Oral Discourse and Extemporaneous Delivery

The spoken word differs from the written. Audiences for public speeches do not have
the benefit of being able to go back and re-read sentences. They cannot look at a page
and see section headings or new paragraph indentations. Public audiences have a
more limited capacity to comprehend complicated ideas and to take in long sentences
and difficult or dense language. Public speakers have to compensate for these limits
by using the principles of repetition of content, clarity of structure, and simplicity of
language.
Repetition. Repetition is a fundamental part of most good public speeches. An old
public speaking adage goes something like: tell em what youre going to tell em,
tell em, and then tell em what you told em. By the end of a speech, an audience
should have absolutely no question about what the central idea or main claim is. To
make sure that happens, state that idea clearly in the introduction of your speech, tie
the information and arguments of the body to it in explicit ways, and restate the idea
again in your conclusion. Audiences are more likely to miss or forget important
information if you do not repeat and restate it.
Clarity. Clarity of structure means that ideas are logically grouped into categories the
audience can easily understand. In addition, just as paragraph indents and underlining
alert readers to new or important ideas, transitions and signposts help listeners
recognize new 'paragraphs' and key points of the speech. Brief pauses can signal to
listeners that the speaker is about to say something important or is moving onto the
next main point. Phrases like "most important," "I am claiming that," "the crucial
point is this," call your listeners' attention to what follows them and act as verbal
underlining.
Simplicity. Simplicity in language is crucial to conveying information effectively.
Oral discourse differs from written in its use of language. Oral discourse is often best
when it uses the first person, I and we. Such language gives the speech a sense of
immediacy and helps the speaker to connect with the audience. In addition, good
speeches will often use less formal language--contractions, sentence fragments,
selected slang expressions. Finally, oral language needs to be less dense and jargonladen then some kinds of written language, especially academic language. When
written papers are read out loud, they almost never make effective speeches.
While there are several effective modes of delivery, extemporaneous speaking is the
most adaptable and time efficient. Learning it is also an excellent way of sharpening
critical thinking. Extemporaneous speeches are developed through outlining ideas, not
writing them out word-for-word. They are practiced ahead of time, rehearsed and rerehearsed (extemporaneous speeches are not impromptu), using a keyword outline of
single words and short, 3-5 word phrases. The speech is not memorized but instead is
concentrating on the main ideas; each time a speaker practices and delivers the
speech, wording comes out a little differently. Extemporaneous delivery gives the
speech freshness, for it doesn't sound canned and over-rehearsed. Additionally, this
flexible form of delivery allows a speaker to make adjustments to their speech in
response to non-verbal signals from the audience--signs of confusion, displeasure,
curiosity, or excitement.

Extemporaneous delivery allows speakers to make eye contact with the audience
one of the best ways to connect with them and keep them involved in the speech. Eye
contact is an important way to establish a speaker's credibility and make a speech
compelling; when a speaker relies too much on notes, they are potentially losing their
audience and running the risk of looking unprepared.
Verbal and nonverbal communication are important in public speaking, helping to
make a speech clear and compelling to an audience. Developing good vocal delivery
means focusing first and foremost on being heard clearly: a speaker must speak loudly
enough to be heard by everyone, articulate words sharply so they can be understood,
and speak slowly enough so that the audience can easily take in the ideas. In addition,
avoid monotone delivery and be engaged enough with the speech to communicate
interest. Effective bodily delivery begins with this simple maxim: do not distract the
audience with extraneous movement. Nervous pacing, standing cross-armed or handsin-pockets for long stretches, turning from the audience and talking into a visual aid,
gestures unrelated to the verbal message--all of these distract from the content of the
speech and should be avoided.

Approaching the Speaking Situation: Audience, Occasion, Purpose

Communication, both spoken and written, is always addressed to an audience, a set of
listeners or readers you are intending to convey information to or have some effect
upon. Public speaking differs from written communication in that the audience is
present, gathered for some occasion. That occasion has norms and expectations that a
speaker must recognize. Finally, a public speaker has some purpose, something they
are trying to accomplish or set in motion. Good public speaking always accounts for
these three components.
Audience. Speakers communicate differently to different audiences. To take a simple
example, people tell their grandmothers about their new significant other in a
different way than they tell their best friend. Similarly, people speak about trees
differently with their high school biology teacher than they do with their younger
siblings; and speakers often need to make arguments about public policy differently to
Republicans than to Democrats. Two main questions guide audience adaptation in a
speaking situation: Who are they? What qualities about them are relevant?
Who are they? Distinguishing general from specific audiences is useful. A general
audience is everyone who will hear the speech or read the paper. A specific audience,
on the other hand, is that subset of the general audience who the speaker particularly
wants to reach, or to reach in a different way than the rest of the group. In an audience
with varying degrees of knowledge on a subject, for instance, a speaker might want to
pitch their comments primarily to non-experts (while at the same time not saying
anything that a specialist would find objectionable). In the classroom, students may be
speaking to the entire group but making a special effort to address the professor's
expectations.

What qualities about them are relevant? Audiences vary in values, knowledge, style of
communication, and intellectual capacityamong other qualities. Depending on the
topic and purpose, effectiveness could be influenced by whether the audience is young
or old, rich or poor, female or male, highly religious or less believing, college
graduates or high school dropouts, ethnic minorities or majorities. In addition,
audiences carry different expectations to a speaking occasion: some want to be there,
others do not; some want to be entertained, others are looking to be informed; some
are open to being persuaded while others are unlikely to change their minds anytime
soon; some expect a highly polished presentation with sophisticated visual aids while
others are looking for less formal comments. All of these expectations help shape a
speaking situation.
Occasion. Unlike much written communication, a public speaking situation occurs at
a specific time and place. With regard to time, the speech can be affected by events
that have very recently occurred (e.g. the morning's news may be fresh in your
audience's mind); by the time of day (8:00 A.M. lectures are different than 10:00 A.M.
lectures); and by the fact that it comes after or before other speeches. Place matters
too--different-sized rooms make a difference for visual aides and intimacy.
There is also a reason that the speech is happening, the occasion for which the
audience has gathered. Are you speaking at a wedding or a funeral? An academic
lecture series or a public meeting of concerned citizens? A mandatory assignment for
freshman communication students? Each of these occasions has different norms for
speaking, calling for speakers to operate in different modes--from formal to informal,
from light to heavy, humorous to serious, conversational to highly practiced.
Purpose. Speakers hope to accomplish general and specific purposes when they
communicate. For most speaking in college and beyond, there are two general
purposes: to inform or to persuade. The line between informing and persuading is not
absolute, and many speeches will do some of both. Nonetheless, they are useful
guides for speakers.
When a speaker seeks to inform, they want the audience to leave the speech knowing
more than they knew beforehand. Speakers may want to explain an idea or process,
share new information, or show how to do something.
When a speaker aims to persuade an audience, they want them to adopt a new position
or belief, to change their minds, or to be moved to action. Persuasion calls a speaker
to advocate one position among others that are possible and be willing to defend it
against challenges.
In addition to a general purpose and speaker typically has a range of more specific
goals for their speech. They may want to get a few laughs, to build upon a classmate's
speech, to reach a selected group of listeners, to show themselves to be competent to
potential employers, or to create controversy. A successful speech requires a clear
sense of general and specific purpose to guide how selection and presentation of ideas
and words.