CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SPEECH

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SPEECH

Listening to a good speech is a very interesting experience. Everyone should put in the hard work necessary to acquire skills in speaking as it imparts a considerable competitive advantage to the person. Some important aspects are:

(1) Clarity
The voice of the speaker should be clear, the tone should vary and pitch should be pleasant. The ideas, emotions, and arguments should come straight from the heart so that audience can grasp it easily. It should register with the listeners and vibrate with their feelings and thoughts.

(2) Informal, personal and conversational
A good speech should be like a conversation between two good friends – personal, informal and sincere. There should be a rapport between the speaker and the audience.

(3) Concrete, vivid and imagery
A speech should help build a picture that is easy to visualize and easier to comprehend. It should be furbished by concrete examples that grasp the imagination of the listeners.

(4) Brevity
It is very difficult to hold the attention of the listeners for more than 15 to 20 minutes. A good speaker should be able to convey his complete message in that period. He should come straight to the point and say what he wants by bringing three or four points to their attention.

(5) Interesting, jovial and humorous
A speaker wins or loses the battle in the first two or three minutes. If the speaker has impressed the audience with his opening remarks, he is well on your way to winning a space in their heart. And that is the target. It has to be a heart to heart dialogue. Lace it with short humorous anecdotes – laughter lubricates learning!

Anecdotes should be short, appropriate and in good taste. Quotations, proverbs and idioms should be like arrows piercing directly in to the heart of the audience. Experienced speakers learn to master the art of reciting these statements, giving a long pause after it has been stated to let it sink in with the audience.

(6) Listener-oriented
Audience is your customer. It is your business to know their needs and wants, their desires and their expectations. Speaker has to be very sensitive to the body language of their audience and modify the speech to fine tune with them. If the message has to gel well with the audience, speakers‟ antenna should pick up the cues from the body language of the listeners.