SPCM 200: Public Speaking

Stylized Manuscript Delivery Activity

Goal: To get students familiar with the highly stylized form of delivery
associated with the Commemorative Speech.
First, students will be instructed that they have seven minutes to write
an excerpt for their Commemorative speech. They will be told to write about
a one minute excerpt which is about one, one-sided handwritten page worth
of speech. They will be told that this excerpt doesnt have to end up in the
final version of their speech, however it is a good use of their time to write
something that may be of use to them in some way later on in the speechwriting process.
After they have written their excerpts, students will be divided up into
groups. In a class of 24, students will be divided into groups of four- this can
be done somewhat randomly by having students count off one through six
and having ones meet in one corner of the room, twos in another corner, etc.
Students will be instructed to complete three rounds of speaking with
their groups. In the first round, each person in the group goes around and
reads through their excerpt once. For this first round, theyre just simply
reading their excerpt aloud to get an idea of what the flow of words is like.
In the second round, each member of the group reads their excerpt
again but, this time, with stylized delivery. Stylized delivery for a
Commemorative speech includes, but is not limited to: intense vocal variety,
dramatic gestures, and dramatic pausing. Students should experiment with
those and all other aspects of stylized delivery discussed in class. Once each
group member has performed their excerpt with highly stylized delivery,
the group will take a break from performing and have a five minute
discussion on stylized delivery. They should be talking about who did what
well, who tried things that didnt work so well, as well as what they can all do
to improve.
For the third round, each member of the group will perform their
excerpt one last time for their group with the goal of being more stylized
than before and taking into account what the group discussed about delivery.
Once the groups finish their third round, they will vote on who had the best
stylized delivery in their group. The member voted best from each group will
perform their excerpt for the class and the class will have a discussion about
what they liked and didnt like for each performer as well as and how they
can improve their stylized delivery as a class.