Business executives, social activists, political and religion leaders deliver speeches on a regular basic on their respective areas of works. Though speech, they try to communicate information, ideas, wishes and opinions to their colleagues and peers. Hence, delivering effective and convincing speech is very essential.
For the purpose of delivering effective speech, the following steps or ways should be followed.
Determining the purpose
Before delivering speech, the speaker should determine the objective clearly. The objective of speech may be to inform, to persuade or to convince others.
Analyzing the audience and occasion
Success of any speech depends on proper understanding of the meaning of speech by the audience. Therefore, the speaker must consider the age, education, profession, interest, attitude, likings and disliking as well as the nature of occasion at the time of delivering of speech.
Selecting the main idea of speech
In this stage, the speaker selects the main theme of the speech. Moreover, in order to present the main theme, the speaker can include other relevant subjects or topics.
Enquiring the information
Generally, sufficient information is not always readily available. Therefore, in order to make the speech worthwhile the speaker should enquire and collect relevant information from various sources.
Arranging data and writing draft
After collecting relevant information, a draft of speech should be developed. The speaker should read the drafted speech over and over again and then develop the final speech. A well-organized speech is make up of three elements such as (a) introduction, (b) body and (c) conclusion.
Selecting the methods of delivering speech
In this stage, the speaker selects the proper method of delivering the speech. Murphy and others have suggested the following four alternative methods of delivering speech:
- Impromptu speech: In this method, speech is delivered without talking any prior preparation.
- Extemporaneous speech: In this method, speech is also delivered without talking sufficient prior preparation. Here the speaker at best takes the help from a piece of paper containing the main points of speech.
- Reading speech: In this method, speech is delivered by reading written documents.
- Memorized speech: In this method, the speaker memorizes the written speech and then delivers to the audience.
Arranging visual aids
Various visual aids such as chart, graph, diagram, picture, model etc. can be used for presenting the speech effectively. Before the speech session, appropriate visual aids should be arranged so that these are readily available at the time of delivering speech.
Rehearsing the speech
An important way to increase the effectiveness of speech is to rehearse it at any convenient place before delivering it to the audience. It helps the speaker to remove his shyness, confusion and nervousness.
Delivering the final speech
After all these stages, the speaker delivers the final speech to the audience. In order to deliver the speech convincingly, the speaker should be well dressed with a grooming appearance.
Moreover, the speaker should deliver the speech clearly, slowly, courteously and confidently by using simple language. For making the speech effective, speaker can also use any relevant non-verbal cues.
Karyl Miranda says
I agree, preparation is key to delivering effective speech. Particularly love your advice to analyze the audience so you can speak directly to them. Thanks for this post!