I do
not mean elevated in pitch, but in the sense of being launched upon a
higher level of thought and with greater intensity than is usually
called for by ordinary conversation.
In conversation you have your best opportunity for developing your
public speaking style. Indeed, you are there, despite yourself, forming
habits which will disclose themselves in your public speaking. As you
speak in your daily conversation you will largely speak when you stand
before an audience.
You will therefore see the importance of care in your daily speech.
There should be a fastidious choice of words, care in pronunciation and
articulation, and the mouth well opened so that the words may come out
wholly through the mouth and not partly through the nose. Culture of
conversation is to be recommended for its own sake, since everyone must
speak in private if not in public.
One of the best plans for self-culture in speaking is to read aloud for
a few minutes every day from a book of well-selected speeches. There are
numerous compilations of the kind admirably suited to this purpose. The
important thing here is to read in speaking style, not in what is termed
reading style as usually taught in schools. When you practise in this
way it would be well to imagine an audience before you and to render the
speech as if emanating from your own mind. The student of public
speaking will wisely guard himself against acquiring an artificial style
or other mannerism.
Another good plan is to make short mental speeches while walking.
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