Rehearsal - Why you need to start using rehearsal and practice in your public speech preparation.
Rehearsing and role playing can be an effective tool for practicing your pronunciation, thinking, and preparedness for scenarios.
I think sometimes we overlook or underestimate the effectiveness of proper roleplaying and rehearsal though.
When we imagine sports, artistic plays, recitals, and the like, it’s safe to say that we accept and appreciate all the fantastic work, practice and dedication required behind the scenes for those moments.
A basketball play or sequence is practiced many times in advance so every player knows how to run and how to act.
A football play is practiced hundreds of times so each moment is prepared for.
A ballet recital is practiced so every choreographed movement is executed to perfection.
But there’s something so commonplace with speech, that we downplay the need and role for practice and rehearsal.
I should be able to do this already.
I should be able to simply do it when I need to.
And I think it’s because of that mindset that we undercut the importance and significance that rehearsal and practice can play.
We don’t fully appreciate the difference between a rehearsed and practiced elevator pitch. We lump that rehearsal and practiced growth into the experience of pitching multiple times.
It was awful for my first pitch but by my 20th pitch, I got my cadence proper.
But what if we rehearsed enough and prepared enough for my first pitch to be like my 20th? How many more ‘Yes’s would we get?
It reminds me of the over-the-top docu-series “The Rehearsal”. The show has moments of awkward cringe humour but highlights the potential for rehearsal in preparing people for every potential consideration.
Now, the rehearsal blows the entirely out of proportion with highly realistic set design, paid actors, what not but the conceptual proof is in the pudding. That rehearsal, in the context of public speaking, can be an extremely powerful tool in developing cadence, having quick-witted and tone-sensitive responses, as well as establishing effective communication strategies to augment your communicative success.
Practice makes you prepared.
Whether you’re a student, a business professional, or someone who simply wants to improve their public speaking skills, rehearsal and practice are crucial to delivering a successful presentation. Not only do these habits help you develop a confident and professional demeanour, but they also play an important role in improving your pronunciation.
Here are a few reasons why rehearsal and practice are so important:
Builds Confidence: The more you rehearse and practice your presentation, the more confident you will feel when it comes time to deliver it. By knowing your material inside and out, you’ll be able to speak more naturally and with greater ease.
The goal is to become so familiar with communicating about the material that you can pick up on and focus on the best way to communicate the material. It’s the meta-game where you are no longer thinking about what to say but how to say it to be most effective.
This can translate into connection with your audience and make a more lasting impression.
Improves Delivery: Rehearsing and practicing can help you fine-tune your delivery, ensuring that you’re speaking clearly, confidently, and with the right tone and inflection. You can break it down to a science where you know when to slow down, when to speed up, when to pause, when to raise your pitch, and when to leave some silence. It can feel like a comedic routine where you need to give time for the audience to laugh and enjoy the punch line. It can also help you eliminate distracting mannerisms or habits that might detract from your message like confusing hand gestures, cut out the umm’s and uhh’s, or other distractions like pacing.
Refines Pronunciation: When you’re learning to use a new word, it won’t feel natural or easy to use. It can be as awkward as shaking hands with your left hand - just not as natural. Practicing frequently can help you become more comfortable with the sounds and rhythms of the language. It can also help you identify specific areas where you might be struggling, allowing you to focus your efforts more effectively. And I think the thing to stress is that this is common for native English speakers too. If I’m using a new word or saying someone’s name, I will practice the pronunciation to make sure I feel comfortable. If I don’t feel comfortable pronouncing the word or name, I keep practicing until I know it.
I implore you to take the time to rehearse and practice.
Don’t practice just to kinda know the material.
Practice until you know every pause, every sentence, every place where you can catch your breath, every chance to point, use a gesture, every comedic effect moment. All of it.
You’ll notice a change in the delivery, in the confidence you have presenting, in your ability to handle interruptions, in your ability to resume your talk if you lose your train of thought, and your ability to remain on topic instead of rambling on.
You may have noticed that I didn’t talk much about specific pronunciation this time around. But I think it’s an important distinction to clarify. Communication is much more than specific word pronunciation, and your ability to command attention, communicate ideas effectively, express nuance, and be direct yet tactful is something that is far more important than whether you can pronounce the TH-sound perfectly.
