Intervention
You can
not just read the speech (if you do this it would be a lot easier
to just give out photocopies to those present) you have to display
your ideas in a convincing way.
You have
to interpret the speech, you have to give it your best, you have
to emphasize, to fill it with enthusiasm, motivate the audience,
convinve, persuade, etc.
The speech
has to be aimed at attracting (and maintaining) the public's attention
and providing the understanding of the message.
You are
not trying to astonish the public with what you know, with the richness
of your vocabulary that you use, with the originality of the style
that you use.
What
you are trying to do is get to the public in the most direct, easiest
and at the same time suggestive way.
The orator
has to take care of the rhythm of the speech, trying to maintain the
emotion and the public's attention during the whole speech, avoiding
very intense moments, followed by not very interesting moments (you
risk loosing the audience's attention).
The person
that is speaking has to be concious that besides using verbal language
(what he/she says, how he/she says it, vocabulary used, intonation,
how loud/quiet he/she speaks, emphasise, etc) he/she also uses body
language which the audience should also capture clearly (gestures,
movements, expressions, postures on the stand, etc).
The majority
of the times the speaker is not concsious of this body language.
Therefore, it is very difficult to control it. However, given its
importance it is an aspect that you need to work on in the rehearsals.
From the
moment the speaker goes onto the stand the audience will begin to
look at and analyze a multitude of factors (how he/she moves, his/her
level of nervousness, how he/she is dressed, the tone and volume of
his/her voice, his/her gestures, seriousness or smiley, etc) and with
all of these factors they form an image of the speaker as someone
interesting, boring, suggestive, unimportant, attractive, pathetic,
ridiculous, etc.
The image
that the public form of the speaker influences the amount of attention
they pay to the speech, also in their predisposition to accept or
not accept the ideas presented.
If
this image is positive, the audience will be more likely to accept
the arguments presented, whilst if it is negative the audience will
probably reject them or not pay a lot of attention.
The
speaker should project an image of profesionality, confidence, that
they dominate the material, etc.
The
speaker should show enthusiasm: it's a way of reinforcing his/her
ideas, besides enthusiasm is contagious and will get the public
to favour you.
You
need to show a friendly face, a smile (this helps to gain the public)
and avoid unfriendly gestures (they provoke rejection).
When evaluating
the whole speech the public will not only bear in mind the ideas put
forward and strength of the arguments, but also the speaker's image.
Therefore,
you shouldn't just work hard on the text of the speech but also
pay attention to other details equally important.
Within
the verbal communication you need to outline the importance of the
silences:
Silence
plays a fundamental role in all verbal communication, but you need
to know how to use it.
Silence
should be used consciously (to establish pauses, outline ideas,
allow the audience time to understand a concept, break the monotomy
of the speech, etc).
Silence
can not be used randomly, without a determined objective, as all
this will do is interfere in the communication, making it difficult
to understand.
You
need to overcome the fear which many speakers feel which then avoid
silence at all cost (as they believe that silence breaks communication).
One thing
that should prevail during the whole speech is your naturalness.
The audience
likes to see the speaker as a normal person, close.
The
audience is usually very tolerant to normal errors which can be
committed (they are caused by nerves) but if there is something
that they reject it is artificialness, pomposity, someone who is
unfriendly and boredom.
Finally,
I want to point out a few things that the speaker should have with
him/her when he/she goes up to speak:
Glass
of water (to
clear your voice)
Watch
(to control the time; put it in a visible place where you can consult
it in a discrete way).
Handkerchief
(to dry your lips after drinking and just in case you sneeze - just
imagine a coughing attack, or that your nose starts to drip...and
the speaker without a handerchief).
