RESEARCH PUBLISHING

AND
PRESENTING SKILLS

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 Unit-1
Oral Content Preparation
Part-1
(Oral Presentation Structure:
Manuscript, Impromptu, Memory, Extempore)

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 Methods of Oral Presentation

Learning Objectives:

1. Differentiate among the four methods of speech delivery.

2. Understand when to use each of the four methods of speech delivery.

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 Speech Delivery (Oral presentation)
• The easiest approach to speech delivery is not always the best.

• Substantial work goes into the careful preparation of an interesting and

ethical message.

• To learn ways to “connect” with one’s audience and to increase one’s

confidence in doing so.

• You already know how to read, and you already know how to talk. But
public speaking is neither reading nor talking.
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 Speech Delivery (Oral presentation)
• Speaking in public has more formality than talking.
• During a speech, you should present yourself professionally.
• This doesn’t mean you must wear a suit or “dress up” (unless your instructor
asks you to), but it does mean making yourself presentable by being well
groomed and wearing clean, appropriate clothes.
• It also means being prepared to use language correctly and appropriately for
the audience and the topic, to make eye contact with your audience, and to
look like you know your topic very well.

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 Speech Delivery (Oral presentation)
• While speaking has more formality than talking, it has less formality than
reading.

• Speaking allows for meaningful pauses, eye contact, small changes in word
order, and vocal emphasis.

• Reading is a more or less exact replication of words on paper without the use
of any non-verbal interpretation.

• Speaking, as you will realize if you think about excellent speakers you have
seen and heard, provides a more animated message.
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 Speech Delivery (Oral presentation)

The next sections introduce four methods of delivery that can help you
balance between too much and too little formality when giving a public
speech.

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 Impromptu Speaking
• Impromptu speaking is the presentation of a short message without advance
preparation.
• Impromptu speeches often occur when someone is asked to “say a few words”
or give a toast on a special occasion.
• You have probably done impromptu speaking many times in informal
conversational settings.
• Self-introductions in group settings are examples of impromptu speaking:
“Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m a volunteer with the Homes for the Brave program.”
Another example: When you answer a question such as, “What did you think of
the documentary?”
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 Impromptu Speaking

Advantage:
• It is spontaneous and responsive.

Disadvantage:
• The speaker is given little or no time to contemplate the central theme
of his or her message.
• As a result, the message may be disorganized and difficult for listeners
to follow.

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 Impromptu Speaking
• Here is a step-by-step guide that may be useful if you are called upon to
give an impromptu speech in public.
o Take a moment to collect your thoughts and plan the main point you want to
make.
o Thank the person for inviting you to speak.
o Deliver your message, making your main point as briefly as you can while still
covering it adequately and at a pace your listeners can follow.
o Thank the person again for the opportunity to speak.
• As you can see, impromptu speeches are generally most successful when
they are brief and focus on a single point.

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 Extemporaneous speaking (Extempore speaking)

• Extemporaneous speaking is the presentation of a carefully planned and

rehearsed speech, spoken in a conversational manner using brief notes.

• By using notes rather than a full manuscript, the extemporaneous speaker can
establish and maintain eye contact with the audience and assess how well they
are understanding the speech as it progresses.

• The opportunity to assess is also an opportunity to restate more clearly any idea
or concept that the audience seems to have trouble grasping.

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 Extemporaneous speaking (Extempore speaking)
• For instance, suppose you are speaking about workplace safety and you use the term
“sleep deprivation.”

• If you notice your audience’s eyes glazing over, this might not be a result of their own
sleep deprivation, but rather an indication of their uncertainty about what you mean.

• If this happens, you can add a short explanation; for example, “sleep deprivation is
sleep loss serious enough to threaten one’s cognition, hand-to-eye coordination,
judgment, and emotional health.”

• You might also (or instead) provide a concrete example to illustrate the idea. Then
you can resume your message, having clarified an important concept.
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Extemporaneous speaking (Extempore speaking)
Advantages:
• It promotes the likelihood that you, the speaker, will be perceived as
knowledgeable and credible.
• In addition, your audience is likely to pay better attention to the message
because it is engaging both verbally and nonverbally.
Disadvantages:
• It requires a great deal of preparation for both the verbal and the non-verbal
components of the speech.
• Adequate preparation cannot be achieved the day before you’re scheduled to
speak.

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 Speaking From a Manuscript
• Manuscript speaking is the word-for-word iteration of a written message. In a
manuscript speech, the speaker maintains his or her attention on the printed
page except when using visual aids.
• The advantage to reading from a manuscript is the exact repetition of original
words.
• In some circumstances this can be extremely important: For example, reading a
statement about your organization’s legal responsibilities to customers may
require that the original words be exact.
• In reading one word at a time, in order, the only errors would typically be
mispronunciation of a word or stumbling over complex sentence structure.
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 Speaking From a Manuscript
• However, there are costs involved in manuscript speaking.
• First, it’s typically an uninteresting way to present.
• Unless the speaker has rehearsed the reading as a complete performance
animated with vocal expression and gestures (as poets do in a poetry slam
and actors do in a reader’s theater), the presentation tends to be dull.
• Keeping one’s eyes glued to the script precludes eye contact with the
audience.
• For this kind of “straight” manuscript speech to hold audience attention, the
audience must be already interested in the message before the delivery
begins.

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 Speaking From a Manuscript
It is worth noting that professional speakers, actors, news reporters, and
politicians often read from an autocue device, such as a TelePrompTer,
especially when appearing on television, where eye contact with the camera is
crucial.
With practice, a speaker can achieve a conversational tone and give the
impression of speaking extemporaneously while using an autocue device.
However, success in this medium depends on two factors:
• The speaker is already an accomplished public speaker who has learned to
use a conversational tone while delivering a prepared script, and
• The speech is written in a style that sounds conversational.

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 Speaking from Memory
• Memorized speaking is the rote recitation of a written message that the
speaker has committed to memory.

• Actors, of course, recite from memory whenever they perform from a

script in a stage play, television program, or movie scene.

• When it comes to speeches, memorization can be useful when the

message needs to be exact and the speaker doesn’t want to be confined
by notes.
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 Speaking from Memory
Advantages:
• It enables the speaker to maintain eye contact with the audience
throughout the speech.
• Being free of notes means that you can move freely around the stage and
use your hands to make gestures.
• If your speech uses visual aids, this freedom is even more of an
advantage.
• However, there are some real and potential costs.

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 Speaking from Memory
Disadvantages:
• First, unless you also plan and memorize every vocal cue (the subtle but meaningful
variations in speech delivery, which can include the use of pitch, tone, volume, and
pace), gesture, and facial expression, your presentation will be flat and uninteresting,
and even the most fascinating topic will suffer.
• You might end up speaking in a monotone or a sing-song repetitive delivery pattern.
• You might also present your speech in a rapid “machine-gun” style that fails to
emphasize the most important points.
• More frighteningly, if you go completely blank during the presentation, it will be
extremely difficult to find your place and keep going.
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 Key Takeaways
• There are four main kinds of speech delivery: impromptu, extemporaneous,
manuscript, and memorized.
• Impromptu speaking involves delivering a message on the spur of the moment,
as when someone is asked to “say a few words.”
• Extemporaneous speaking consists of delivering a speech in a conversational
fashion using notes. This is the style most speeches call for.
• Manuscript speaking consists of reading a fully scripted speech. It is useful
when a message needs to be delivered in precise words.
• Memorized speaking consists of reciting a scripted speech from memory.
Memorization allows the speaker to be free of notes.
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 Exercise
• Find a short newspaper story. Read it out loud to a classroom partner. Then, using
only one notecard, tell the classroom partner in your own words what the story said.
Listen to your partner’s observations about the differences in your delivery.

• In a group of four or five students, ask each student to give a one-minute impromptu
speech answering the question, “What is the most important personal quality for
academic success?”

• Watch the evening news. Observe the differences between news anchors using a
TelePrompTer and interviewees who are using no notes of any kind. What differences
do you observe?
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