CHAPTER III

BEFORE THE AUDIENCE

If we could prepare the delivery of a speech as coolly and methodically as we can the substance, our problem would be greatly simplified. Some try to do this very thing by rehearsing a memorized speech, but it has been shown that this attempt to discount the terrors of the platform usually defeats its laudable purpose. Delivery is largely a matter of personality, and because this quality is so difficult to analyze and even more difficult to alter, many intelligent speakers think it is a waste of time to give it their attention. They are thankful for the ability to find something to say. They get up to tell it to an audience as they would to a neighbor. Sometimes they succeed. But the conversational manner is not ordinarily sufficient. The manner must be heightened. A conversational tone may be indistinct or harsh or monotonous, and the speaker's manner may lack authority and energy. His speeches read well in the newspapers, but leave the audiences indifferent or impatient at so intelligent a speaker's lack of impressiveness.

Completing the Meaning.-To urge the student to take pains with his delivery is not enough. He must have definite ideas about what constitutes good presentation. He must get the habit of appreciating differences in enunciation, manner, gesture, quality and modulation of voice. He must ask why this or that is effective or ineffective. The technique of delivery, whether easy or difficult, is just as essential to the speaker as to the actor. Both must put the breath of life into words-literally "inspire" them with individual meaning. "Logical content," the surface or general meaning, is a comparatively vague abstraction; it must be given body and direction by the "personal intent,1" the accent and action of the speaker. How many interpretations may be drawn from the same words. What do the words 1 See C. H. WOOLBERT, "The Fundamentals of Speech," p. 299.

"They come" mean? Do they imply a defiant "Let them come!" or a relieved "Ah, here they come, or a triumphant "I told you so," or a joyous welcome, or an incredulous "I don't believe it," or a resigned "I'm prepared for the worst?" Only the speaker's looks and the color and inflections of his voice can tell. The eye, the body and the voice may combine to give twenty widely varying meanings to the word "yes." Thought and language by no means complete the picture. Tone and action say a great deal in every case. They either contradict the words or supplement them with needed detail and vitality. The point is, they cannot be neglected. If they are not controlled and energized, they make a speech of their own which conflicts with what the speaker is trying to express.

In the theatre poor scenery is worse than none. It only distracts the audience and creates bewilderment, disappointment and ridicule. In the absence of scenery the play-goer creates some out of his own fancy, an idealized setting which harmoniously completes the illusion made by the players. Similarly in reading a speech one visualizes the situation and the speaker in his own fashion according to his understanding and temperament. He has time to deliberate upon the meaning of the words, he can reread and reflect and make something out of it all to repay him. At least his imagination is free to construct what it can from the words. This is not the case when he hears the actual speaker. His imagination is arrested, and he is confined to the picture actually presented. A good speaker will greatly enrich the picture without violating the essentials a careful reader might have got from the printed page. A poor one will correspondingly limit and distort the meaning.

Very few of us can read a play with much pleasure. We simply cannot make abounding life and drama out of printed pages. The specialist, the one who has brooded over the lines and wrung from them their hidden suggestion and thrill, does that for us. And so it is usually with a shock of surprise, delight and mortification at our own dullness that we see a company of competent actors reveal the playwright's passion and humanity.

The public speaker likewise has the responsibility of interpreting himself aright by alert and discriminating variety in voice

and action. His art must create an impression of sincerity, vigor, competence and authority. All this is usually taken for granted, and that is just the trouble. Take it out of the subconscious and give it your conscious attention until right habits are fixed. Then let it slip back as every artist does.

The Use of Notes.-Perhaps the first question that faces the beginner is the use of notes. Try to get along without them. Every audience prefers the speaker who comes forward without notes, papers, helps of any kind. It likes to feel that he speaks from a deep well of knowledge and experience. It is his suggestion of reserve power that makes him impressive, and that indicates the leadership his listeners wish him to have. Even if a well-known authority is speaking, his influence is weakened by the presence of notes. They suggest superficiality or formality or lack of confidence. The gentleman conversing easily and interestedly does not need notes. He seems to enjoy the situation even if he does not. This, too, is part of the authority that is in every workman.

There is a still weightier objection to the use of notes before an audience. It compels the eye to leave the audience and seek the paper. Now the eye is the most eloquent part of the speaker. It gets the attention and holds it. Looking at the floor or the ceiling or out the window, anywhere except into the faces of your audience, is fatal. "I'd like to know why Prexy is always looking at me," one college freshman is reported to have said. "That's queer," retorted the other, "I thought he was looking at me."" This sense of individual searching and questioning is necessary. The eye has a magnetism. It induces the current of sympathy. Do not break the spell by looking away at a paper. No matter how quickly the eye returns, the crowd unity, that absorption of the individual by the mass, is gone. The individual minds have relaxed, the attention has been caught by irrelevant matters, and the speaker must begin again the more or less difficult task of creating a sustained interest.

Short talks before a class are not hard to manage without notes. Your preparation will have given you ample material arranged in a very definite form so that you can easily recall it with the aid of a few cues. These leads are the main headings of

1 See J. A. WINANS, "Public Speaking," p. 39.

your outline. There ought not to be more than three or four and they can be readily memorized.

If you still think you will be more comfortable and confident with a few written reminders for support, set down on a small card the few headings and sub-topics that are vital-and write them so that you can distinguish them at a glance. As you step forward to begin your talk place the card on the table or stand, and forget it. If you should happen to need it, which is not likely, turn coolly to the card and examine it leisurely. If you hold it in your hand, you will be nervously and uselessly looking at it every moment and will spoil your talk. It is better to keep your card of notes in your pocket where you cannot get at it readily.

Do not be discouraged if you are slow in acquiring this greater confidence in yourself. You can make a good talk with notes, as many speakers do, if you use them as sparingly as possible and aim to put them aside altogether. Of course, statistics and quotations more than a line or two in length must be read or their genuineness will be doubted, but even though they carry added conviction, they may still be considered a necessary evil.

Before You Are Introduced.-With this caution, let us follow chronologically as far as possible your course during a single platform experience. You are under fire the moment you step on the platform. While you are seated waiting your turn to speak, the audience is keenly judging you. "What you are speaks so loud," said Emerson, "that I can't hear what you say." Thoughtfulness at this time will create so favorable an impression that you will begin with a big advantage, one that even a clumsy opening may not destroy. Audiences are naturally sympathetic, and if the speaker looks and acts like a gentleman, if he seems modest, honest, and earnest, they want him to win. Behave with an unobtrusive but cheerful dignity. Listen attentively to the other speakers if there are any. Sit easily erect, assuming neither a military rigidity nor the still worse self-conscious, makebelieve ease. Do not talk glibly to the chairman. Do not whisper any more than is necessary. If someone in the audience does it during your talk, you will be disturbed. Do not bow or smile to acquaintances in the audience. It is easy to give the impression of "showing off." Courtesy and tact, the active

study of the audience that governs your preparation, will give you counsel here. See yourself in the audience looking up at the speaker and your bearing will be appropriate.

Presently the chairman is introducing you. Do not make faces or in any way try to signal the audience that the nice things he is saying about you are not true. The chairman, if he is competent, will be complimentary and not flattering. There is always a good reason why the speaker is present. He occupies a position which gives him special knowledge, he is an old friend or he has a reputation for achievement in some field or other. There is no need of exaggerated praise in presenting him to the audience. In fact, flattery always embarrasses both the audience and the speaker. If the person introduced disowns it, he causes further self-consciousness and embarrassment; if he ignores it, the audience may regard him as a rather vain fellow after all. In either case, the speaker has lost the opportunity to make an effective beginning and starts with a serious handicap. The chairman, of course, should be as brief as possible. He usually concludes by turning to the speaker with some such phrase as: "I am very glad to introduce Mr. John Smith."

Beginning the Speech. You rise then and acknowledge the introduction. You may stand at your chair, bow slightly— from the waist, not from the neck-and say "Mr. Chairman." Walk in a business-like manner to the stand or table or to the centre of the platform, well down front, and say "Ladies and gentlemen." Or you may walk immediately to the front and then turn first to the chairman and then to your audience. The chairman should not sit until he has acknowledged your words with a bow. If you are addressing a political gathering or one that celebrates patriotism the words "Fellow Citizens" appropriate and carry a fresh significance. You may particularize by such phrases as "Members of the Chamber of Commerce" or "Fellow Members"; but do not call off a list as debaters sometimes do with their "Mr. Chairman, worthy opponents, honorable judges, members of the society, ladies and gentlemen." You may overlook some group and in any event you are either too formal or a bit ludicrous. It is often best to begin without any salutation, especially before small and intimate

groups.