Show:
Wording Your Speech
Rehearsal and Presentation
Vocal Delivery
Saying It Right
Body Language
100
Being economical, using specific terms and numbers, using short and familiar terms, and carefully assessing idioms all contribute to this desirable element in oral style.
What is clarity?
100
The portions of your speech—getting out of your seat, introduction, body, conclusion, returning to your seat—should be rehearsed at least 3-4 times in this manner.
What is "as a whole"?
100
This is the relative intensity of your voice; it may depend on the distance between you and the audience, competing noise, and the emphasis you wish to give an idea.
What is volume?
100
This type of articulation error occurs when you leave out sounds or syllables in a word (e.g., "govament" instead of "government"; "wanna" instead of "want to").
What is an error of omission?
100
This type of bodily action is especially important in communicating emotions; try to overcome any nervousness and anxiety that might prevent you from relaxing enough so that this bodily action can convey your feelings.
What is facial expression?
200
Using active verbs, imagery, and figures of speech all contribute to this desirable element in oral style.
What is vivdness?
200
In this method of presentation each sentence cues the recall of the following sentence; the method is not recommended because you might forget your speech.
What is a memorized speech?
200
This is the speed at which you speak; it may be varied to call attention to certain points and to add variety.
What is rate?
200
This type of articulation error occurs when you replace the correct sound in a word with an incorrect one (e.g., "wader" instead of "waiter"; "dese" instead of "these").
What is an error of substitution?
200
Examples of when this bodily action is used poorly include putting your hands in your pockets, clasping your hands in front or behind your back, and leaning on the desk, lectern, or whiteboard.
What is posture?
300
Speaking at the appropriate level of formality and avoiding written-style expressions, slang, vulgarity, and offensive expressions all contribute to this desirable element in oral style.
What is appropriateness?
300
In this method of presentation you speak without any specific preparation or advance thinking.
What is an impromptu speech?
300
This is the relative highness or lowness of your voice and results from the rate at which your vocal cords vibrate; it may be used to signal changes in meaning, such as the difference between a statement and a question.
What is pitch?
300
This type of articulation error occurs when you insert a sound in a word where it does not belong (e.g., "acrost" instead of "across"; "athalete" instead of "athlete").
What is an error of addition?
300
This bodily action, if used naturally, helps illustrate your verbal message (e.g., when you motion to indicate "Come here").
What is gesture?
400
Using personal pronouns, directing questions to the audience, and creating closeness with the audience all contribute to this desirable element in oral style.
What is personal style?
400
In this method of presentation you write out and then read the entire speech exactly as you want it to be heard by the audience; the advantage of this method is controlling the timing and wording of the speech, but the disadvantage is the difficulty of sounding natural.
What is a manuscript speech?
400
This type of pause is ineffective and makes you appear hesitant and unprepared as you utter such words as "er," "um," "uh," "ah," "well," and "you know."
What is a filled pause?
400
This type of pronunciation error occurs when you stress the wrong syllable in a word (e.g., "IN-sur-ance" instead of "in-SUR-ance").
What is an error of accent?
400
This bodily action may be used, for example, when stepping to the side or front of the lectern and then behind it again in order to signal a transition; however, it is best not to use this bodily action too much or too little.
What is movement?
500
Hesitations, self-critical statements, slang, vulgarity, disqualifiers (e.g., “I didn’t actually read this article”), and too many superlatives (e.g., “It was great, awesome, absolutely phenomenal”) all detract from this desirable element in oral style.
What is power?
500
This method of presentation involves thorough preparation and a commitment to memorize the opening and closing lines, plus the main ideas and their order, but the not the exact wording for the remaining parts of the speech.
What is an extemporaneous speech?
500
This type of pause injects silence into the normally fluent stream of speech and can be effective if properly used at key points of your speech.
What is an unfilled pause?
500
This is the single most important aspect of bodily communication when delivering a speech, provided you use it appropriately and cover the audience fairly.
What is eye contact?
500
This term refers to the way you use space in communication (e.g., standing too close to your listeners can make them feel uncomfortable, while standing too far away can make you seem uninvolved with the audience).
What is proxemics?