Style and Delivery in Public Speaking
16
summary
This chapter focused on style, rehearsal, and presentation and offered suggestions for
choosing words and phrasing sentences; for rehearsing and presenting your speech; and for
delivering impromptu, manuscript, memorized, or extemporaneous speeches. In addition,
this chapter discussed guidelines for giving and receiving criticism.
Step 8: Style Your Speech
16.1 Explain the ways you can add clarity, vividness,
appropriateness, personal style, and forcefulness
to your speeches and phrase sentences effectively.
1. Compared with written style, oral style contains
shorter, simpler, and more familiar words; greater
qualification; and more self-referential terms.
2. Effective public speaking style should be clear (be
economical and specific; use guide phrases; and stick
to short, familiar, and commonly used terms), vivid
(use active verbs, strong verbs, figures of speech, and
imagery), appropriate to audience (speak on a suit-
able level of formality; avoid jargon and technical ex-
pressions; avoid slang, vulgarity, and offensive terms),
personal (use personal pronouns, ask questions, and
create immediacy), and forceful (eliminate weakeners,
vary intensity, and avoid trite expressions).
3. In constructing sentences for public speeches, favor
short, direct, active, and positively phrased sen-
tences. Vary the type and length of sentences.
Step 9: Rehearse Your Speech
16.2 Identify the suggestions for effective and efficient
speech rehearsal.
4. Use rehearsal to time your speech; perfect your vol-
ume and rate; incorporate pauses and other delivery
notes; and perfect your bodily action.
Step 10: Present Your Speech
16.3 Explain the qualities of effective voice and bodily
action in public speaking.
5. There are four basic methods of presenting a pub-
lic speech. The impromptu method involves speak-
ing without any specific preparation. The manuscript
method involves writing out the entire speech and
reading it to the audience. Memorized delivery in-
volves writing out the speech, memorizing it, and re-
citing it. The extemporaneous method involves thor-
ough preparation and memorizing of the main ideas
and their order of appearance but no commitment to
exact wording.
Chapter
6. Effective presentation is natural, reinforces the mes-
sage, is varied, and has a conversational quality.
When you present your speech, regulate your voice
for greatest effectiveness. Adjust your vocal volume
and rate as appropriate. Check your articulation and
pronunciation of key terms.
7. Use unfilled pauses to signal a transition between
the major parts of the speech, to allow the audi-
ence time to think, to allow the audience to ponder
a rhetorical question, or to signal the approach of
a particularly important idea. Avoid filled pauses;
they weaken your message.
8. Effective body action involves maintaining eye con-
tact with your entire audience, allowing your facial
expressions to convey your feelings, using your
posture to communicate command of the public
speaking interaction, gesturing naturally, and mov-
ing around a bit.
9. In Q&A sessions after the speech, encourage ques-
tions, maintain eye contact, repeat the question if
necessary, avoid any signs of defensiveness, express
thanks for the question (if appropriate), don’t bluff,
and consider the usefulness of a persuasive answer.
Speech Criticism
16.4 Identify the suggestions for giving and receiving
criticism.
10. Criticism, a process of judging and evaluating a
work, is crucial to mastering the principles of public
speaking.
11. Criticism can (1) identify strengths and weaknesses
and thereby help you improve as a public speaker,
(2) identify standards for evaluating all sorts of pub-
lic speeches, and (3) show that the audience is listen-
ing and is concerned about the speaker’s progress.
12. Cultures differ in their views of criticism and in the
rules they consider appropriate. For example, mem-
bers of individualist cultures may find public criti-
cism easier and more acceptable than people from
collectivist cultures.
13. Among the guidelines for effective criticism are
these: Stress the positive, be specific, be objective,
be constructive, focus on behavior, and own your
criticism.