There's something about performing a story that makes your words and message come alive. The audience can see your body language, hear the emotion in your voice, and gather a stronger sense of the story's meaning through your expressions, emphasis, and attitude. This experience is one of the reasons people love movies so much—the actors transform two-dimensional written scripts into inspiring performances that transport us to new and different worlds.
But just as crafting a piece of writing takes plenty of study and hard work, a successful story performance is built on some essential techniques. Use the tabs below to examine some of these strategies.
Ironically, most people have to rehearse a lot to make a performance sound natural. Practicing how you will deliver your story helps you get rid of the ums and ahs of everyday speaking while also working out the stiffness and halting rhythm that happens when you read something out loud for the first time.
A good approach is to read your essay aloud from start to finish at least three times before performing or recording it. Practice in front of a mirror—or, if you have a willing family member (or a patient pet), perform the story for a real live audience. At some point, record yourself telling the story. Then watch the recording closely, looking for things you can improve.
Rehearsal is also a great time to work on projection. Beginning public speakers will often talk too softly, sometimes due to nerves and sometimes because they lack experience. But for your speech to sound its best, you need to project your voice to the back of the room. Stand up straight, hold your head up, and speak with lots of air in your lungs.
While practicing your speech is essential, it is possible to over-rehearse as well. Once you know every word almost by heart, you might find yourself rushing through your story, stampeding over all of your big ideas and rhetorical flourishes. As you rehearse, focus on going slow. Take your time, add lots of pauses, and remember to breathe. Probably the most common mistake of new public speakers is the desire to rush.
What's the hurry?
Pacing and emphasis are highly related. Sure, you can emphasize a word or idea by speaking it extra loudly. But sometimes that kind of passion can seem out of place. A great way to emphasize something is to put some space around it. Give a big idea some breathing room by pausing before you say it, or let it sit with your audience for a second or two before continuing.
For your reflective essay, you dug pretty deep to find moments from your life that were instructive, important, or simply memorable. Most likely, you confronted some strong emotions along the way. If you can, try to tap into these feelings while delivering your speech.
You may recall big emotions like anger, hilarity, or embarrassment, or you may find more subtle ones like regret, gratitude, or uncertainty. If you allow yourself to feel these emotions during the parts of your speech that call for them, your audience will hear your sincerity and connect with your message on a deeper level.
Involving your emotions can also help you avoid problems with tone. When discussing your true feelings from the heart, you don't want to sound like a robot—or break into self-conscious laughter. Find ways to make the tone of your delivery match the content of your words.
One of the most exciting (and stressful) parts of a story performance is the audience. Public speaking doesn't happen without the public, and that means putting your work out there for others to see.
Ideally, you would perform your story in front of a live audience—a teacher and a couple of dozen students in your class. But In the age of webcams, headsets, and video meetings, the concept of eye contact has changed drastically.
Whether you're looking at a camera lens or a room full of people, there are lots of ways you can use eye contact to make your speech more natural and effective.
First, make sure you look up at your audience frequently. It's always a bit off-putting if a speaker is focused on reading the page instead of engaging with her audience. If you're in a room full of people, take time to glance around at different audience members, which helps them feel included. If speaking into a webcam, you can look directly at the lens from time to time. Try not to stare into the camera too much, though, since that might come across as a bit too intense.
