Public Speaking: Delivery, Physicality, and Preparation Techniques

Vocal Delivery Fundamentals

• Speaking Rate and Pacing:
  • Aim for a conversational and casual level of delivery.
  • Avoiding Excessive Speed: Speaking too fast causes a speaker to trip over their own words or creates a "mushy" sound where words bleed into each other. The speaker compares this to the $2 \times$ speed feature on TikTok; do not be the person who makes the audience want to hold down for double speed.
  • Avoiding Excessive Slowness: Speaking too slowly risks losing the audience's attention and causing disengagement.
• Projection and Volume:
  • Speakers must adjust their volume based on the room size.
  • Self-Monitoring: A good indicator of sufficient volume is hearing a slight echo of your own voice.
  • Audience Reach: Ensure that people sitting in the back of the room can hear clearly.
  • Challenges: Natural quietness or a tendency to mumble are hurdles that need careful monitoring during practice. Practicing in a real classroom setting is recommended to understand the acoustics.
• Articulation and Fillers:
  • Vocal Fillers: Speakers should actively monitor for and eliminate verbal fillers (e.g., "um," "uh," "like").
  • Lazy Mouth: Nervousness often causes the facial muscles to relax excessively, leading to mumbling or weaving words together. This is common when a speaker just wants to "get it over with," but it is poor practice for formal or practiced speech settings.
• Vocal Variety:
  • Monotony: Speaking in the same tone for an entire speech is boring and disengaging for the audience.
  • The Character Technique: To overcome nerves that lead to a flat tone, the professor suggests embodying a "character" (e.g., "performing as a college professor"). This helps the speaker feel less like themselves and more like the persona required for a public speaking moment.

Physical Delivery and Movement

• Purposeful Movement:
  • The rubric generally requires movement that is not stiff or boring.
  • The Three-by-Three Rule: It is recommended to stay within a range of approximately $9$ floor squares ($3 \times 3$ grid).
  • The Screen Strategy: A useful technique for visual aids involves moving to one side of the screen to discuss one specific point (e.g., "volunteering at soup kitchens") and then moving to the other side when shifting to a new topic. This helps the audience mentally transition with the speaker.
• Gestures and Stance:
  • Natural Gesturing: Using hands to talk makes a speaker look more natural and less stiff.
  • Avoiding Fidgeting: Distracting habits include "swaying" to release jittery energy or leaning excessively on the podium/furniture. These should be minimized through practice.
• Facial Expressions and Eye Contact:
  • Approachability: Avoid looking like you "want to die" or having a "resting bitch face." Smiles and facial movement make the speaker more approachable.
  • Eye Contact Techniques:
    • Sweeping: Move eyes across the entire audience.
    • The Bridge Technique: If direct eye contact is intimidating, looking at the bridge of a listener's nose or their forehead is indistinguishable from true eye contact to the audience.
    • Disengagement: Avoid looking up at the ceiling or down at notes for too long, as it breaks the connection with the audience.
• Posture:
  • Do not slouch; slouching is a natural habit used to make oneself feel "smaller" when nervous.
  • Psychological Impact: Standing tall (the "Wonder Woman pose") can affect the chemicals in the brain to boost confidence.

Case Study: The Princess Diaries Speech Analysis

• Context: A clip from The Princess Diaries where Mia Thermopolis delivers a speech while soaking wet in a hoodie and jeans.
• Positive Observations:
  • Emotional Resonance: Toward the end, her tone "pulled at heartstrings" and became more emotional.
  • Pacing: She eventually found a good pace—neither too fast nor too slow—and sounded more confident.
  • Grounding: She consciously fixed her feet/posture before starting to focus herself.
• Negative Observations:
  • Nervous Start: She initially brought up random, irrelevant things (like the rain), making the crowd feel awkward.
  • Verbal Mistakes: She acknowledged her own speed mid-speech ("I'm going too fast").
  • Professionalism: While the movie allows it, the professor recommends against wearing pajamas or being soaking wet for actual class speeches.
• Key Lesson: A speaker should simply recover from a mistake and move on rather than calling attention to it.

Practical Speech Logistics

• The "Paper Ball" Activity:
  • Students practice speaking for $45\,seconds$ about their worst restaurant experience.
  • If the speaker uses a verbal filler, the audience throws a crumpled paper ball at them. This illustrates how fillers often slip out unconsciously.
• Timing and Penalties:
  • Penalty Rate: Generally, $5\,points$ are deducted for every $20\,seconds$ a speaker is outside the assigned time range.
  • Practice: Never give a speech for the first time in front of the class. It must be said out loud at least once to gauge the actual delivery duration.
• Materials at the Front:
  • Items allowed: Note cards, water bottle (to prevent "dry mouth"/"cotton mouth"), and a phone for a timer.
  • Phone Warning: Ensure the phone's auto-lock is turned off for longer speeches ($6$ to $8\,minutes$) so the timer remains visible.
• Audience Etiquette:
  • Laptops, phones, and AirPods must be away. Being on a device while someone else is speaking is considered rude and disengaging.

Preparation and Structuring

• Extemporaneous Speaking:
  • This is the preferred method: a mix of memorization and prompts.
  • It is not a script or word-for-word recitation. It uses bullet points to guide a rehearsed but naturally delivered speech.
• Note Card Management:
  • Number the cards to prevent them from getting out of order if they are shuffled or dropped.
  • Do not bring "just in case" cards (extra content for padding time), as they cause confusion during the stress of delivery.
• Speech Framework (The Instrument):
  • Introduction/Hook: Start with a rhetorical question, a statistic, or a very brief story (under $15\,seconds$).
  • Body Paragraphs: Follow a specific order: Describe the act, defend its importance, and explain the implications.
  • Transitions: Use signposts like "Now that I've told you…," "Next," or "Additionally" to signal a change in topic.
  • Conclusion: Always signal the end (e.g., "In conclusion"). The conclusion is critical because audience attention naturally spikes at the end of a presentation (the "waiting to clap" phenomenon). It should reinforce the main points of the entire speech.