Successful Rehearsing Habits: Mimic Timing and Context

Practice with all the parts in place

Rehearsal ) is a time to experiment, to play to mold your speech. Once you are satisfied that you have crafted the speech into the message you want then you can practice with all the parts in place to develop your own style and approach to delivery.

Mimic -- avoiding mimicry

As a speaker you start with nothing but your idea or thesis to create and deliver your own message, whereas a mime re-creates the character and dialog that someone else invented. You are not a mime who takes on a mask but a real person. If you mimic the behaviors of other speakers, you run the risk of not having delivery which is natural for you. You are not attempting to mimic an actor who is giving a performance, you are developing your own conversation with your audience.

However, if you are going to mimic,observe and mimic natural conversation. You are yourself, not an actor on the stage like Thespis; you want to focus on bring out your own natural conversational style.

Timing

You can consider at least two basics of timing---the amount of time that it takes to deliver the speech and how to time use of visual aids such as Power Point slides for presentations-- and timing as a feature of the rate of delivery.

Timing Basics

Amount of time. Generally, you will have a certain amount of time to speak including Q & A. When rehearsing the time of the presentation you want to make sure to include all of the parts of the speech including quotes, examples, video clips and visual aids. Without including all aspects of the speech you may run out of time and have to cut short important content during delivery.

Power Point or other timed events. When working with Power Point you can control when each slide is projected for the audience by pre-programming to advance each slide while you speak. The timing from one slide to the next will occur as you have programmed it without you being near the computer to control the slides. However, you must speak about each slide for the rehearsed amount of time or your slides will not synchronize with the speech.

Timing as a feature of delivery. Timing is not only about knowing how long you are going to speak but also how fast to speak, and when to pause and how long to pause to achieve the desired effect. You can vary the rate of speaking and the use of pausing to achieve different vocal effects as you practice.

Context

Context includes not only the physical environment, but also the technological and situational context. Ultimately, context includes the entire world, and the cultural and linguistic background of the audience and speaker.

Physical or environmental context: Ideally you want to rehearse in the same space using the equipment that you will use for your presentation. If you rehearse in the same space, you will learn to appreciate any of the special features of the room and the layout.

Technological Context: It is important to include equipment use when you rehearse. What equipment is in place and what will you have to be moved before, during or after your speech? Will you be speaking directly to an audience or will you be using amplification? Will the audience be co-located with you face to face or will you be using teleconferencing equipment?

Situational context: It is important to note any special background about the room, place or occasion. Consider and acknowledge any special significance the place may have for you or your audience. For example, Is the space a memorial, or did someone else recently speak in the same location that will influence how the audience will respond to your speech?

Tips for Speaker

• Speak in a conversational style. Do not talk at your audience; pretend you are talking with your audience
• Rehearse just as you plan to present and, if possible, in the same location that you will deliver your speech.
• Prepare for interruptions and questions. And, make sure to leave room for a formal time of questions at the end of your presentation.
• Rehearse with your graphics and coordinate them to your talk and display them only when you are talking about them.
• Time the individual parts and the total speech with a stop watch and make sure to have a clock which you can see while speaking.
• Make sure you record and listen to your speech after rehearsal and get feedback from friends or a coach.
• During final rehearsal make brief notes for yourself so you know how long each point in the speech takes and then mark your outline accordingly, so you know if you are spending too much time on a point during delivery.