How to Speak from Notes or a Manuscript

Good speakers need to relate to their listeners even while reading from notes or a manuscript. Sound like a difficult task? It isn't really.

Why then do so many people read their speeches badly? It can’t be because speakers find it helpful to pretend no one is actually listening to them (though they sometimes seem to be in their own little world in that way). And they can’t possibly be aiming to have a closer relationship with a stack of speaking notes than with their audience (though that sometimes seems to be the case).

If the whole idea behind a presentation is to influence one’s listeners, and it is, a speaker had better find a way to establish rapport with that audience! After all, is anyone willing to be persuaded by someone who basically denies their existence?

What follows are six practical tips for speaking effectively while using a manuscript or notes. These suggestions will help you remain engaging and influential as a speaker while maintaining a conversational dynamic with your listeners.

1. Write to speak. Compose your talk for the ears of your listeners, not their eyes, as would be the case if they were reading your speech. Aim for the rhythms of conversation rather than the more formal style of memos and reports (or the barely-composed slang of e-mail messages). That means choosing simple words and short sentences. Use a tape recorder to listen to yourself to improve in this area.

2. Make it easy for you to read. Give yourself pages that can you see readily from the lectern. Use a large typeface, wide margins, and avoid the bottom of the page (otherwise your audience will see the top of your head too often).

3. Grab key phrases and run with them. You don’t want to spend more time with your text than with your listeners. So look down and “grab” key phrases or sentences. Then look up at your listeners and say them. Practice the technique to acquire a rhythm, for this is an essential skill for speakers. An important general rule: if you’re not LOOKING at your audience, nothing should be coming out of your mouth.

4. Use the pause that refreshes. That’s an old ad slogan, but it applies to public speakers, who must learn to use pauses! Pauses help shape a speech. They show that you’re confident enough to introduce an idea, then let it sink in. Pauses are refreshing for listeners. The adrenalin you're producing will be prodding you to speed up, but you must take your time. A speech without pauses seems to go on forever, regardless of its actual length.

5. Look at your listeners. This is the forest that some speakers don’t see because the trees that their manuscript is made up of get in the way. You should look up from your speech with every sentence you say. Audience members need eye contact to believe you’re talking to them; and none of us is persuaded by someone who won’t look us in the eye.

6. Hit your peaks. Remember that a speech or presentation needs shape in terms of both ideas and vocal delivery. A speech lacking a climax, for instance, is as formless and anonymous as an amoeba; and presentations without vocal variety are sheer torture for listeners. The tendency of our voice to “flatten out” increases when we read from notes or a manuscript rather than conversing with listeners. Remind yourself always that you are talking to people, not sheets of paper. People demand much more from you than squiggles on a page. Provided you breathe life into those words, your listeners will return the favor handsomely.