Making a speech
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Do you have any experience in speech making? Is it positive or not?
Study the main principles of speech making
The contents of your speech, and how you deliver it, are based on three important factors:
The Occasion
The occasion will dictate not only the content of your speech, but also the duration, the tone, and the expectations of your audience. For example, humour may be inappropriate during a business presentation or a eulogy, while it may be welcome during a wedding speech, or a sports event.
The Audience
If you are familiar with your audience, then your speech should acknowledge and build upon your existing intimacy with your audience. The use of names and personal details of members of your audience can help to engage your listeners.
If the speech is to an unfamiliar audience then an early goal of your speech must be to build a degree of trust with the listeners.
The Purpose of Your Speech
By setting out a few clear goals before you start writing your speech, you will be better equipped to judge its progress and success of your speech prior to its public airing.
The Structure
Most good writing must have structure. A good speech is no exception. By providing your speech with a beginning, middle, and an end, you will have laid the foundations for a successful speech that fulfils all of your aspirations.
We will now cover each of these areas:
The Beginning
The first thirty seconds of your speech are probably the most important. In that period of time you must grab the attention of the audience, and engage their interest in what you have to say in your speech.
This can be achieved in several ways. For example you could raise a thought-provoking question, make an interesting or controversial statement, recite a relevant quotation or even recount a joke.
Once you have won the attention of the audience, your speech should move seamlessly to the middle of your speech.
The Body
The body of your speech will always be the largest part of your speech. At this point your audience will have been introduced to you and the subject of your speech (as set out in your opening) and will hopefully be ready to hear your arguments, the subject of your speech.
The best way to set out the body of your speech is by formulating a series of points that you would like to raise. In the context of your speech, a "point" could be a statement about a product, a joke about the bridegroom or a fond memory of the subject of a eulogy.
The points should be organized so that related points follow one another so that each point builds upon the previous one. This will also give your speech a more logical progression, and make the job of the listener a far easier one.
Don't try to overwhelm your audience with countless points. It is better to have fewer points that you make well than to have too many points, none of which are made satisfactorily.
The Closing
Like you Opening, the Closing of your speech must contain some of your strongest material.
You should view the closing of your speech as an opportunity. It is an opportunity to:
Summarise the main points of your speech
Provide some further food for thought for your listeners
Leave your audience with positive memories of your speech
Choose the final thought/emotion.
Scripts, Notes or Memory?
It's now time to prepare to deliver your speech. If you are nervous or inexperienced, you will probably want to choose to read your speech from a script or from notes.
Reading From a Script
Reading your entire speech from a script may give you confidence and ensure that nothing is forgotten or omitted, however it is the least desirable option for delivering your speech. You will find it more difficult to see your audience, and make it harder for them to get involved to you. When reading from a script it is extremely difficult to deliver your speech to your audience, rather than just read it aloud.
Using Notes
If you are not confident enough to recited your speech from memory, then the use of notes is a much more desirable option than using a complete script. Your notes should consist of the keywords or points of your speech - a skeleton of thoughts or words around which you can build your speech. You may refer to your notes occasionally to maintain the thread of your speech, while for the most part of you will be able to speak directly to the audience.
Reciting From Memory
You may prefer to recite from memory. However you should only do this if you are comfortable speaking publicly, and not prone to loss of concentration (or memory!). As with reading from a script, you should be careful not to lapse into a monotonous recitation of your speech.
Speech Delivery Tips
- Make sure that your appearance is well presented
- Speak clearly, and adjust your voice so that everyone can hear you. Don't shout for the sake of being loud
- It is common to speak rapidly when nervous, try to take your time speaking
- Effectively used, a pause in your speech can be used to emphasize a point, or to allow the audience to react to a fact, anecdote or joke
- Make eye contact with your audience. This helps to build trust and a relationship between the speaker and the listeners
- Do not fidget or make other nervous gestures with your hands. - Do not keep your hands in your pockets. Do use hand gestures effectively
- Be yourself; allow your own personality to come across in your speech
Are they applicable to a scientific report presentation? What of them are you going to use during your own presentation?
Make “Short Manual for Speakers”
Read the text of a Presentation Speech by Professor Lars Thelander. Does it meet all the speech making rules?
Presentation Speech by Professor Lars Thelander, Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, December 10, 2006
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year's Nobel Laureate in Chemistry is receiving the award because he succeeded in creating a molecular model of the apparatus in our cells that copies information in the genes to enable its use as a blueprint to create the proteins that perform all the functions in the cells and form the body.
The genetic information that we inherit from our parents is stored inside the nucleus of our cells in the form of DNA. This information is encoded in an alphabet consisting of four letters and for some years now we have known the sequence of the 3 billion characters that describe the genetic information in a human cell. The nucleus of a cell is a very secure repository that could be compared to a safe, but stored inside it the information is passive and of no benefit to the cell. To regulate the processes in the cell the information has to be extracted from the DNA and activated, and this occurs when selected sections are copied into a new type of molecule called RNA. In the form of RNA, the information can then be transferred from the nucleus to regulate the synthesis of proteins and other important reactions in the cell.
Copying the information from DNA to RNA is called transcription. This takes place continually in living cells and is absolutely essential for life. Transcription has to fulfil two different requirements. The first is that the copy must be exact. No more than one error in 10,000 characters can be tolerated, if a cell is to function. Secondly it must be possible to regulate the transcription so that only certain elements of the genetic information in the DNA are activated in a specific cell at a specific time. It is this regulation that explains why different cells in our body look completely different and have different functions, even though they contain the same DNA. Regulation of transcription governs the way in which a fertilised ovum can develop into an embryo and also how our cells can respond to external signals so that we can adapt to changes in our environment. Errors in the regulation of transcription may result in illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and various inflammations.
This year's Laureate in Chemistry, Roger Kornberg, has studied what the transcription apparatus looks like in eukaryotes, organisms with cells that have a defined nucleus, which include all fungi, plants and mammals, human beings as well. In choosing the model system for his studies he swam against the stream and selected baker's yeast, which is one of the simplest eukaryotes. This was a crucial choice, as yeast cells offer a number of advantages in this endeavour compared to the cells from mammals that had previously been used. For instance, it is possible to cultivate yeast on a large scale and to benefit from the simplicity with which yeast cells can be modified genetically. The transcription apparatus in yeast cells is very similar to the corresponding system in mammal cells, which suggests that it came into being at a very early stage of development.
By combining biochemical methods and a depiction technique called X-ray crystallography, Roger Kornberg succeeded in producing particularly detailed molecular models of the transcription apparatus in yeast cells. These models are so detailed that individual atoms can be discerned. Through the study of a host of different models of the transcription apparatus both on its own and while fully engaged in copying DNA to RNA, Kornberg has been able to draw new, important conclusions about the mechanisms of transcription and how it is regulated. As a result of his study we now understand, for instance, how the transcription apparatus chooses where to start copying on the DNA strand, how it selects the correct RNA building blocks and how it moves along the DNA strand while the copy is being made.
Kornberg's molecular models of the transcription apparatus are essential for any continued studies that attempt to acquire detailed understanding of how transcription is regulated. He has recently published very promising results that describe how several molecules that are also needed in transcription bind to and cooperate with the transcription apparatus. These findings make it possible to begin to understand at a molecular level the system of regulation in the cell that expresses the genetic information in DNA and generates the flora and fauna of living creatures that we see around us.
Professor Kornberg,
Your studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription have provided us with new, detailed atomic models of the transcription apparatus. We can now begin to understand at molecular level the mechanisms of transcription and its regulation. Furthermore, your structure of RNA polymerase II is the basis for the next generation of research to determine the precise role of all transcription factors in transcriptional regulation. On behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, I wish to convey to you our warmest congratulations, and I now ask you to step forward to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry from the hands of His Majesty the King.
Compare the speech with the text of a scientific report Rapid Communication Shyness, Internet Use, and Personality (for the text see). Try to answer the following questions
Is there any coincidence in the structure of these texts – if not what is the difference?
Is there any coincidence in the language means used?
Is there any structural patterns reflecting steps of research in the text of the speech?
Make conclusions about the rules of written report conversion into an oral presentation
Can you get the speech across in five minutes? If not then use the following recommendations by Patricia Fripp.