266 13.3 Delivering Your Speech
may well find yourself pondering one or more of these questions while prepar-
ing for your speeches. The following discussion can help you to answer them.move PurPosefully Your movement should be consistent with the verbal
content of your message. It should make sense rather than appearing to be
aimless wandering. Take care that your movement does not detract from your
message. If the audience focuses on your movement rather than on what you are
saying, it would be better to stand still. An absence of movement is better than
distracting movement.AvoId PhysIcAl bArrIers Robert Frost said, “Good fences make good
neighbors.” Professional speech coach Brent Filson says, “For my money, good
fences make lousy speeches.”^19 He recommends, as do we, that you eliminate
physical barriers between you and the audience. For more formal occasions, you
will be expected to stand behind a lectern to deliver your message. But even onGesture Effectively
• Stay natural. Gestures should be relaxed, not tense or rigid. Your gestures should flow with
your message. Rehearsed gestures that do not arise naturally from what you are trying to say
are likely to appear awkward and stilted.
• Be definite. Gestures should appear definite rather than as accidental brief jerks of your
hands or arms. If you want to gesture, go ahead and gesture. Avoid minor hand movements
that will be masked by the lectern.
• Make your gestures consistent with your message. If you are excited, gesture more
vigorously. Gestures can be used for a variety of purposes, such as enumerating, pointing, de-
scribing, and symbolizing an idea or concept (such as clasping your hands together to suggest
agreement or coming together).
• Vary your gestures. Try not to use just one hand or one all-purpose gesture.
• Don’t overdo it. Gestures should be unobtrusive; your audience should focus not on the beauty
or appropriateness of your gestures but on your message. Avoid sawing or slashing through the
air with your hands unless you are trying to emphasize a particularly dramatic point.
• Coordinate gestures with what you say. Gestures should be well timed to coincide with
your verbal message. When you announce that you have three major points, your gesture of
enumeration should occur simultaneously with your utterance of the word three.
• Make your gestures appropriate to your audience and situation. Gestures must be
adapted to the audience. In more formal speaking situations, particularly when speaking to a
large audience, bolder, more sweeping, and more dramatic gestures are appropriate. A small
audience in a less formal setting calls for less formal gestures.
• Adapt gestures for video delivery. The camera lens is generally only a few feet away from
you, which tends to amplify the intensity of your gestures and movement for the audience
viewing you on a TV or computer screen.How To