Page 78 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 2 Your First Speech 45

If the manuscript pages get out of order or some are
missing, you may be forced to improvise or stop your
speech altogether. Most teachers have had the painful ex-
perience of watching a speaker fumble for words as he or
she looks frantically for the next page of the speech. Over-
reliance on a manuscript can lead to such embarrassing
moments.
Another disadvantage of manuscript delivery is that
you lose eye contact with your audience. Not only does this
inhibit feedback, it reduces your contact with the audience,
which, as we will see later, is a major factor in establishing
your credibility as a speaker.
The principal situation in which you will want to de-
liver a speech from a manuscript is if it is critical that you
be quoted accurately. For example, public offi cials usu-
ally speak from a manuscript to ensure that they are ac-
curately quoted in the media, to which copies are usually
provided. For your fi rst speeches, however, you should
avoid the manuscript speech.

Memorized Delivery

An alternative to reading a speech is to memorize it.
Memorized delivery is a mode of presentation in which
the speech is written out and committed to memory before
being presented to the audience without the use of notes. This speaker loses eye contact with the
audience by looking down at note cards.
This method of delivery eliminates the problems associ-
ated with maintaining eye contact. And, presumably, an
able speaker can quickly drop a section of a memorized
speech should time run short. But, on the whole, memorized speeches today are
memorized delivery
confi ned to the theater and speech tournaments. The reason is simple: Memori-
A mode of presentation
zation requires an enormous investment of time for even a brief speech. Further,
in which a speech is
if you forget the speech, you are faced with either a very noticeable silence or
written out and commit-
“winging it.” Finally, memorized speeches usually sound memorized. They are ted to memory before
simply oral essays without the physical manuscript. being presented to the
audience without the use
of notes.
Impromptu Delivery
impromptu delivery
A spontaneous, unrehearsed mode of presenting a speech is termed im-
promptu delivery. We are frequently called on to give impromptu speeches, A spontaneous, unre-
hearsed mode of pre-
although we usually don’t think of them as speeches. For example, when your
senting a speech.
instructor calls on you to explain the day’s reading assignment—or when you
explain to your bank why you really aren’t overdrawn—you are making an im-
promptu speech. In fact, most of our everyday conversations are spontaneous.
Nevertheless, for most speaking situations, the impromptu method of speak-
ing is of limited usefulness. Even experienced public speakers usually have
“canned” or set pieces on which they rely when they are called on to make im-
promptu presentations. For example, candidates for public office prepare for

their debates and press conferences for days beforehand. Every conceivable
question is asked in rehearsal, and possible answers are practiced.