2. About the author
Edgar I. Baker was the principal of the Uganda college of
commerce. He was formerly one of Her Majesty’s
Inspector of Schools. He is the author of the book
Contemporary English, which aims at equipping readers
with the essentials skills required to be a proficient user of
the language.
3. Edgar I Baker covers several essential aspects of making a
speech. The essay serves as a ready reckoner for those
who intend to become successful speaker. Baker includes
some practical advice on gestures, voice, language,
structure and delivery. He also brings out the essential
differences between speech and writings, and makes
readers aware of the peculiarities of spontaneous speech.
4. The method will vary form speaker to speaker the
purpose and occasion will determine how he
performs. there are nevertheless certain factors that
are common to all speeches. Let us Consider them. A
speech has certain aspects in common with the essay:
both need a good beginning, middle and end, both
should flow logically from one point of the next, both
should engage the attention of the reader or listener
from the first moment.
5. There are, of course oblivious differences. Essays are
written compositions and employ the language we use in
writings, which is different from the spoken word. Few
people realizes the gap that exists between the two modes
of communication. Speech is much looser, much less
firmly structured than writings. When we speak, we
communicate not only by means of words but also by
facial expression, gestures, and the stance of our whole
body.
6. Eyes can speak louder than words. The writer has none of these aids
to communication, and so must be much more careful in the way he
forms sentences. It is a salutary experience to listen to yourself on a
tape recorder after taking part in an unrehearsed conversation or
discussion. The result is generally either comic or disheartening.
You notice the unfinished sentences the non- sequesters, the sheer
muddle that result. Yet during the discussion every remark seemed
sensible enough. Why should there be this change? The tape recorder
records only your voice; rest of you is absent, and it was the rest of
you that was conveying what you wanted to say as much as your
voice.
7. Transcribe this recording on to paper and the results are even
more gibberish. A word–for-word transcription of a
spontaneous discussion reads like a Mad Hatters’s Tea Party
with a all the participants talking to themselves in unfinished
sentences. Use your natural voice. Don’t shout – if the
audience in large you will have the aid of microphone –but
speak up and address yourself to the back row. Avoid
pomposity by using plain, everyday language.
8. A few colloquialism are permissible. Humor is a tricky thing to
handle, but if you can make your audience laugh with you in
the first few minutes you have broken the ice. Watch your
audience while you are speaking and with a little practice you
can sense their mood and even change it if it is unresponsive. If
you have to turn your back on audience in order to make use of
some visual aid, do not talk at the same time. You will not be
heard and you will lose the attention of your audience. Notice
that on television when people have to move about, they use
halter microphones to get over this problem.
9. You will almost certainly feel nervous. Many practiced
speakers and experienced actors are nervous before they
start. Yet you must hide all traces of lack of confidence in
yourself. Never apologize or make excuses. Just plunge
into what it is you want to say; you have something to say,
or you would not be standing up in front of an audience-so
get on and say it. Your audience will appreciate a
workmanlike performance but will begin to fidgety you
are fidgety or hesitate and long-winded.
10. It has been said that you should first tell your audience what
you are going to say, it-and then tell them that you have said it!
Some repetition that would be quite intolerable in a written
communication is acceptable in a speech. Care must be taken to
vary the form of the utterance so that it is not too oblivious that
you are repeating yourself. For example, you might say: “
When you are teaching beginners the keyboard in typewriting,
cover the whole keyboard at a rapid rate. Then go back again to
consolidate .” then you could say it again in another way:
“Along time spent on teaching one or two key-stokes only from
one set of keystrokes to the next.
11. Give ample preparation time, the apprentice speech- maker
would do well to write out his address in full. It is always good
plan to learn the opening paragraph and the last paragraph by
heart, and do read and re-read the text over and over again at
intervals. Then with the aid of a few notes in which your points
are briefly summarized you can make a speech that will sound
spontaneous and natural. Some speakers learn the whole
speech by heart, but the danger is that they may sound almost
too glib and artificial, and are tempted to speak too quickly .
12. A good speech has significant pauses in it to allow the
audience to take in what you are saying. Silence is often as
important as sound. Another reason for writings out the
text is that you can then judge the time you will take.
Calculate your speech of delivery at 100 to 200 words a
minute.
13. Do not be afraid to repeat your main points in summary form if
the aim of your speech is to instruct, but if your speech is an
after-dinner occasion or one of welcome or thanks you should
avoid giving the impression of pedantry-and remember that
brevity is the soul of wit. The number of potentially good after-
dinner speeches that are marred because the speaker will go on
beyond his time limit should be a warning to us all. If you are
called upon to “ say a few words” in public let your motto be, “
Stand up, speak up, and shut up.”
