Summary

You have choices when making decisions about how to best deliver your speech. The bottom line, however, is that the method you decide on should reflect your preferred style of speaking, the environment in which you will speak, and the speech occasion.

• Effective delivery involves both what you say and how you say it.
• Effective delivery demands skill not only in articulating the words you use to express yourself, but also in using your voice to shape the meaning of what you articulate.
• Nonverbal communication complements the verbal and vocal delivery of your speech. Unlike language, nonverbal communication is continuous, makes use of channels of communication simultaneously, and is spontaneous.
• Specific facets of the nonverbal communication system that influence delivery include the environment, the eyes and face, physical appearance, gestures and movement, posture, time, and touch.
• Gestures frequently take the form of emblems and illustrators, which regulate the speech transaction.
• Important functions of nonverbal communication in the delivery of speeches include complementing the verbal message, contradicting the verbal message, repeating/reinforcing the verbal message, substituting for a verbal cue, increasing immediacy, and increasing excitement and power in the verbal message.