I see quite a number of developing speakers prepare excellent content, in the style of an essay, and then stand and read it to their audience with perfunctory attempts to make eye contact with attendees. Members in the audience will work hard to follow along, and organize what they hear from the speaker, however, if a speech is mostly read to an audience, the speaker’s opportunity to truly connect with attendees and clarify content is lost. If the audience doesn’t receive the message, what was the point of speaking?
A speech isn’t an essay. Occasionally it is important to write precise content and then deliver
the material exactly as written. But audience members will feel that they’re
being read to. Ideally, a speaker will make frequent eye contact, observe how
audience members react assessing message receipt, and then modify their
approach if needed.
Source: https://assets.ltkcontent.com/images/34093/male-student-giving-speech_2516ce170a.jpg)
Contrast: Essay Versus Speech
An essay provides the opportunity to write,
rewrite, and rephrase until you’ve documented precisely what you wish to
communicate. Readers can consume the essay at their leisure, and re-read
sections, underline, and take other steps to process the content.
A speech is an interaction with an audience, and
often a distracted audience. A speech provides abundant opportunity for the
speaker to clarify content and test for message receipt. In my experience, it
is helpful to repeat key points in a speech. While listening to a speech, a
listener’s attention will likely drift. While reading an essay, a reader can return
to content they’ve not absorbed, or want to consider again.
Organizing Your Speech
First, when developing your speech, I advise to capture
all possible content, all your ideas, all the possible speech elements, related
to your topic including your key lessons, research, and especially illustrative
stories. I use the bubble technique or fishbone technique to capture this.
As a rule of thumb, I expect any speech element to
require two to three minutes to deliver to an audience. For me, this is a helpful planning tool to estimate
potential speech duration.
Second, define the key message you wish to
leave with this precise audience, based on their interests and experience with
your topic. This key message is your speech purpose.
Third, select enough speech elements to
consume your time allowance and support your key message. Sometimes speakers
will try to share everything they know about a topic, or offer too much
background to an already well-informed audience. Select only the speech
elements that support your speech purpose and specific audience.
Now that these steps are complete, you’re ready to
go. You can practice the brief speech elements independently, assess
their sequencing and fit, and polish your delivery.
Your Delivery
When delivering your speech, I advise;
1.
Offer brief introductory remarks
if necessary
2.
State your speech purpose
3.
State the speech elements you’ll
share with the audience
4.
Speak to each element
5.
Test for comprehension if you’re
comfortable doing so
6.
Conclude by restating your
speech purpose, and briefly summarizing your speech elements. (Some members of your audience were
distracted)
Conclusion
A speech is different from an essay. You can
prepare an essay, and stand and read it to an audience, however, you’ve wasted
the opportunity to interact with your audience, and supplement content in
response to audience reception.
Here are some more thoughts on this subject https://gycz.blogspot.com/2023/05/my-process-preparing-keynote.html
