How to practice your speech? - Released in Smedley's Mag - JUly 2008

How to practice your speech?
Latha Ramanathan

The best speeches are the one which create an impact to audience and not the speeches which have the best content.

To inspire the audience, and create an impact, the speech needs to be rigorously practiced.
Read Aloud your Speech
Read your speech aloud, ten times. This helps in familiarizing the speech to you. The speech flow becomes clear. The sequence can be understood and helps in adding impact to the content.
Identify the key points
Underline the key points which you wish the audience should hear. Memorize the same so that you do not forget. Create a small note with these. This can be used as reference incase you forget the speech during delivery.
Add impact using your voice
Try to read the speech with voice variations.
Add a pitch change either low or high to emphasize the points
Change the frequency / tempo when you just want your audience to hear or you would like them to envision.
Modulate the voice when there is a dialogue to differentiate persons
Pause and no Pause
Add 30 sec pause when you want audience to follow you thru your speech. Talk continuously when the message is an add on to the content and may not be important for audience to remember. Ensure that each humor has a pause in line with audience response.
Practice in front of mirror
The speech is now to be delivered. In case you can use a collar mike or center stage, practice your hand movements and facial gestures with a mirror. In case you are to deliver in a radio, this may not be required.
Reach out to your mentor
This indeed is your step before you deliver your speech to audience. Deliver the speech now to your mentor. Fine tune your speech your mentors input.

Now you are all set to deliver before your audience.