By Matt Taylor
In my first article of this series, “How firefighters and fire officers can overcome the fear of public speaking,” I explained how to overcome the fear of speaking in front of others. Now I want to emphasize the importance of practicing your speech.
From practice to stellar performance
We’ve all heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect.” If you want to get good at something — whether that’s dancing, guitar playing or public speaking — you must put in the time. But preparation is more than mechanically running through slides or reading notes aloud. Practice is your opportunity to choreograph a great speech, working on your body movement, eye contact, hand gestures and points of emphasis.
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Try these 12 strategies to ensure you are incorporating each of these factors, with an eye toward using your practice time to improve delivery, not just memorize lines.
1. Carve out time to practice
Don’t wait until the day before your speech to start practicing. If your speech is 5-7 minutes long, give yourself two to three days to practice; longer speeches will need additional days. Additionally, practice your speech multiple times over the course of the day — a couple of times in the morning and in the afternoon or evening.
2. Pretend it’s real
Each time you practice, act as if it’s the real thing. If you will be speaking in person, standing in a boardroom, then practice standing in front of a room at home. If you will be delivering the speech seated (whether in person or remote), then practice by sitting at a table or in front of your computer. Whatever the planned environment, practice the speech as if your audience is right there and ready to engage, just like the real thing.
3. Decrease your reliance on notes
When you begin practicing your speech, you will probably have notes to reference while you speak. Each time you practice, try to decrease your reliance on them. Now, I understand notes are important, particularly for longer, manuscript-style speeches like presidential addresses, though that’s a different type of public speaking. In shorter speeches, the use of notes may limit your level of audience engagement. Without being beholden to your notes, you have the freedom to make eye contact, use hand gestures and express passion and emotion when you choose.
4. Make eye contact
During speech prep, practice making eye contact with your audience, which means looking in the direction of the crowd, not down at the ground or up at the ceiling while speaking. Incorporating eye contact will also help decrease your dependency on your notes as you continue to practice.
When making eye contact during a speech:
- Let your gaze land on random members in the audience; people will notice if you only focus on empty areas.
- Don’t zone in on the same one or two people, as it may make them feel uncomfortable.
- Keep your eyes and demeanor natural, like you would when speaking with friends or family.
As you practice eye contact during rehearsals, you will feel more comfortable and less awkward doing so when you deliver your speech.
5. Use hand gestures
If you want to use hand gestures during your speech, then use hand gestures during your practice. Remember, while hand gestures are important in public speaking, use them with control. You don’t want your hands going all over the place, because that is what the audience will pay attention to instead of your point.
In Dale Carnegie’s “The Art of Public Speaking,” he writes, “Put a little ‘punch’ and life into your gestures.You cannot, however, do this mechanically. The audience will detect it if you do. They may not know just what is wrong, but the gesture will have a false appearance to them.”
Use hand gestures when you want to emphasize a point you’re making. As you practice your speech, you will develop movements that work and fit you. With practice, they will feel and look natural.
6. Plan your movements
If you are presenting your speech where you stand in front of an audience, make sure you practice the physical movement you will make when speaking. It is tempting to stay in one spot when you speak, but you increase the level of engagement when you move around. Also, moving will help manage and reduce nervousness by utilizing it as energy. Additionally, don’t move just to move. Your movement should accompany a point you are emphasizing. Finally, don’t be concerned if you don’t know how much space will be available, because if you make it a habit to execute body movement in your rehearsals, you will be able to adjust accordingly.
7. Perfect your speed
Each time you practice, be aware of how fast you are speaking. Even for as long as I have been doing public speaking, I’m still occasionally guilty of speaking too fast. This can happen for a couple of reasons:
- The natural nervousness felt when speaking in public prompts us to talk more rapidly.
- If you’re excited about the topic, it’s tempting to speak faster.
Be intentional about speaking slowly every time you practice. Speak slowly to the point where you can enunciate what you have to say and allow for pauses between your statements. There is a misconception that silence when speaking is a bad thing.
When I was going through the U.S. Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Georgia, I delivered a presentation to fellow cadets. The colonel who ran the detachment used to tell us, “Let the silence be heard.” Silence builds anticipation with the audience and creates some suspense which increases the level of engagement. In his book, Carnegie wrote, “Thus pause is a valuable instrument in the hands of a trained speaker to arouse and maintain suspense.”
8. Breathe!
Each time you practice your speech, remember to breathe normally and avoid shallow breaths. This technique will remedy nervousness and support your pace of speaking. Take a few slow, deep breaths prior to each time you practice your speech, as well as prior to your final delivery to your audience.
9. Master your vocal projection
Some people naturally speak louder than others, so they don’t need to be too concerned about their vocal projection since it is strong enough for the audience to hear. However, it’s also important to not be too loud when you speak. On the other hand, if you have a naturally soft voice, make a point to speak louder each time you practice, which should help you with vocal projection. With practice, you will find balance.
10. Focus on your main points
Let’s not forget the substance of the speech. During your practice sessions, find ways to emphasize your key points. If you’re not sure what those are, ask yourself two questions:
- What content in your speech are you passionate about?
- What do you want the audience to remember?
When highlighting your main points, there’s two ways to ensure the audience is tuned in:
- Incorporate hand gestures, which add to the emphasis.
- Change the intonation of your voice to avoid a monotone delivery.
When passion drives your speech delivery, it naturally emphasizes the content you want the audience to take away and makes for a dynamic speech.
11. Practice on a live audience
Make sure to practice your speech once or twice as a dress rehearsal to an audience you know and trust, such as family, friends or close colleagues. Even though this audience is different from the audience you will present to and may not be familiar with the content, they can still give you feedback on how you deliver the information. Look at this as an opportunity to receive free feedback, whether you utilize it or not, because this audience is only there to support you.
12. Give yourself a break
Stagger your practice sessions so you have a little break between your final practice session and the actual event. It’s important you give yourself time to rest so you will be ready to go for showtime!
Practice isn’t easy, but it’s worth it
There’s a lot that goes in to practicing your speech, but each of these techniques will elevate the quality and success of your delivery. As you go through each practice session and work to incorporate what you’ve learned, please don’t get frustrated or feel overwhelmed. It takes multiple practice sessions for these techniques to soak in, but it will happen; all you need to do is keep at it.
Good luck!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Taylor works for the State of Georgia in the Department of Administrative Services – State Purchasing Division. He previously served in the U.S. Air Force, which is where he first developed his interest in public speaking. Taylor later joined Toastmasters International, a nonprofit educational organization that builds confidence and teaches public speaking skills through a worldwide network of clubs that meet online and in person, and has been an active member for 14 years.
