Speech Delivery Tips

These simple techniques can help you stay prepared, organized, and efficient at the podium. Ultimately, it is all about common sense.

• Print out your speech with page numbers, in a larger (18 pt) typeface, as well as 1.5-2.0 line spacing. This makes it easier to read and keep your place.
• Never fold your speech. Instead, keep it in a nice folder. That means no manila folders. Ideally, have nothing else in the folder. Leave everything else in your briefcase or at your table. It’ll look classier. You also won’t have the frustration of having to unfold the pages as you organize at the podium.
• If it is only two pages, staple it to the inside, with page one on the left, and page two on the right. This will help you be more organized at the podium. This makes it like a book: Just open your folder and have at it.
• While practicing your speech, once you can read it fluidly, record it on your computer. Then, listen to it as often as you can. This will help you remember it. You will also be able to hammer out places where you need to tweak the pacing. Listen with headphones, without, in the car, and on the same stereo you listen to the Rolling Stones. By listening in different contexts, you’ll hear the same things in new ways. You’ll absorb the cadence and refine the rhythm.
• Let punctuation work for you. Think of commas, dashes and periods as musical notes. Let them remind you to pause or speed up, to look another direction or to stop abruptly. Since your speech is planned and written, you need to transcend a monotone, mechanical delivery. Do this and you will sound more natural.

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