

Yakubinsky, L. P. (1997). On dialogic speech. (M. Eskin, Trans.). PMLA , 112 (2), 249–256. (Original work published in 1923).

• 12 Public Speaking & Presentation Tips For Q&A Success

Mar 24, 2024 By Maurice Decastro In Presentation Skills , Presentation Tips , Public Speaking

You’ve crafted your presentation mindfully, internalised your message and practiced delivering it, all that’s left is focusing on Q&A success.

Your anxiety is heighted in the belief that the one thing that might undermine your credibility and reputation is your ability to answer questions effectively.

You are mindful of the fact that Q&A success is a critical part of your presentation and that so much depends on you answering questions confidently and concisely.

– There are no questions

– You don’t understand the question

– It’s a hostile or emotionally charged question

– You don’t know the answer

– Your audience have more knowledge than you

It will happen

There will come a time when you could face all of these challenges.

The key to preparing for Q&A success is not worrying about them or ignoring them but preparing for them.

One of the most common questions we are asked in our public speaking & presentation skills workshops is, ‘ How do I answer questions more effectively? ’

12 Public Speaking Tips & Presentation Tips For Q&A Success

Reframe them.

Our Q&A success is strongly influenced by the way we perceive questions before they are even asked.

We have a choice. We can see the Q&A session as:

– A court room where the prosecutor is trying to trip you up

– A knowledge parade to show your audience how clever you are

– A blood sport where you see your audience as predators and you as their prey

Alternatively, we can see the Q&A session as:

– Our audience expressing their interest in our topic and an opportunity for us to strengthen our connection with them.

– An opportunity for us to learn more. Questions are an opportunity to develop our knowledge further as well as our audiences.

– The space to open up a meaningful conversation with our audience.

Envision them

Spend some time in the quiet and comfort of your own mind anticipating questions by envisioning them. In other words, for every fact, idea and insight you prepare to share, imagine someone in your audience asking you a question about it.

Picture someone stopping you at any time during your presentation. Imagine them asking you questions about that fact, idea or insight that you had never given any thought to previously.

Don’t wait for it to happen, prepare for it in advance .

Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and anticipate possible questions.

Imagine your audience took all of your information away and had time to think about it fully. Write down the most common questions that might come up.

What if there are no questions?

Envision getting to the point in your presentation where you openly invite questions from your audience. Imagine there aren’t any questions and you are greeted with an uncomfortable silence.

Don’t panic. You have a couple of choices:

– If you’d like to try to encourage questions, have a couple of your own prepared in advance.

‘ Here’s a question I’m often asked which hasn’t been raised here but may be on someone’s mind.’

– Invite questions later. Assure your audience that if any questions do arise at any point in the future, to feel free to contact you directly to share them with you. If you will be around after the presentation, invite them to come and speak with you then if a question pops into their mind.

– If neither of these work for you, don’t be afraid of the silence. Give you audience a few moments, acknowledge the silence and then close with impact.

Don’t end on a Q&A

Have you noticed that many presentations are actually closed with the words, ‘ Are there any questions?’

Occasionally, a presenter’s final slide will even have the word QUESTIONS appear in big bold letters.

When you close your presentation on a Q&A you are arguably leaving your audience walking away from your presentation with someone else’s voice.

What if the final question is:

– An emotionally charged one

– A hostile question

– Someone’s hidden agenda

– A stupid question (please don’t believe the adage, ‘there’s no such thing as a stupid question’

Even if it’s a great question, don’t leave your audience with someone else’s voice. It’s yours they came to hear.

The solution

For Q&A success, invite questions towards the end of your presentation but not right at the very end.

In other words, don’t make it the last thing you do.

When the time comes, don’t ask if there are any questions. Try this instead, ‘What questions do you have?’

Don’t state a specific time or number

When you are ready to invite questions don’t make the mistake of specifying an exact amount of time or number of questions you plan to answer; it could backfire:

– You’ve stated that you have 15 minutes for questions and there aren’t any, or you only need 5 minutes.

– What if there are so many questions that you run out of time?

– Imagine running out of time and the very last question is a complex or emotionally charged one.

– You’ve said you have time for 3 questions. One of them is particularly challenging and requires a detailed answer.

– The last question is a hostile, difficult question or one you just don’t know the answer to.

When you are ready to invite questions just own the Q&A and do what’s appropriate in the time and environment you have.

Listen carefully

It feels a little patronizing to state the obvious, which is that it’s critical that we listen carefully to the entire question before attempting to answer it.

Have you noticed that some people wait to speak, rather than actually listen fully to the question before beginning to answer it?

Some presenters will even begin answering the question before the questioner has finished speaking.

Don’t be in a rush to answer the question. Your Q&A success will depend upon you staying fully present and attentive while the question is being asked.

Make sure you understand the question. If you are in any doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification before thinking about answering it.

Repeat the question to the entire audience

Don’t assume that the rest of the audience have heard or understood the question, especially if it’s a larger group or a lengthy question.

Repeat the question so that everyone in the room is clear on exactly what was asked. If the question was a little longwinded, complex or detailed this gives you the opportunity to simplify and rephrase it for your audience whilst checking in with the questioner.

Follow ABCD

A nswer – B ack up – C onfirm – D epersonalize

Answer – once you’re clear you fully understand the question, answer it directly. Don’t thank the audience for the question, tell them what a great question it is or ramble, just answer the question.

Back up – support your answer where appropriate with a viewpoint, evidence or example of why you are confident in your answer.

Confirm – Check in to ensure that you’ve answered the question and that your answer is understood.

Depersonalize – If it’s a hostile, emotionally charged or argumentative question, don’t take it personally. Remain calm, take a deep breath and depersonalize the question.

Avoid being over defensive, answer the question as honestly and as professionally as you can.

Take care of your audience

Have you noticed that it’s so easy to get so caught up in answering a question that you forget about the rest of your audience?

Your Q&A success depends on how you answer the question not just to the person who asked it but the rest of the audience too.

Avoid a direct and lengthy dialogue between you and the questioner

If you are presenting standing up, step forward into the question. This exudes confidence rather than being on the ‘back foot’. If you are presenting sitting down, lean forward into the question.

Breathe & smile

As you step or lean in to the question, simultaneously take a mindful breath and smile.

Connect with everyone

As you being answering the question, make initial eye contact with the person who asked the question. Don’t stay there for too long though or feel trapped. As you answer the question, shift your eye contact to include the rest of the audience.

Once you’ve answered the question to everyone, return your eye contact to the person who asked the question.

It’s fine to say that you don’t know the answer

The moment you think you know the answer to everything you are doing yourself and your audience a disservice. If your boss expects you to know the answer to every conceivable question and will not accept, ‘I don’t know’ as an answer, it may be a sign that it’s time to look for a new job.

It’s perfectly acceptable to say that you don’t know the answer to a question.

It’s how you say so that matters

Whatever happens, don’t feel compelled to bluff your way through the question by making up an answer.

Respond calmly by saying , ‘I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s something I will look into and come back to you on with an answer.’

There are other ways you could respond, if appropriate:

Ask the audience

‘I don’t know the answer to that question but I’m mindful of the fact that there is a wealth of experience in the room and wonder whether anyone else in the audience does. Can anyone help answer that question?’

Share a thought

You may not have the answer but you may have a view. Share a thought or perspective on the question if you have one.

‘I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’ll find out and let you know. In the meantime. I have a thought on the issue. Please keep in mind that it’s not the answer to your question as I’ve already stated I don’t know the answer but here is a thought…

What’s your view on that?’

Ask for a moment

If you need a little time to think about the question, ask for it.

‘I need a few moments to think about that.’

This also take a little courage but remember, you don’t need to rush in to giving an answer.

Give yourself a little time to think. Your audience will respect you for it.

Don’t say, ‘that’s a good question’

It’s a ubiquitous response that is often perceived as being insincere, even if it isn’t.

It’s often a throwaway response which can do more harm than good. Imagine the following situations:

– Someone asks a question and you respond by saying, ‘That’s a really good question, I’m glad you asked it.’ The person who asked a different question a few moments earlier may be thinking, ‘What about my question, I gave it a lot of thought and it took me some courage to ask it; wasn’t mine a good question?’

The next person who asks a question may be thinking the same thing if you don’t tell them that theirs is a good question.

It may put other people off asking questions if their isn’t acknowledged as a good question.

– What if it’s not a good question and everyone one else in the room is thinking why on earth does the presenter see that as a good question?

It’s not helpful for us as presenter’s to evaluate the merit or quality of a question, we just need to answer it.

Get to know the hecklers or critics

Many of us have worked and presented in environments where everyone knows who will be dominating the room with difficult questions. It’s often not too difficult to find out who the dissenters are likely to be long before you begin presenting.

In either situation, if possible, make it your business to find out who they are and get to know them before your presentation. Contact them before hand and find out as much as you can about:

– How they feel about the topic, idea or issue

– What questions, concerns or objections they may have around it

– How you may be able to help them specifically

Don’t leave it to chance. If you have concerns about specific people compromising or exhausting the Q&A element of your presentation, get to know them beforehand.

Learn from ‘ The scary six ’

If you are really concerned about your presentation being hijacked or completely derailed by the Q&A, prepare in advance by setting up the following scenario.

Surround yourself with a small group of people you trust and respect. Share your presentation with them giving each person a specific role:

The Devil’s advocate

Ask them to be contentious, oppose your view and challenge the strength of your presentation.

Their role is to criticize you and to create an atmosphere of hostility and distrust.

The energy thief

Get them to look for a negative aspect of everything you say.

The know all

Encourage them to actively demonstrate that they know more than you on the topic.

Let them tell you in the most respectful way that they don’t agree with you.

The wanderer

Get them to demonstrate that they haven’t listened to a word you said.

It’s not an exercise for the faint hearted because it takes courage.

It is, however, an investment worth making.

Once the scary six have taken you and your presentation apart, take another look at your presentation.

As painful and as strange as it may sound, remember it’s not real and it won’t happen. You, however, will be prepared for anything.

Watch your body language

As you can see, your Q&A success isn’t dependent solely on the level of knowledge you have and your ability to share it verbally. Our body language matters a great deal too.

Our reputation and credibility also depends on how we manage and respond to questions physically and emotionally.

That begins with conveying open body language which exudes confidence.

When listening to and answering questions:

– Stand with your feet should or hip width apart, stay grounded and poised.

– Avoid crossing your arms or legs.

– Make eye contact with the questioner and also the rest of the audience.

– Take a breath and smile before you answer.

– Step or lean toward your audience rather than away from them.

– Nod your head occasionally to demonstrate understanding.

– Let your face speak too, look interested and don’t be afraid to express yourself.

Many presenter get really anxious about asking an audience if they have any questions after their presentation. I’ve shared some of the reasons for this.

The good news is that we can all can prepare ourselves to not only manage questions confidently and effectively but to ensure Q&A success by following some of these helpful tips.

If you’d like help ensuring Q&A success:

– Book yourself onto a powerful  public speaking course .

– Invest in some really good one to one  public speaking coaching .

– Get yourself some excellent  presentation training

Image courtesy of  Canva.com

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