Pace or rate of speed at which a speech is delivered also plays a role in how well your speech is received. You should slow down when you are presenting detailed, highly complex information, particularly when you are speaking to a group who knows relatively little about your topic. In other situations, speaking slightly faster than your normal delivery rate may increase your persuasiveness. Your pace carries the message that you know exactly what you want to say and you believe in it.

Incorporating pauses - brief periods of silence – may be selectively added as well to impact vebal communication.

Volume is simple – how loud or how soft is the speaker? If your audience cannot hear the words you are saying, they certainly will not understand your message. Speak too softly, and your message will be considered timid and unsure. Speaking too loudly appears to be rude or obnoxious. Generally, speaking just above conversational level in a classroom setting improves effective verbal communication.

Be aware of your environment as you prepare to speak. Consider these elements:

• How does the size or shape of the room impact your volume?

• Are there people talking in the hallway or in the next room?

• Is there any internal noise, such as an air conditioner, or external

Pitch is a musical term that relates to the highness or lowness of a speaker’s voice. Every speaker has an optimal pitch, or key in which to speak. That pitch is the range you are most comfortable speaking in and is most likely to be pleasant to listen to. If you are nervous, you may inadvertently raise your pitch, or if you are trying to sound authoritative, you may lower your pitch without thinking. Use your normal pitch when speaking.

Inflection is the pattern of change in a person’s pitch level while they are speaking. A common mistake is delivering a speech that lacks inflection in a flat, uniform pattern. Another word for this is monotone – or one tone. When someone speaks in a monotone, active listening can be very difficult. Because the way we use inflection can change the meaning of our words, mastering inflection is an important verbal communication skill.

For example,
She is my friend. (The emphasis implied she is my friend and not yours) She is my friend. (She is just a friend, and not a date).

Diction
The idea commonly associated with diction is more accurately expressed as enunciation, or the ability to express the parts of speech in an audibly clear fashion. Actors and linguists study diction, which itself is composed of a number of fundamentals, all of which concentrate, literally, on the sounds coming out of your mouth: How you make them, why you make them and what you—and others—make of them.

You can practice enunciating your words more clearly using traditional tongue twisters, which are also an excellent way to ‘warm up’ prior to public speaking. Make sure to have a glass of water on hand as you practice, listening carefully as you speak.

Ideally you should practice tongue twisters that either focus on each individual letter of the alphabet, or that feature two or more letters predominantly. Wikiquote contains a trove of usable tongue twisters in English, or you can make up your own.

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