In this chapter you have learned the following:

• Effective delivery is presenting a talk by not calling attention to how you say the message.

• Four methods of delivery are extemporaneous, manuscript, memorized, and impromptu.
• The method of delivery that most speech professors prefer for classroom instruction is the extemporaneous mode.
• The extemporaneous mode allows for minimal use of notes but invites spontaneity and maximum focus on message and audience.

• The vocal aspects of delivery are rate, pause, duration, rhythm, pitch, volume, enunciation, and fluency.
• You can orchestrate these vocal characteristics into a symphony of sound and movement attractive to the audience.
• Use dramatic pause (a planned pause for effect).
• Monotony and unintended verbal blunders, such as the dreaded vocalized pause, are the enemies of effective delivery.

• Nonverbal aspects of delivery are eye contact, facial expression, gestures, movement, and physical appearance.
• The keys to delivery are naturalness, sincerity, and sensitive responsiveness to the audience.

• Improving your delivery requires practice.
• Starting with a script of your speech or preferably a sentence outline, move, with practice, toward fewer and fewer notes and more and more attention to your audience.
• The key word is practice.
• Too much practice can turn your extemporaneous speech into a memorized one, but too little can turn your well-composed speech into a comedy of errors.
• Finding time to practice your speech may be as hard for you as finding a topic, but those who practice usually receive the best evaluations.