Even nothing can carry meaning.
A talk is much more than just the words you say. It needs to have variation: moments of light and shade, sections which build and sections which fall, and a shift in tone to match the changing content you are delivering.
Sometimes it can be useful to strip away any meaningful content and look at the importance of delivery in capturing, orientating and guiding an audience. While the following speech in completely meaningless in what is being said, pay close attention to how it is being presented, and note the shifts in the presenter’s tone, volume, pacing and gesture:
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After watching the above speech, consider the following questions:
- What elements of delivery stood out for you in this performance? Identify as many different techniques as possible.
- How did the construction of the speech accommodate these elements?
- How did the nature of the speaker’s delivery change over the course of the speech?
It’s not enough to question authority. You need to speak with it.
Confidence is the basis of all public speaking. You can have an excellent, logical and factually supported argument, but if you don’t speak with confidence, you will have tremendous difficulty convincing anyone to follow you.
There are many things that we do that make us appear to be lacking in confidence. Our tone, words and stance all pay a crucial part. Learn to control these elements of your delivery, and you will appear confident regardless of how you actually feel.
Watch the below performance by Taylor Mali, and consider: what are the things we do when speaking that make us appear uncertain, uninformed or lacking in conviction?
After watching the above speech, consider the following questions:
- How does our tone influence the meaning of our statements?
- Why is vocal inflection at the end of sentences particularly important?
- What vocabulary choices convey a disinterested, indecisive or unconvinced tone?
- Why is it important to speak with conviction, confidence and authority?
- What choices can you make when writing a speech that will help to achieve this?
It’s time to write!
You are now at the point when you can begin writing your speech! You should be using all of the lessons learned from the examples you’ve studied and be apply this in what should be the best piece of public speaking that you have ever completed in your life.
Structure is essential to a good speech. Because we can’t re-read your content if we miss something, you need to be clear and purposeful. Don’t forget the basic general structure of a speech that we covered in our first class on this topic:
You will have the opportunity to prepare your speech in detail, so you can play around with this structure and make it a bit less blatant. However, all of these elements should still be included in an order similar to this.
Please keep the following things in mind when writing your speech:
- Include persuasive techniques: This is an explicit requirement of the task. You must include a range of persuasive language techniques that we have studied in class. Their usage should be clear and deliberate (i.e. when marking your presentation, I should be able to identify when a technique is used and how it is affecting the audience).
- Make it easy on your audience: Having a clear statement of contention, a clear structure and signposting your arguments makes a huge difference to your audience. Remember that we are not reading your speech; we are listening to it, and this means that you need to us a different, clearer and simpler structure than a piece of writing. Return to your message at the end, leave us with a call to action and make it crystal clear what you’ve been arguing and what needs to be done.
- Don’t waste your hour in the spotlight: You are asking for roughly five minutes of undivided and very close attention from roughly twenty different people who don’t really know why they should care about what you’re discussing. You need to earn the right to be listened to. Establish your authority, be engaging and speak with conviction. Make us believe in you and what you have to say. Construct a speech with this in mind.
Learning from others.
It is very useful to look at how other students have approached this task. Examples of this can be found on the Persuasive Oral page. Below are two examples of high scoring oral presentations from previous years. Watch them carefully and consider what elements are done well, and what elements could be improved, as they are also by no means perfect.
Topic: Banning ‘the bouncer’ in cricket
Things that are done well in this speech:
- Good eye contact.
- Good fluency of delivery.
- Very good pacing.
- Good variation of tone.
- Clear signposting between points.
- Persuasive techniques are used: emotive language, attacks, alliteration, personal anecdotes, etc.
- Argument is logical and rebuttal arguments are raised and dealt with.
- Strong final message.
In your opinion, what could be improved?
Topic: We need to go to Mars
Things that are done well in this speech:
- Interesting hook to begin.
- Clear outline of topic and contention.
- Very good eye contact.
- Very fluent delivery.
- Good pacing.
- Very good variation of tone.
- Persuasive techniques are used: emotive language, colloquial language, expert evidence, listing, inclusive language, repetition, personal anecdote, appeals, etc.
- Strong final message
What, in your opinion, could be improved?
