256 13.1 Delivering Your Speech
PlAtform coNversAtIoN For most North American listeners today, ef-
fective delivery has been described as “platform conversation.” It includes hav-
ing good eye contact with your listeners and using appropriate gestures, just
as you do in your interpersonal conversations with your friends. Effective de-
livery also means your voice has a natural, conversational tone, varied inflec-
tion (rather than a droning monotone), and an intensity that communicates that
you’re interested in your message and your listeners.Listeners Make Emotional Connections with You
through Delivery
Nonverbal behavior is particularly important in communicating feelings, emotions,
attitudes, likes, and dislikes to an audience. One researcher found that we communi-
cate as little as 7 percent of the emotional impact of a message by the words we use.^7
About 38 percent hinges on such qualities of voice as inflection, intensity, or loud-
ness, and 55 percent hinges on facial expressions. Generalizing from these findings,
we may say that we communicate approximately 93 percent of emotional mean-
ing nonverbally. Although some scholars question whether these findings can be
applied to all communication settings, the research does suggest that the manner of
delivery provides important information about the speaker’s feelings and emotions.^8
Another reason to pay attention to how you communicate emotions when
delivering a speech is that emotions are contagious. emotional contagion theory
suggests that people tend to “catch” the emotions of others.^9 If you want your
listeners to feel a certain emotion, then it’s important for you to express that
emotion yourself. Have you ever noticed that when you watch a movie in a
crowded movie theater where others are laughing, you’re more likely to laugh
too? Producers of TV situation comedies use a laugh track or record the laughter
of a live audience to enhance the emotional reactions of home viewers; these
producers know that emotions are contagious.Listeners Believe What They See
“I’m very glad to speak with you tonight,” drones the speaker in a monotone,
eyes glued to his notes. His audience probably does not believe him. When our
nonverbal delivery contradicts what we say, people generally believe the non-
verbal message. In this case, the speaker is communicating that he’s not glad to
be talking to this audience.
We usually believe nonverbal messages because they are more difficult to
fake. Although we can monitor certain parts of our nonverbal behavior, it is dif-
ficult to control all of it consciously. Research suggests that a person who is try-
ing to deceive someone may speak with a higher vocal pitch, at a slower rate,
and with more pronunciation mistakes than normal.^10 Blushing, sweating, and
changed breathing patterns also often belie our stated meaning. As the saying
goes, “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you say.”