How can we make a speech more effective?

The attention of the listeners can be held by relating with their feelings instead of only through reason. We can make our speech more effective by giving some attention to the tone, tempo, emphasis and phrasing.

(a) Tone: Most speakers of the British English tend to use only two or three tones of the musical scale. The Americans add a nasal twang to it. For Indian speakers of English, care should be taken that they articulate clearly, smoothly without introducing angularities of their mother tongue. Sing-song as well as halting articulation manners need to be avoided.

(b) Tempo: Speed of speech is measured by the number of spoken words per minute. Peace is measured by how quickly the listeners feel that the time is passing. Speech is more interesting to the listeners when the speed is varied. If your average speed is too slow your listeners become bored and impatient. On the other hand, if your average speed is too fast, your listeners do not have enough time to take in what you are saying and once again they lose interest.

(c) Emphasis: We put meaning into words by placing emphasis at appropriate points. Emphasize important words and phrases.

(d) Phrasing: The unit of writing is single word. The unit of speech is phrase. It is in the moments of silence, between phrases, however small, that the listener interprets the meaning. Therefore, see that the phrases are separated by pauses so that the listeners can ‘get the picture’ of the spoken speech. A pause should not be too long.

(e) Do not worry about speaking up or speak out.

(f) Try not to think to the mechanics of speech while actually talking to people. Train yourself to speak more clearly in a definite practice period and so gradually make the ‘artificial’ way to become the ‘natural’ way.

(g) Learn a few passages by heart to practices in space moments when alone.