Pace, Poise and Polish -The 3 Ps in Speechmaking

If someone were to ask you how many Ps there are in speechmaking, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there is only one. Strictly speaking, of course, you’d be right. But if you intend to make a speech, you had better remember that there are, in fact, three Ps in speechmaking – Pace, Poise and Polish.

And if you can manage to put all three into your speechmaking, then you’ll be certain of impressing just about any audience that is sitting in front of you.

Pace. This is a ‘make or break’ P. Get this wrong and your audience will either be bored to tears and will be struggling to hide their yawns from you OR they will be nudging their close neighbour to ask whether he heard what you said because they missed it.

If you have ever had the misfortune to be listening to a presentation being made by a slow speaker, you will already appreciate just how tedious too slow a pace can be. The audience will be itching to shout “speed it up, won’t you? I have to be in work tomorrow morning!”

Delivering your speech too slowly is guaranteed to make even the most generous audience fidgity and irritated.

Too fast a delivery, on the other hand, will simply mean that a large portion of your audience will miss what you have to say and others will find making sense of your ideas extremely hard work. Your job, when speaking to an audience, is to take the hard work out of listening to you speak and allow the audience the luxury of simply relaxing and letting your words seep effortlessly into their consciousness.

Speak fast enough to avoid your delivery becoming tedious yet slow enough to allow each member of your audience to easily take in your words and ideas. Be sure to vary your pace throughout your speech so that your presentation remains interesting and upbeat.

Poise. Most speakers only focus on the subject matter of their speeches and work long and hard on the actual construction of their speech. Hours are spent collecting information, arranging it into the correct sequence, choosing the most appropriate opening and closing words and making sure that the rhythm and flow of their delivery is just right.

And of course, all that work is essential if you are to give an excellent speech. But the effort doesn’t stop there. How you present yourself is just as important as how you present your words.

Take a moment to run through this checklist before you step out in front of your audience:

1. Is your clothing presentable, clean, appropriate and arranged correctly? 2. Is your hair neatly combed? 3. Does your body language convey the right impression?

Always bear in mind that your audience will start forming their opinion of you from the first moment that they see you and long before you have a chance to woo them with your words. Your poise – that is, the visual impression given to the audience – will influence their first impression of you and that is something that you must pay great attention to .

Make sure that your impression is a positive one.

Polish. This is what will make a good speech great! It is also the thing that will enable you to rid yourself of any pre-speech nerves. Thorough preparation is the key to most things in life and speaking in public is no exception.

Practice rehearsing your speech in front of a mirror, or if you can persuade them, in front of your friends and family. Familiarise yourself with the content of your speech and work out which is the most effective style of delivery. Decide on the incorporation of suitable hand gestures, in fact, anything that you feel needs to be practised until it becomes second nature.

Set aside time to scrutinise your stage clothes and pay close attention to how you stand and move. Don’t lean, don’t hunch, don’t slouch and don’t allow yourself to display any outward signs of tension. You must polish your performance until it sparkles! Whilst in front of your audience you must always appear relaxed, confident and in control at all times – even if you don’t feel it.

By remembering the three Ps in ‘speechmaking’ – Pace, Poise and Polish, any audience will be enthralled, entertained and enraptured by your performance – guaranteed!