Most of us intuitively understand that there are differences between oral and written language. All communication includes the transfer of information from one person to another, and while the transfer of information is only the first step in the process of understanding a complex phenomenon, it is an important first step. To be an effective speaker, you must exploit the dynamism of oral communication, but also learn to work within its limitations. While there is a higher level of immediacy and a lower level of retention in the spoken word, a speaker has more ability to engage the audience psychologically and to use complex forms of non verbal communication the written language can be significantly more precise. Written words can be chosen with greater deliberation and thought, and a written argument can be extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate, and lengthy. These attributes of writing are possible because the pace of involvement is controlled by both the writer and the reader.

The writer can write and rewrite at great length, a span of time which in some cases can be measured in years. Similarly, the reader can read quickly or slowly or even stop to think about what he or she has just read. More importantly, the reader always has the option of re reading even if that option is not exercised, its mere possibility has an effect upon a reader's understanding of a text.

But precision in oral communication comes only with a great deal of preparation and compression. Once spoken, words cannot be retracted, although one can apologize for a mistake and improvise a clarification or qualification. One can read from a written text and achieve the same degree of verbal precision as written communication. But word for word reading from a text is not speech making, and in most circumstances audiences find speech reading boring and retain very little of the information transmitted. On the other hand, oral communication can be significantly more effective in expressing meaning to an audience.

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This distinction between precision and effectiveness is due to the extensive repertoire of signals available to the speaker: gestures, intonation, inflection, volume, pitch, pauses, movement, visual cues such as appearance, and a whole host of other ways to communicate meaning. A speaker has significantly more control over what the listener will hear than the writer has over what the reader will read. For these techniques to be effective, however, the speaker needs to make sure that he or she has the audience's attention audiences do not have the luxury of re reading the words spoken. Reading an audience is a systematic and cumulative endeavor unavailable to the writer.

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As one speaks, the audience provides its own visual cues about whether it is finding the argument coherent, comprehensible, or interesting. There are always some who scrunch up their faces when they disagree with a point others will stare out the window a few rude but tired persons will fall asleep. These persons do not necessarily represent the views of the audience much depends upon how many in the audience manifest these signals. By and large, one should take the head nodders and the note takers as signs that the audience is following one's argument. If these people seem to outnumber the people not paying attention, then the speech is being well received. The single most important bit of evidence about the audience's attention, however, is eye contact.

If members of the audience will look back at you when you are speaking, then you have their attention. Few audiences have the listening ability or background to work through a difficult or complex argument, and speakers should not expect them to be able to do so. Many speakers fail to appreciate the difficulties of good listening, and most speakers worry about leaving out some important part of the argument. One must be acutely aware of the tradeoff between comprehensiveness and comprehension.

Trying to put too much into a speech is probably the single most frequent error made by speakers. This desire to say everything stems from the distinctive limitations of speeches: after a speech, one cannot go back and correct errors or omissions, and such mistakes could potentially cripple the persuasiveness of a speech. At the outset, a speaker must define an argument sharply and narrowly and must focus on only that argument. There are certainly implications of an argument that are important but cannot be developed within the speech. These aspects should be clearly acknowledged by the speaker, but deferred to a question and answer period, a future speech, or a reference to a work that the audience can follow up on its own. As a rule of thumb, the audience will remember about one half of what was said in a twenty minute talk. There are very few circumstances in which an audience will recall a great deal of the information in a speech longer than twenty minutes.

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Most evidence suggests that audience recall declines precipitously after 16 and one helf minutes. Oral communication uses words with fewer syllables than the written language, the sentences are shorter, and self referencing pronouns such as i are common. Oral communication also allows incomplete sentences if delivered properly, and many sentences will begin with and, but, and except.

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The upshot of these differences is that one should not think about speeches as oral presentations of a written text. Speeches are genuinely different from written prose, and one should not use the logic of writing as a basis for writing a speech. I recently attended a conference where a brilliant man was speaking on a topic about which he was one of the world’s experts. This renowned academic had mastered the written form but mistakenly presumed that the same style could be used at a podium in the context of an hour long public address. He treated the audience to exceptional content that was almost impossible to follow monotone, flat, read from a script, and delivered from behind a tall podium.

And for those new to public speaking, the tendency to mimic the forms of writing we already know can be crippling. Similarly, studies have shown auditory memory is typically inferior to visual memory, and while most of us can read for hours, our ability to focus on a speech is more constrained. Ten minutes of speaking is only about 1,300 words you can use this calculator , and while written texts which can be reviewed, reread, and reexamined can be subtle and nuanced, spoken word must be followed in the moment and must be appropriately short, sweet, and to the point.

As you focus on brevity and clarity in a speech, it’s also important to signpost and review. In your introduction, state your thesis and then lay out the structure of your speech ahead of time e.g. Then, as you work through your speech, open each new point with a signpost to let your listeners know where you are with words such as, to begin, secondly, and finally, and close each point with a similar, review oriented signpost e.g. This lack of subtlety can be repetitive and inelegant in a written document, but it is essential to the spoken word.

Similarly, the subtleties of complex argumentation and statistical analysis can be compelling in an essay, but in a speech it’s important to drop the statistics and tell a story. And while i always appreciate arguments that are fact based and grounded in sound logic, it’s easier for me to engage with a speaker when she keeps the statistics to a minimum and opts for longer and more vivid stories. To bring these stories to life, remember that when delivering a speech you are your punctuation. When you’re speaking, your audience doesn’t have the benefit of visual signifiers of emphasis, change in pace, or transition commas, semicolons, dashes, and exclamation points. Instead, your voice, your hand gestures, your pace, and even where and how you’re standing on stage give the speech texture and range. Use hand gestures consciously and in accordance with the points you’re trying to make. Walk between main points while delivering the speech literally transitioning your physical position in the room to signify a new part of the argument.

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Standing motionless while speaking in a monotone voice doesn’t simply drain your audience’s energy, it deprives them of understanding like writing a text in one run on sentence with no punctuation or breaks. If you’re a great writer, don’t assume it will translate immediately to the spoken word. A speech is not an essay on its hind legs, and great speech writers and public speakers adapt accordingly. John coleman is a coauthor of the book, passion 038 purpose: stories from the best and brightest young business leaders. Or is it? the purpose of all language is to communicate that is, to move thoughts or information from one person to another person. To communicate, one person must put something out and another person must take something in. So language consists of four skills: two for output speaking and writing and two for input listening and reading.