In a previous post, I talked about 5 common errors that speakers make when focusing on the content of their speeches.  But a speech is always embodied, meaning that someone has to deliver it to an audience, in order to fulfill the criteria of the genre.  And just as weak speeches can be made stronger with brilliant delivery, the reverse is also true.  Great speeches that exist on the page can be ruined with a weak delivery.  So what are the 5 most common mistakes speakers make on the delivery side of the speaking conundrum?

They fail to rehearse the speech enough.  I’ve often heard speakers tell me that they don’t want to get “stale” with a speech, fearing that too much rehearsal could mean that they get bored during the actual delivery.  Here’s where I get to call “BS” on that dodge.  It’s actually because they are perfectionists or control freaks who are afraid of appearing less than stellar on a stage – even if only one or two people like me are watching.  Professional speakers usually jump at the chance to rehearse, because they know that the process gives them a chance to commit the speech to their muscle memory.  And a speech that you know in your body is one that you can deliver with conviction and even passion.

Once you’ve got past the simple mistakes and technical issues, rehearsal allows you to hone your speech to a fine polish.  Don’t miss the chance out of fear.

They get ‘happy feet’ thanks to excess adrenaline when confronted with an audience.  My favorite example of happy feat was a speaker who was so nervous that she started dancing on stage, reverting to her childhood ballet training.  When a speaker has adrenaline, his or her body will strive to express the adrenaline in some way.  For some, the symptoms show up as an elevated heart rate, uncontrolled blushing, or dry mouth.  For others, their feet suddenly take over and propel them all over the stage.  They may have even been told that motion is good, because it keeps an audience’s attention – so more motion is better, right?  Wrong.  Random wandering by a speaker is quickly distracting, then irritating, and then finally cringeworthy.

They develop a nervous verbal tic that gets heightened by their adrenaline.  We’ve all heard speakers that throw filler words in with abandon, because they’re afraid of silence and pauses.  They think they have to fill all the air space with their words.  We get “like” and “you know,” we hear “right?” and “actually,” we might become aware of too many uses of the word “really.”  Whatever the weasel word, it’s a problem if it rises to the level of awareness in a significant portion of the audience.  If no one notices, then it’s not an issue for anyone except the speech coach watching nervously from the back of the hall.

They allow their voices to rise at the end of most of their sentences or phrases, as if everything they were saying was a question.  This is a problem mostly among millennials, who have been brought up in organizations to be collegial, and so they are always checking for agreement.  But I’ve heard all ages use this intonation? As if they were uncertain of everything?  And so had to check constantly? To see if anyone agrees with them?

Please don’t do it.  It’s annoying and it undercuts the strength of any argument you’re making.

Finally, they dump too much information on their audience, because (perhaps) they’ve over-prepared, or fear not having the answer to a question the audience might ask.  We don’t want to know everything about the subject you are passionate about.  Just the most important insights.  What are the key takeaways for an audience – the minimum we need to know in order to be able to make an informed decision or get up to speed?  We look to you to do the work of distilling the huge amount of data you no doubt possess on the subject down to a brisk 30 – 45 minutes.  If we want more we can read your book.

These are some of the mistakes of delivery I see most often.  What are your favorites?