Chapter 2

Lesson 2:
Modes of
Speech Delivery
PUBLIC SPEAKING
 Public speaking is one of the most feared things for many people –
in fact, some public surveys show fear of public speaking as higher
than fear of death.
 Fear of public speaking is a common form of anxiety.
 It can range from slight nervousness to paralyzing fear and panic.
 Many people with this avoid public speaking situations altogether,
or they suffer through them with shaking hands and a quavering
voice.
 But with preparation and persistence, you can overcome your fear.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Communication instructors aren’t here to
make you excellent public speakers.
Instructors try to take you from where you
are and give you some skills to become a
better public speaker – and hopefully
eliminate some of the anxiety you may
have about public speaking.
Modes of Speech
Delivery
There are four types of speeches that most
speakers utilize in delivering a speech.
1. Extemporaneous Speech
2. Impromptu Speech
3. Manuscript Speech
4. Memorized Speech
Extemporaneous
Speech
are speeches that are carefully prepared and
practiced by the speaker before the actual speaking
time.
A speaker will utilize notes or an outline as a guide
while they are delivering the speech. The notes or
outline will usually include any quotes and sources
the speaker wants to cite in the presentation, as well
as the order the information in the speech should be
delivered in.
Extemporaneous
Speech
The speech is delivered as if the speaker is
having a conversation with the audience. Since
the speaker is not reading the entire speech,
the extemporaneous speaker uses the notes as
a guide only – a sort of memory trigger – and
the speaker will also be able to respond to the
audience since her head isn’t trapped by
reading every word on a paper.
Extemporaneous
Speech
This is the type of public speaking you
should strive to use in Fundamentals of Oral
Communication for your informative and
persuasive speeches as this is most practical
type of public speaking – the type you are
most likely use in a real life situation when
you might be asked to give a formal
Impromptu Speech
are speeches that are delivered without notes or
a plan, and without any formal preparation –
they are very spontaneously delivered.
This is one of the most nerve wracking situations
for most students to find themselves in because
there isn’t a plan or agenda to follow – they just
have to get up and speak without any “thinking”
time.
Impromptu Speech
They are afraid of not knowing what to say
when they get up in front of the audience
so they might make a fool of themselves.
 If this type of speaking situation makes
you nervous, you are not alone! The reality
is that this is the type of public speaking
you are the MOST prepared for.
Impromptu Speech
Your daily life is filled with impromptu experiences and
conversations. Every phone conversation, exchange
between you and a loved one, and discussion amongst
friends is impromptu by its very nature – even if we
“practice” our conversations, they are still impromptu
in their delivery.
 So, while most students are nervous about impromptu
speeches, they are the type they are the most
prepared for from their daily experience.
Manuscript Speech
are speeches that are delivered with a script of the
exact words to be used. If they have to give a speech,
most students prefer to have every single word in
front of them so they can basically “read” the speech
to the audience.
While this is very reassuring for a speaker and they
feel like they won’t “forget” anything if they have
every word in front of them, manuscript speaking is
one of the worst traps to fall into for a speaker.
Manuscript Speech
The speaker who utilizes a complete
manuscript will often spend more time
looking at the script than at the audience.
By doing this, the speaker is unable to react
to the audience or respond to the audience
members questions. Therefore, the
manuscript becomes a trap for the speaker.
Memorized Speech
are speeches that are committed to memory. The
speaker completely memorizes the text of a speech
and then delivers the speech from memory without
reliance on notes or an outline.
This is a very fearful speaking situation for most
people because they fear they will forget what they
had planned on saying when they get in front of the
group – and, they might make a fool of themselves in
front of the audience if they forget what to say.
Memorized Speech

This type of speaking is not very common

to daily living unless you are in a profession
like acting. Most of us memorize very little
in our daily lives – we don’t even have to
remember telephone numbers since we
have cellular phones!
Vocal Aspects of
Speech Delivery
Vocal Aspects of Speech Delivery
 There are six aspects of vocal delivery a speaker utilizes that
influence an audience’s interpretation of the speaker’s message.

1. Pitch
2. Rate
3. Pauses
4. Volume
5. Enunciation
6. Fluency
 PITCH
is the highness or lowness of a speaker’s
voice. It is the natural upward and
downward movement that happens when
we speak – the melody.
Pitch is a learned activity. When you were
born, you didn’t have pitch but you learned
it from the significant people in your life.
 PITCH
When your mom or dad talked “baby talk” to you – all that
“ga, ga, goo, goo” stuff – they spoke using a variety of
pitches.
Your parent used quiet soft tones to bring about a soothing,
calm response from you or happy, lively tones to bring about
a smile or coo from you.
When it comes to public speaking, don’t try to fight your
natural pitch by sounding more “professional” or more “in
charge.” Let your natural melody flow as you deliver a
presentation.
 RATE
is how fast or slow you speak when
delivering a speech.
A common problem of nervous public
speakers is speaking too quickly or feeling
like you are rushing through a speech
which can lead to a cotton mouth feeling.
 RATE
To counter act rushing the presentation, have a
bottle of water on hand and take a drink when
you feel like you are rushing – this should slow
you down.
 Likewise, concentrating too much on slowing
down can cause you to drag your presentation.
Try to speak at a natural rate when you are
delivering your presentation.
 PAUSES
are intended silences during a speech. In
conversation, we naturally pause at the
end of sentences and at the end of a
thought.
We should keep up the same pausing
pattern in our public speaking that we use
in our natural conversation.
 PAUSES
We can also use pauses to control an
audience that might not be paying
attention to the presentation.
By taking a little bit longer pause than
normal, an audience member will notice
the silence and usually stop chatting,
whispering, or being disrespectful.
 VOLUME
is the relative loudness of your voice as you
deliver a presentation. It shouldn’t come as
much of a surprise that you need to match
your volume to the size of the room you are
speaking in.
You should also pay attention to your audience
– audience members are great about telling
you when they can’t hear.
 VOLUME
They will tend to lean forward or look
around confused if you are too quiet.
They may even make verbal comments
like “What did she say?” or “Can you hear
him?” When you see or hear this
happening in your audience, speak louder.
 ENUNCIATION
is the pronunciation and articulation of words in
your speech. Each word is composed of syllables
which are the little parts of each word that
combine together to make a particular sound.
The word “sugar” is composed of two syllables –
“Shu” and “gar.” When we don’t pronounce each
syllable in a word, we sound mush-mouthed and
don’t sound clear to an audience.
 ENUNCIATION
As you give a presentation, concentrate on
speaking very clearly and using your entire mouth
to form each word.
 Most of us in our daily conversation are pretty
sloppy in our talk – we rarely use our entire mouth
to converse. In public speaking it is essential to
use your entire mouth, speaking extremely clearly
while making sure you say each syllable.
 FLUENCY
is the smoothness of your vocal delivery.
Fluency is the flow of your words in the
delivery of your speech.
 You should strive for a smooth delivery in your
presentation but if your tongue gets tripped
up, don’t panic. Everyone gets tripped up at
one point or another – even professional
 FLUENCY
That’s why there are out-takes on movies! We all
stumble over unfamiliar or new words or even old
words we’ve said a thousand times.
The trick is to not make a big deal out of the flub when
it happens. Just maintain your professional tone and
keep going.
The biggest way to prevent stumbling over your words
is to practice, practice, practice your presentation so
Bodily Aspects of
Speech Delivery
There are three aspects of a speaker’s body
which impact an audience’s interpretation
of the speaker’s message.

Gestures
Facial expressions
Eye contact
 Gestures
are movements of the speaker’s head, arms, and
hands. When you watch a great public speaker,
you will notice that their entire body is into the
presentation.
 They use their entire body to deliver the message
– their arms gesture, their fingers point or accent
important words, and their head even nods when
they are talking about something important.
 Gestures
Most people think of a podium as wonderful piece of
furniture to have on hand when they give a presentation –
usually, because it gives the speaker someplace to hide
behind!
 A podium is designed for one thing and one thing only – to
hold your notes. It is not meant to support your weight, to be
leaned on, or to death grip with your hands.
If you hang onto a podium or death grip it out of fear, you
will not be able to gesture and you will simply be a talking
 Gestures
Most of us gesture naturally in our daily
conversation. Many of us are accused of talking
with our hands.
In fact, if you are asked to sit on your hands and
have a conversation with someone, you will
probably compensate for the lack of arm/hand
gestures by nodding your head or shrugging
your shoulders more than normal!
 Gestures
If you have a podium to speak at, set your notes on
the podium and take one step back from it so you
can’t hang onto it.
This will help you to gesture naturally and you
won’t hang onto the podium.
If you hold your notes in your hand, avoid gesturing
with the notes because your audience will logically
follow the notes if you wave them around.
 Expressions
are movements of the eyes, mouth, chin, etc. The best
piece of advice about facial expressions is to make
them match your subject.
If your speaking about a serious subject, use a serious
facial expression but if you are speaking about
something funny, go ahead and smile or even laugh.
You can ruin a serious presentation by laughing during
it and you can ruin a light hearted speech by never
 Eye Contact
is sustained, meaningful contact with the eyes of
audience members.
This is the top reason most people hate public
speaking – the thought of people looking at you
and all the eyes on you is probably the most
difficult part of public speaking.
There are a whole lot of ways that people will tell
you to get around the eye contact issue.
Some of the most common myths
about eye contact include:

Look only at the back wall in the room,

never at the people in the audience.
The trouble with this approach is that
you completely ignore the audience
which makes audience members feel
unconnected to the speaker.
Some of the most common myths
about eye contact include:

Pick three spots and only look at those three

spots in the room. The trouble with this
approach is that this takes a whole lot of
work – you have to remember where your
three spots are and where to look next. The
audience will feel like you are watching a
tennis match instead of looking like at them.
Some of the most common myths
about eye contact include:

Look only at the audience member’s

foreheads – not at their eyes. Have you
ever tried to focus on someone’s
forehead? Unless there is some sort of
strange growth on a forehead, we don’t
focus on this area of a person’s head –
we look in them in the eye.
QUESTION
?
LEARNING TASK
 Given the speaking activities that you have already gone through,
such as the speech given in the last lesson, you should already
have some grasp of your speech performance. Here are some
questions that you can answer to evaluate your performance.
1. How would you describe your speech performance?
2. After learning the lesson, do you think you can still further
improve your public speaking performance? How?
3. As an audience member, what affects you the most when it
comes to the effectivity of a speech? What qualities of the
speaker give the greatest impression to you?