12.6 Conclusion

Good delivery is meant to augment your presentation and help convey your information to the audience. Anything that potentially distracts your audience means that fewer people will be informed, persuaded, or entertained by what you have said. Practicing your presentation in an environment that closely resembles the actual situation that you will be speaking in will better prepare you for what to do and how to deliver your speech when it really counts.

Returning to Abe’s story, where she felt well-prepared but became nervous in the moment of her presentation, what did you learn in this chapter that might be useful for her (or for yourself) related to last minute nerves? What about Abe’s colleague Chris. He was very unprepared for his presentation. What have you learned in this chapter about preparation?

Something to Think About

Most people struggle with at least one aspect of delivery: voice, posture, eye contact, distracting movement, vocalized pauses, etc. What do you struggle with? Based on this chapter and what you have already experienced in class, what is your biggest takeaway about improving delivery?

Check your Understanding

Additional Resources

Duarte, N. (2011). The secret structure of great talks [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks^[i]

Chapter Glossary

Extemporaneous presentations – carefully planned and rehearsed presentations, delivered in a conversational manner using brief notes.
Goldilocks paradigm – you don’t want to overdo (or understate) the delivery of your presentation because you might distract your audience by looking hyper or overly animated.
Impromptu presentation – the presentation of a short message without advance preparation.
Impromptu speaking – the presentation of a short message without advance preparation.
Manuscript presentations – the word-for-word iteration of a written message.
Memorized speaking – the recitation of a written message that the speaker has committed to memory.
Rate – how quickly or slowly you say the words of your speech.

Chapter References

Tucker, B., & Barton, K. (2016). Exploring public speaking: 2nd revision. Retrieved from http://oer.galileo.usg.edu/communication-textbooks/1