Australia-Asia debating/Speech delivery

Alongside what you say during your speech, the delivery of your speech is equally as important. This refers to the techniques you use to engage your audience when giving your speech.

• Body language is a key factor in how your audience will receive your speech. You should attempt to stand upright, rather than be slumped. If you are holding notes or a speech, it is best to hold it in one hand and have the other hand by your side or making gestures. This is because when you are holding your notes with both hands, your arms form a barrier around you, decreasing your ability to connect with the audience.

• Voice projection is important in ensuring that your audience will hear you and feel part of your speech. Your voice should be a bit louder than in a standard conversation, but not too loud as shouting will come across as aggressive. It is a common mistake to speak softly when reading notes - this will result in the audience not being able to hear you and therefore not engaging with what you are saying.

• Eye contact is another crucial feature in delivering your speech effectively. You should try to spend most of the time looking directly at the audience or just above them, and not looking down at notes or looking somewhere where there are no audience members. If you are using notes, it is fine to glance down at them very briefly from time to time in order to gauge what you are saying, but this should be very quick and once per sentence at most, ideally once every couple of sentences.

• Speaking techniques such as pauses and varying voice intonation are also useful. Pauses emphasise the severity of what you are saying, as well as giving the audience time to think about the ideas you are presenting. They are most effective after rhetorical questions (questions that you pose the audience without expecting an answer in return) and after referring to a serious or severe issue. With voice intonation, it is a good idea to vary the tone, volume and speed of your voice, so that it sounds less monotone and has more emphasis and emotion.

Notes

A common mistake, particularly amongst new debaters, is to look down at notes and read them out in a quiet, often hushed voice without lifting your head. This makes it very hard for the audience to hear you and feel involved in your speech, so it is much better to be mindful of the delivery strategies listed above.

If you are an experienced debater or public speaker and you feel confident memorising the contents of your speech with little or no notes, this will benefit you. However, it is completely fine and normal to use notes or cue cards, as long as they are not stopping you from delivering your speech effectively.