Speech Pointers?

Started by G_G, December 14, 2011, 02:26:29 am

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G_G

On Friday I will be giving an informative speech. The speech must last three to five minutes long and I get to stand up in front of the entire class and inform them of my subject. I've gotten in front of people to read things and my voice tends to crack and I tend to stutter, a lot! Now whats worse about this time is I have to memorize my speech and keep eye contact with the audience. (Yikes) I'd absolutely, fucking love it, if you guys could give me pointers on memorizing my speech and to keep my voice as fluent as possible while staring at the judgmental crowd of little asshole freshman. (Failed a class, stuck with freshman now) By the way, imaging the audience is a bunch of cabbage does not work for me!

By the way, if anyones curious my topic is on "First Video Game Inventions" where I inform people of the "first" things. First home console, first arcade, first handheld, etc...

Ryex

December 14, 2011, 03:02:20 am #1 Last Edit: December 14, 2011, 03:42:19 am by Ryex
my advice? don't look at the audience. look through them. treat them as an obstruction to what you really want to see. the interesting art work on the back wall. keep scanning the room and avoid looking at one one person for too long and the illusion will be easier to maintain.

it's best to ignore them completely and speak as if you talking to an empty room.
also the trick to mastering the art of looking through people is to practice at first on one person and then on small groups. for the next few days try attempting to passively ignore the presence of people sitting in front of you in class. don't actively concentrate on it, that defeats the purpose. just give you mind a directive and imagine an empty chair where they are. then move on. every time you notice them rest and try again. try it with one person and then move on to larger numbers.

Make sure to project your voice, the louder you voice is (but don't yell) the easier it is to ignore things and focus on your own voice let your eyes glaze over if you have too.

avoid saying 'um' or similar words like the plague it's better to stop talking completely and wait for the brain to catch up than to mindlessly repeat 'um'.

as for memorizing it. frankly that's impossible lest for me that is. but a few tips are to write you speech with logical visual breaks and put this visible representation on paper. then practice by putting pronounced pauses in these breaks. it will help you to memorize the speech in small chunks instead of all at once. try to make a list of one or two word topics that your speech well cover and memorize the order of that list (the list should be easily memorable) repeat that list to your self as often as you can between now and Friday. if you memorize the topic list and can repeat it by rout it will be much easier to remember the chunk of your speech that goes with the one or two word topic.

finally try you best to speak at a deliberately slow pace, slower than you normally talk. practice speaking at that pace. the slower pace will help to keep you calm while giving the speech.

follow these steps and you can be sure that your's won't be the WORST speech in the class which should be of some comfort. in fact, your's may be one of the best.

Trust me on this. I HATE giving speeches but they are a necessarily part of EVERY job. or almost. I have massive stage fright but I've become a competent orator through the uses of these tactics. yes they are tactics not tricks, professionals do it this way.

I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

Blizzard

December 14, 2011, 03:07:03 am #2 Last Edit: December 14, 2011, 03:12:38 am by Blizzard
Speak slowly. That way you will stutter a lot less and there is a much lower chance for you to mess up. Don't be afraid of silence. If you have to stop talking for a moment, so be it.
Also, they aren't really that judgmental. Fact is that they don't really care about you anyway. You don't have to keep eye contact all the time. Just browse with your eyes through the crowd randomly. Make eye contact with the people furthest away only since it's the easiest to do.

Imagining everybody's naked never worked for me either. ._.

EDIT: About voice projection... Speak from your diaphragm. Don't talk to them, talk through them. Talk to the wall behind them, but don't yell. When you project your voice using your diaphragm, your should will automatically become lower and deeper.

Follow the memory tips Ryex gave you. Don't be upset if you realize that you forgot to mention some less relevant part. Remember that they don't know your speech so if you leave something out, they don't even know they have missed something.

Ironically enough, they won't be judging your speech as much as your performance. And performance can be easier controlled.
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

G_G

FUS RO DAH! :V

Thanks for the tips guys, I'm gonna try my hardest on this and I'll give you guys the results.

Blizzard

I really loved the fact that they used phrases like ""projecting one's voice". xD
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

G_G

Oh thank god! The speech is due on Friday but we don't speak until Tuesday next week. *is relieved* More time to practice now.

Aqua

December 14, 2011, 05:15:10 pm #6 Last Edit: December 14, 2011, 05:18:00 pm by Aqua
One tip my favorite history told me was for "eye-contact," just look at people's foreheads.  It makes it seem like you're looking in people's eyes, but you won't see everyone looking at you.  If you have some good friends in your class, you can look at them for confidence.  If you don't, then you can usually be fine with looking at the teacher.  From my experience, every teacher wants you to do well, and if they know you enough, will give you an assuring smile or something if they know you're uncomfortable with speeches.

I don't like memorizing speeches verbatim but rather memorize key points and just talk about the points.  You want to sound natural and relaxed, and talking about something instead of just reciting robotically helps with that.

Don't pace... at all.
But feel free to use your hands to do any kind of gesticulations to emphasize your points.  Don't be afraid of "acting silly" with your hands; you probably won't be.
Just don't walk around.


Lolz messy writing... I think I forgot some stuff =/


Edit:
NO HANDS IN POCKETS!
Keep them in your sides, flail them around as you get passionate about talking, whatever.
Just don't put them in your pockets.  It makes it seem like you don't care about your speech.

G_G


Vell

Don't try to memorise your entire script. Read it over to yourself in the mirror, but practice talking like a teacher.

You know that voice. The one that is as loud as normal speak but demands attention. The "Stop talking amongst yourselves and pay attention to the lecture" voice, the one that ideally is always present. It calls your ears to listen, to keep your eyes on the speaker. It's easy: Like everyone else said, speak from your diaphragm and talk THROUGH your audience.

Always be looking up. You can write out the longest, well-worded essay ever, but you're not delivering an essay. You're delivering a -speech.- and a speech is 90% performance, which means it's 90% made up on the spot. It's less about memorisation and more about knowledge. Sure, you can memorise a lot of things. But truly knowing it means you can begin with a cursory statement and go into a mass of detail.

That's how I did my speeches in my class. I remembered the points and the direction in which they went. Remember to start with Point A and segue into point B. But don't remember that "Point A has to be worded like this!" because that's irrelevant. Don't let your body be passive, either. Don't walk around but also keep your eye moving throughout the whole class. Look at how your teacher acts. You want to be directing your speech through everyone. Start by looking at the middle of the sea of people - and they're a sea, not individuals. They are a giant mush of people you're speaking through. Demand their attention by groups. Look at the people in the middle, then to the left, the right. Catch the eye of anyone not focusing.

Most of communication is body language. Stand tall. Look proud. You're in CONTROL. Demand their attention with your stance. Don't slouch. Your hands by your side or up moving about. Your arms shouldn't be in your pockets. Nor should they be sitting on the lectern at ANY point(assuming there is one). You're on stage, and  you COMMAND it.

The most important part is to just know your subject. Also, people can speak roughly 250 words in one minute. So try to write going off that. Don't talk too fast. You want to take your time. Anyone can lift a weight fast. It's easy. It gives you nothing. If you move it slowly you get more out of it. AndanywaysnobobycanfollowwhatyouaresayingifyouspeakinthevocalequivalentofdoingwhatIamrightnowanditisactuallykindofannoyingandwhatyoudonotwanttodowhendeliveringaspeechisbeannoying. But you also don't want to be annoying.

Anotherimportantthingtoremember is to keep your voice modulated, same tone and speed throughouttheentiremessagebecauseexactlylikehowitbecomes really hard to pay attention andfindmeaninginwhatIamsayingifI decide to go back and forth between typingwithoutspacesandtypingwithspaces if you're constantly talking slower and faster people will lose interest. Another thing: Don't be boring. If you're writing your speech and say "this is so boring" stop right there and choose something else. Because if it bores you, it'll bore the audience.

G_G

God I love this community. So much love. <3

Blizzard

Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Tazero

I have this issue... I hate talking to crowds, I'd just keep my eyes on the gold. (I think I Can, I can do this) etc.



If you were a fish...

G_G

Hell yeah! Aced it! <3 I choked on my introduction, however, only because of a dry throat and no water. So the first five seconds was me coughing after my first word. My time was 4:03. And I talked pretty damn fluently.

Aqua


Ryex

Hells yes! so the pointers worked for you?
I no longer keep up with posts in the forum very well. If you have a question or comment, about my work, or in general I welcome PM's. if you make a post in one of my threads and I don't reply with in a day or two feel free to PM me and point it out to me.<br /><br />DropBox, the best free file syncing service there is.<br />

G_G

Yup! I remembered every point I wanted to talk about. I was extremely nervous since the people who were supposed to go before me, didn't show up. I got stuck being the guinea pig. But it all worked out.

Starrodkirby86

That's so awesome to hear! This reminds me of my Academic Decathlon times where I have to prepare and muster out a speech. It gets really nerve-wrecking when I'm not very familiar with my words, especially as I written my speech a little articulately. D'oh!

Is this the first time you've ever given out a speech? What would you say to other people who's in the same position as you? Can I have your babies?

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G_G

Not the first time I've done a speech, but the first time I had to memorize anything. To be honest, your peers don't really care if you slip up (or I don't think they do) just as long as you seem interested in your speech. Also, I almost went nuts when I couldn't fidget with anything. I kept my hands on the podium but there was nothing to fidget with! >.<

And yes SRK, you can have my babies. <3