Pitch, Pace & Word Choice

Clarity in speech is crucial while making a public speech. Modern day microphones make it very easy for speakers to address an audience of thousands and be heard clearly even at the very last row. That shouldn’t however mean that speaking clearly isn’t important. Speak to loud and the microphone lets out that horrible loud screech, threatening to deafen us; speak to slow, the audience will fall asleep in their chairs; say the wrong things and you might have things thrown at you on stage.

The solution is to get all the three right.  One needs to deliver their speech at a medium pace, in a voice that is as close to normal (most speakers have microphones now, talking loudly is no longer a requirement) and use the right words so as to not offend anyone in the audience. 

In the controlled environment of the instruction room in the institute, candidates will be asked to give their speeches in the absence of a microphone. This is done to that they get comfortable with a particular pitch while speaking.  There speeches will then be recorded and played back to them so that candidates get familiar with their own voice, pronunciation of words, pacing of the speech and pauses. This part of the module is designed to instill confidence in the candidates.

The other important fact at play here is the choice of words. Unless the agenda of the speech is to offend people, one should refrain from making jokes or poking fun on any ethnicity or religion. People in the audience don’t want to feel uncomfortable of offended about something the speaker is saying; the idea is to motivate them not demote them. Special care should be taken to ensure than the written material of the speech doesn’t include references to any social irritants, unless they serve a useful purpose in the speech. Candidates will be taught how to keep their speeches controversy free by eliminating the use of certain words.