Public Speaking Handbook

Delivering Your Speech 13.6 281

• Get plenty of sleep before your speech. Last-minute, late-night final preparations
can take the edge off your performance. Many professional public speakers
also advocate that you watch what you eat before you speak; a heavy meal
or too much caffeine can have a negative effect on your performance.

• Review the suggestions in Chapter 2 for becoming a confident speaker. It is normal
to have prespeech jitters. But if you have developed a well-organized, audi-
ence-centered message on a topic of genuine interest to you, you’ve done all
the right things to make your speech a success. Remember some of the other
tips for developing confidence: Re-create the speech environment when you
rehearse. Use deep breathing techniques to help you relax. Make sure you
are especially familiar with your introduction and conclusion. Act calm to
feel calm.

• Arrive early for your speaking engagement. If the room is in an unfamiliar lo-
cation, give yourself plenty of time to find it. Budget your time so you do
not spend your moments before you speak hurriedly looking for a parking
place or frantically trying to attend to last-minute details.

CONSIDER

THE

AUDIENCE

Deliver

Speech

Generate

Main

Ideas

Develop

Central

Idea

Gather

Supporting

Material

Select

and Narrow

Topic

Rehearse

Speech

Determine

Purpose

Organize

Speech

Figure 13.2 Delivering the speech is the culmination of the

audience-centered speechmaking process.

copyrighted by pearson education, upper Saddle river, nJ