What is Speech? How to Plan a Speech

Speech means what the speaker says in front of the audience. It is fully audience-oriented system and it promotes social communication. Generally, the political leaders, the managers, the businessman or the workers’ leaders use these language skills sometimes. It can build tension or it can relax tension. This system is practised in human communication, public gathering, at company meetings, inauguration and seminars etc. It needs considerable communication skills, otherwise, it is not effective.

So, human speech is the formal vocal sounds that the speaker addresses through spoken language words in front the audience gathered in a place to hear massage.

Characteristics of a good speech

The important characteristics of a good speech are as follows:

• Clear: Clarity is the first major characteristic of a good speech. Success of speech is fully dependent on the clarity of the idea. Otherwise it will result in bad speech sounds.
• Informal talk: A good speech is closer to a personal and informal chat between two intimate friends. When somebody speaks, there should be a perfect report between the speaker and the audience. The employment of speech should appear as an informal speech with tone of familiarity and mutual understanding.
• Concreteness: Abstractions kill a speech. The successes of human speech are dependent on its concreteness.
• Concise: The concentration of an average audience does not last more than fifteen to twenty minutes. So the speeches should be concise. Having a good voice command will also boost effectiveness of cognitive-communication.
• Interesting: Quotations anecdotes and humorous touches often make a speech interesting. It should only be form accepted authorities. They should be familiar but not worn out. Anecdotes should be new, brief and in good taste. Humour should be topical, spontaneous and gentle.
• Audience-oriented: A good speech is always tuned to the wavelength of the audience. Before giving the speeches the speaker consider some the points carefully which means is the audience general or specialized one or how large the audience or what is the age group of the listener and what are the social, religious, political and economic views of the listeners. The speaker should also avoid speech repetition to avoid boring the audience.

How to Plan a Speech

Most of the people do not feel comfortable speaking before others. With effort, everybody can improve their speaking quality. Preparation should always start well in advance. In presenting a good speech the following steps should be followed:

• Selection of the topic: The first step in the formal employment of speech is to determine the topic of the presentation. Before selection of the topic at first the speaker should consider his knowledge (level of education) about the topic then they will consider the interest of the audience. Where the topic will be presented and lastly he should consider the nature of openings for speech delivery. The selection should be justified by all above factors to prevent speech errors.
• Preparation of the presentation: After selection of the topic the speaker should gather the information that he needs for this speech. After collection of the information, the speaker should organize the information. In presentation stage, the best speech pattern is to have the greeting come first and gain attention in the opening. In the second stage the speaker builds the flow of speech, that is, prepares the main body of the speech and lastly conclusion. In the introductory stage the speaker can use gossip, humour, quotations, questions etc. to aid better translation of speech delivered. The middle should be devoted to the broad range of discussion and in conclusion it should summarize the main points.
• Determination of the presentation method: With the speech organized, the speaker is ready to prepare his presentation. At this time, the speaker needs to decide on the types of speech for which the message is delivered and method of presentation to use; whether to present the speech extemporaneously, to memorize it or to read it.
• Audience analysis: One requirement of good speech making is to know the audience. The speaker should study his audience both before and during the presentation. This is when he needs to avoid speech repetition and can utilize alternative communication methods to deliver the presentation effectively.
• Appearance and physical actions: When the listeners hear the speech, they are looking for the speaker as a result of their speech recognition abilities. What they see is a part of the message which can influence human speech errors and affect the success of the speech. The speaker should understand the communication effects of the listeners and should utilize types of speech audiences can familiarize themselves with. The speaker must be careful about the communication environment, personal appearance, posture, walking, facial expression, body language etc.
• Use of voice: Good voice is an obvious requirement of good speaking. Like physical movements, the voice should not hinder the listener’s concentration on the message whether in cognitive-communication or augmentative communication. More specifically, it should not detract attention from the message. The speaker should be careful about lack of pitch variation, lack of variation in speed, language delay, voice disorders, lack of vocal emphasis, expressive disorders, and unpleasant voice quality etc. which can result in speech errors. Various types of speech disorder such as the receptive language disorder and expressive language disorder should be kept at bay by seeking the right treatment options for improved communication skills.