Practice your influential person speech

Week 6 Module 6 Practice your influential person speech.

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Speech practice is the process of standing and presenting your messages out loud to yourself, to virtual audiences and to live audiences to prepare for your graded speaking days. 

The following do not count as speech practice:

1. 1. Talking through the ideas you have for your presentation with someone else before you develop your research or organize your message into a coherent outline. 
   2. Thinking through your speech in your head.
   3. Lying in bed speaking your speech out loud. 
   4. Saying your speech quietly to yourself on the bus, while you are driving or while you are engaging in some other activity.

The following count as speech practice:

1. Alone: Stand in a room, practice a specific part of the speech or the entire speech out loud, several times until the flow of that section of the speech feels comfortable. After each practice, give yourself feedback so you can improve the next time you run the speech.
2. With a live audience: Stand in a room and practice part or all of your speech out loud with a live audience. Then, seek feedback from your audience members about what you can do to improve your speech.
3. Sit or stand in a room and practice part or all of your speech out loud with a virtual audience. 

 Warm-up before your practice

The below exercises are our speaking day warm-ups. If you do these warm-ups before every practice session you will train your brain to relax into your speaking days by creating a routine, you know and repeat often.

Practice session physical warmups:

• Breathe normally while you shake your hands out, then continue to shake out your hands while shaking one leg, then the other.
  
  
• Shoulder shrug: take a deep breath in and shrug your shoulders up tight while clenching your fists, release your breath out and relax your entire body.
  
  
• Upper back stretch: Stretch by bringing one arm across the body, keeping the shoulder depressed and pulling it in with the other arm.
  
  
• Triceps stretch: 
  • With arms overhead, hold the elbow of one arm with the hand of the other arm.
  • Gently pull the elbow behind your head, creating a stretch. Move slowly.
  • Hold for 5-10 seconds.
  • Repeat with the other arm.
    
    
• Overhead stretch: lace your fingers over your head and push away from the body. Hold for 10-15 seconds.
  
  
• Ragdoll: when you release the overhead stretch, roll forward and the waist, knees bent, into a relaxed, limp, ragdoll pose (your fingers may graze the ground here, but it isn't required).

Practice session verbal warm-ups:

Warm Up #1: Jaw release: Reduces tension in the mouth and jaw area during speaking.

• Place your palms on the sides of your face and slowly massage the jaw and cheek muscles with slow small circular motions.
• Continue to massage while lowering and raising your jaw
• Add the sound – “mamamama” with a very light lip contact for the “m”
• Change to “wawawawa” with very light lip round for a slightly distorted “w”
  
  

Warm Up #2: Lip buzzing: Improves the resonant focus of the sound and continues work with maximal stretch on the vocal folds.

• Put you lips loosely together and exhale by vibrating your lips.
• Make sure to keep your tongue relaxed as you exhale.
• Repeat the inhaled yawn and vocalize as you trill your lips.
• Repeat again and sweep up in pitch then back down.
• If this begins to tickle your lips and nose, then you’re doing it correctly.
  
  

Warm Up #3: Breath support system

• After a slow deep inhalation, expel sharply by contracting the abdominal muscles hard with a loud “huh.”
• The larynx and throat should stay relaxed and open.
• This is a difficult exercise and excellent focus must be maintained on separating the contractions of the abdominals with the maintenance of relaxed upper airway.
• As you improve your ability to perform this correctly, increase the speed and repetitions.
  
  

Warm Up #4: Humming: Highlights different vibrations in your lips, teeth and facial bones.

• Begin with your lips gently closed with jaw released.
• Take an easy breath in and exhale while humming “hmmmm”
• Repeat and change the “hmmmm” to “ahhhhh” halfway through the exhaled breath.
• Try to change nothing but the opening of the mouth.
  
  

Warm Up #5: Quick tongue twisters. Repeat each one 3 times fast:

1. She sells seashells down by the seashore.
   
   
2. A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
   
   
3. Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
   
   
4. An ape hates grape cakes.
   
   
5. Top chopstick shops stock top chopsticks.
   
   
6. Time takes a terrible toll on intentions.
   
   
7. Don’t go deep into debt.
   
   
8. Ensuring excellence isn’t easy.

 Practice alone

Find a quiet place to practice your influential person speech alone, with your slides. You'll practice your speech from the end to the beginning.

1. 1. Practice the conclusion of the speech until you can give most of the conclusion without looking down.
      • Make changes, if necessary, to correct difficulties with the logical flow of ideas.
      • After this, go do other things for at least an hour.
   2. Practice the 3rd main point of the speech until you can give most of the 3rd main point without looking down.
   3. Practice the 3rd main point and the conclusion together until you can deliver both together without looking down more than 2-3 times.
   4. Practice the 2nd main point of the speech and transition to the 3rd main point until you can give most of the 2nd main point without pausing and/or checking your notes.
   5. Practice the 2nd main point, transition, 3rd main point, and the conclusion together until you can deliver most of these without long pausing and checking your notes more than 3-4 times.
      • Make changes, if necessary, to correct difficulties with the logical flow of ideas.
      • After this, go do other things for at least an hour.
   6. Practice the 1st main point and transition until you can give most of these together without long pausing and/or checking your notes.
   7. Practice the 1st main point, transition, 2nd main point, transition 3rd main point and conclusion together until you can give most of these without long pausing and/or checking your notes more than 5-6 times.
      • Make changes, if necessary, to correct difficulties with the logical flow of ideas.
      • After this, go do other things for at least an hour.
   8. Practice the introduction until you can give most of the introduction without looking down. 
   9. Practice the whole speech until you can give the whole speech without long pausing and/or checking your notes more than 8-10 times.

 Graded practice on Canvas

This week on Canvas you will:

Prepare the speaking space.

1. Set-up a quiet speaking space at home (or use a headset to eliminate background noise)
2. Create an effective recording space. The below video tutorial is helpful. 

Record practice videos

1. Review your speaker notes.
2.  Record your video three times.
   1. Record your first video. Watch and critique yourself.
   2. Drink part of a glass of water and walk at least 100 steps to clear your head.
   3. Watch 1 tutorial related to a skill you would like to increase your score on.
   4. Think about how to incorporate the advice from the tutorial. Try one section of the speech out loud a few times to incorporate the advice.
   5. Drink part of a glass of water and walk at least 100 steps to clear your head.
   6. Record your 2nd video focusing on incorporating the advice from the tutorial. 
   7. Watch 1 tutorial related to a skill you would like to increase your score on.
   8. Think about how to incorporate the advice from the tutorial. Try one section of the speech out loud a few times to incorporate the advice.
   9. Drink part of a glass of water and walk at least 100 steps to clear your head.
   10. Record your 3rd video focusing on incorporating the advice from the tutorial, upload to Canvas. 
   11. Keep Canvas open while you complete your reflection assignment.

Reflect on the practice process. 

1. Copy the following:

1. Were you reading from your notes or making eye contact with the camera?
2. Did you experience any verbal clutter, ums, ands, so's etc.?
3. What advice from the tutorial did you work to incorporate into your third video?
4. How did you feel after watching your second video?
5. What advice would you give yourself as you continue to prepare this speech?

2. Click "Begin Assignment."

3. Paste the 5 questions in the textbox. In no less than 150 words, answer the 5 questions.