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Chapter 6: Physical Delivery
Key Concepts
6-1 Demonstrate how to project confidence through physical delivery.
6-2 Discuss how to maintain attention through physical delivery.
Suggested Activities and Exercises
Charades
This exercise asks students to convey emotions nonverbally. Prepare a set of slips of paper on
which you have written emotions such as happiness, sadness, fear, anger, hate, love,
nervousness, and sympathy. Each student draws a slip and attempts to convey that emotion to the
Observation of Nonverbal Behavior
Select several students, or ask for volunteers, to participate in a discussion. Have the participants
leave the classroom for a few minutes so that they can select a controversial issue to discuss, one
on which no two of the speakers hold a similar position. While the participants are outside,
reveal the real purpose of the exercise to the class: the observation of nonverbal behavior.
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Eye Contact Exercise
Have every audience member raise his or her hand at the beginning of a speech. The speaker’s
Emphasizing and Identifying Poor Delivery
This classic activity illustrates how poor delivery skills can impact a speech. Volunteer students
are asked to give a brief impromptu speech that incorporates one of the following ineffective
delivery styles:
Delivery Coach Activity
Each student is designated as delivery coach for another. This can be reciprocal in pairs if there
is an even number of students. It is perhaps more effective, however, to have a student serve as
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Next have them develop a clear and simple signaling system to remind the speaker of these
goals. Bring note cards and colored markers to class and let their creativity take over. Many will
devise cards like:
Others will develop simple reinforcers like:
Dialogue Exercise
This exercise combines both physical and vocal delivery skills. Develop a dialogue or several
statements where the way you say it affects the overall meaning of it, such as “Come here I want
to talk to you.” Have the students read the dialogue aloud putting in the assigned emotion you
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Gestures and Movement
Have a student volunteer to assist you in an assignment. Before class, prompt the volunteer to
Tests
Correct answers are marked with an asterisk. The places in the Compact Handbook where the
information was presented are shown in brackets.
True/False Questions
Multiple Choice Questions
5. The goal with physical delivery is to _____.
6. Movements at appropriate times in your speech can help you _____.
Essay and Short Answer Questions
7. Should a speaker be concerned about his/her appearance? Why/why not? [6a]