Preparing a Speech; Rehearsing; Delivering a Speech

We are going to rehearse and deliver our speech drafts to the class today.

First: Move to the lab for the first 15 minutes of class today. Look over your speech in the next 10 minutes.

• Try to improve your speech by turning vague or generic words into specific and concrete ones. Energize your verbs by making them active instead of passive (the verb TO BE is often passive: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, etc.) The subject of your sentences should be DOING THE ACTION. 

ACTIVE VOICE: Martin ate the sandwich.
PASSIVE VOICE: The sandwich was eaten by Martin.

ACTIVE VOICE: Lola juggled three bowling balls.
PASSIVE VOICE: Three bowling balls were juggled by Lola.

• If something is difficult to describe, use a metaphor or simile to help you describe it. Exchange boring details for clever or creative ones by using poetic devices like figures of speech, metaphors, similes, analogies, personification, imagery, allusion, alliteration, etc.
• Make sure your speech has a definite beginning (a hook), middle (development of an idea or story), and an ending (reflection or something the audience should consider or think about). 
• Correct any weaknesses in your speech in these 10 minutes. 

Then PRINT your speech. You need a hard copy of your speech for the next part of our class.

AFTER PRINTING MOVE BACK TO ROOM 238!

Now that you have a revised speech draft, we will prepare and rehearse it. All of you are expected to deliver this speech. There'll be others, so don't worry about getting perfect--instead, learn from your weaknesses or mistakes and get better! Improvement is the key!

Consider these tips when preparing to deliver a speech:

• Good speeches, readings, and presentations should be delivered as if the speaker is speaking effortlessly. The speeches that make an impact are memorable. They are the ones that have energy and are usually the result of careful and thorough practice or rehearsal.
• Remember to put some effort into your work! The more energy you give to a project, the more you are likely to get readers or viewers interested in what you have written.
• Avoid the teenage or amateur trap of just going through the motions. Put some energy into your speech and you will be rewarded. Don't be selfish!
• Practice/rehearse when given time to rehearse or practice. Use your time productively to prepare. That's why successful artists practice or rehearse. You're not going to be perfect without practice!
• To use the metaphor of an iceberg: most of an iceberg lies underwater. The speech or presentation is like the "tip of an iceberg" because that is what an audience sees. What the audience doesn’t see – the preparation, the practice, the rehearsal – is like the submerged ice under the water.
• In an ideal world, we would have days or weeks to practice. But time is short and we have many topics to cover. Nevertheless, a performer owes an audience a good speech or presentation. No one wants to be bored by watching a reluctant performer waste their time.
• There are three cornerstones to any speech or presentation: the speaker; the subject; and the audience. On a sheet of paper, make a large triangle (Δ). At the top, write your name; at the bottom left, the name of the audience; and at the bottom right, the subject of your speech or presentation.
• Now, think about the relationships between the three cornerstones and write a few notes along the sides of the triangle about each. For example:
• Speaker – Subject: What do you know about the subject? Why are you speaking about it? What expertise do you have? What insights can you share with the audience? Etc.
• Audience – Subject: What does the audience know about the subject? Do they like the subject? Are they already aware of it? Are they bored by it? How is the subject relevant for them? How might you entertain them instead of boring them? Define your strategy and think about how you will perform your speech. 
• Speaker – Audience: What do you know about the audience? What do they know about you? Yes, you have to deliver your speech, but is there someone in the audience that you might want to make laugh at your clever words, or impress someone? Keep this audience member in mind when you deliver the speech. At the end of your speech or performance, the audience should be changed in some way. What is your objective for the talk? What do you want the audience to do when your speech is over?
• While this is not always the case, sometimes speakers just want the audience to know something or share something. To remind us all that we are human.  That is fine. But the most powerful speeches and presentations are the ones that move people to action. If you can get your audience to take some concrete action, you will have made an impact.
• When thinking about what you want the audience to do, be specific. Write out the objective as follows: “By the end of the presentation, I want the audience to...” [laugh, think, consider an alternative, change a behavior, change an opinion, cry, empathize, sympathize, clap, give me a standing ovation, etc.] Pick one or two. The objective should be clear and realistic for you. 
• A speech or performance should be built around the text (the written speech) and that speech or story or poem or play or whatever should have a key message. It is fine to have more than one key message, but I would only have two or three at most. The more messages you have, or the more unfocused you are in your writing--when you don't know the point of your speech or story--the more confused your audience is likely to be.
• When you can condense your speech or story or presentation into a single sentence or two, the message will be clear in your mind. Then, when it comes to building your story or speech, you can ask yourself whether your points or ideas support the key message. If it does, it can stay. If it doesn’t, you might want to save it for another talk or cut it.
• Finally, odd as it seems, a speech or presentation or performance is never about the speaker or writer or actor--It is always about the audience. Writing a speech or story without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it: “To Whom It May Concern.”

Rehearse. Practice reading your work out loud in small groups of 2-3. Give each other some feedback:

1. Are you pleasing your audience? Can we hear you? Can we understand you? Are you holding our attention? Are you too unfocused and confusing? Have you put energy into your performance or delivery? Are you boring? Are you making occasional eye-contact with your audience?
2. Are you matching your TONE of voice to the TONE of your speech or story?
3. Are you sincerely trying? [Avoid just going through the motions--an audience can tell that a performer just doesn't care or would rather be doing anything other than speaking...why should we listen to a person like this?]
4. Are you reaching the goals you set out for yourself? Are you following the advice I just gave you?

When time is called, please deliver your speech to the whole class.

Class: do your best to be supportive of each speaker. At the very least, be courteous. Selfish and self-centered people lose friends. You don't have to be a jerk. Keep an open mind.

HOMEWORK: None. If you didn't get a chance to perform your speech today, please prepare and rehearse it for next class.