Volume

• Should be a little louder than that of a normal conversation
• Consider size of room and audience, background noise, and availability of a microphone. 

Pitch

• conveys mood of speaker
• avoid monotone speech

Rate

• Not too fast or too slow
• Watch the audience’s reactions to determine if your rate is appropriate

Pauses

• No “uh’s,” “um’s,” “you know,” etc.
• Establish transitions between ideas in speech ahead of time in order to avoid these vocal fillers
• Pause only when trying to emphasize a point or make a statement

Vocal Variety

• Switch up volume, pitch, rate, and pauses within speech

Pronunciation and Articulation

• Be sure you know how to say words correctly
• Consider diction and enunciation

Paraphrased from A Speaker’s Guidebook, O’Hair, et. al.
Prepared by Michelle Hector, Dan Bilodeau, and Laura Siegel