It was around 6 minutes long and went well, I think! I went in depth into the type of paper, font, and paragraph style to meet the requirements for the "Research Your Topic" speech.
I've included my speech notes below, although they've been formatted to better fit the website.
Welcome Toastmasters and most
honoured guests
When I give a speech at
Toastmasters, I try to make it about something my audience, you, will be
interested in. I’ve given a speech about travel,
exercise, sports, and happiness. One thing I have not given a speech about…is how to give
a speech.
Now, I don’t profess to be an
expert on the subject…that’s why I’m here today, but I’ve had some experience
with speeches that you all might find useful. Also, giving a speech is a very
broad topic. A professor could give a
semester-long course on it…but I don’t want to keep you here that long, so I’ll
narrow it down a little.
When you give a speech, I’ll
assume that you have all given at least one, what kind of notes do you use:
Letter size, card size, large
print, point form, a backing, no notes?
Let two people answer, preferably guests. While notes seem like a simple
thing, each of us uses a different style of notes, and it affects how we speak
and appear to our audience.
Today, I am using letter size
paper, bullet point form, large print, high bottom margin, and a backing. I’ll explain each in turn and the reason for
it.
First of all, should we use notes
at all? I have been struggling with this
since I began with Toastmasters. It is easy when you know what you
are talking about: yourself, your history, a sport you know, etc. but when you
don’t, you can forget things and then have no backup. For a longer speech, this is even more likely
to happen and it has happened to me before.
It is a terrible feeling and it ruins the speech so I highly recommend
that you use notes.
As for the size of paper, while
cards are smaller, unless you only have one you will have to shuffle them
around in your hands often, distracting your audience. Letter size paper at least will be changed
less often.
Using paragraph form on your
notes may make your speech sound more complete, but you may fall into the trap
of just reading off of them. It can also
be hard to find your spot while giving a speech, so you have to give up valuable
time searching for your next sentence.
Using point form will prevent
both of these and makes it easier to find quotes and statistics that are
difficult to remember, such as:
The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile
are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense. - Thomas Edison
As for the size of the font. I have bad eyesight. So seeing 12 pt font
from more than 2 ft away is not going to happen, causing me to move the notes
to my face and take time to read it. Not
the best thing to do during a speech. So
I make my font larger, 14 pt, 16 pt, sometimes 18 pt if I need it. While not a necessary change, I thought I
should bring it up as the World Health Organization reports:
285 million people are visually impaired worldwide
Another thing to consider is how
far up the lower margin of the page should be.
Have any of you ever thought of doing this? The reason for this is simple, if
you are looking at your page, as you get the bottom of the page your head will
move down to see the material and you will no longer be looking at the
audience. Moving the margin will stop
this from occurring.
The downside with the bullet
point, font size, and margins is that you use more pages. If you use more pages you have to change them
more often, which as mentioned earlier is distracting, so there is a fine line
between the two sides, tread it carefully.
My recommendation:
Use point form
Have a font size of 16 if you
have bad eyesight
And double the margin size
Lastly, what do you do if you
don’t have a podium, like tonight? With my eyesight, I can’t lay it
on the table, I wouldn’t be able to see it If I hold it simply in my hand it
will rustle, especially if I’m nervous, not that I am because you are a great
audience So what I am doing is using a backing
to hold it in place, a clipboard will also do the job
To recap once more:
Use notes! It saves
embarrassment, I know, trust me
Use letter paper, fewer sheets
that way
Use point form, easier to read
Have larger print
Have a larger margin to avoid
looking down
And, if you don’t have a podium,
use a clipboard
How to use the notes effectively
during your speech now that you have them is an entirely different matter and
I’ll leave that for another night. Thank
you and goodnight!
