You can create a sense of immediacy when delivering your speech by adopting an oral language style—using words that are similar to how people talk. An oral language style differs radically from a written language style, which is usually more formal and detailed. Consider the following examples:

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Written language style: “Although the word sustainability denotes a wide variety of concerns, many people restrict its meaning to the green movement. However, it is imperative that a broader meaning be embraced.”

Oral language style: “If you’re like me, when you hear the word sustainability, you only think of things like energy conservation and recycling. But the word means so much more.”

A written language style often comes from composing a manuscript speech or writing an overly detailed delivery outline. This results in a spoken presentation that may sound like a written paper. Listeners prefer the oral language style over the more formal tone of the written style (Doetkott & Motley, 2009). Saujani tells stories filled with personal pronouns like “I,” “we,” and “you.” By composing a speech using an oral language style, she presents her message in a natural, conversational manner and creates a sense of immediacy with her audience.

However, immediacy isn’t achieved through an oral language style alone. You also connect with your audience through nonverbal behaviors, such as vocal characteristics, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures and body posture, and personal space.

Vocal Characteristics. Your voice creates a sense of either closeness or distance with the audience. When delivering your speech, consider how the following three features will help you connect with listeners. First, your vocal pitch is the high and low registers of your voice. In ordinary conversation, your vocal pitch varies with your emotions. When you’re excited, your pitch rises; when you’re serious, your pitch lowers. While practicing your speech, mark sections of your delivery outline to show where your voice needs to convey emotion, such as when you are telling a story to illustrate a point or emphasizing an especially important statistic. This will help you vary your vocal pitch and give your audience a sense of how you feel about your topic.

Second, vocal tone—the richness and sound quality of your voice—also varies during natural conversations. For instance, your tone sounds different when you’re discouraged than when you’re optimistic. People who don’t vary their vocal pitch and vocal tone during a conversation or public presentation are speaking in a monotone—which doesn’t create a sense of immediacy. A monotone delivery bores an audience, giving the impression you don’t care about what you are saying.

Third, vocal rate—how rapidly you speak—also determines immediacy. Ideally, public speakers deliver their messages at 140–175 words per minute. When speakers speak at a rate slower than 140 words per minute, audiences can quickly lose interest in the message. Don’t worry too much about those exact numbers or counting your words. The real lesson is this: If you speak too rapidly, your listeners may miss something or feel exhausted trying to keep up. But if you speak too slowly, your audience’s attention can begin to wander.

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Eye Contact. In our discussion of nonverbal communication in Chapter 6, we explain how eye contact shows attention, interest, affection, and even aggression. During a presentation, eye contact signals your interest and desire to connect with your audience. You can do this by spending two to three seconds looking at listeners in one section of your audience, then spending the same amount of time looking at listeners in another section, and so on, throughout your speech. Be sure to make your eye contact random so that it feels natural and spontaneous. If you simply scan the room back and forth, it feels staged and diminishes the sense of closeness.

When managing your eye contact during a speech, watch out for two common mistakes: not making enough eye contact because you are too focused on reading your notes, or making eye contact with only those listeners who are the most interested and supportive. In both instances, listeners who don’t receive eye contact will feel ignored. Finally, if you are delivering an online presentation and no audience is physically present with you in the room, look straight at the camera, as though you were talking to a close friend. In televised political debates, candidates increase their chances of favorable ratings by gazing directly at the camera (Nagel, Maurer, & Reinemann, 2012).

Facial Expressions. Your audience can tell how strongly you feel about your message by observing your facial expressions. For example, you might smile with expressive eyes when making a humorous point. On the other hand, you would probably smile less and project a solemn look when telling a tragic story. In both cases, facial expressions reinforce your feelings about the message, strengthening the connection with your audience.

Facial expressions should naturally arise from your feelings about specific points you’re making in the speech. As you compose your speech, take time to critically self-reflect (see Chapter 2) about your feelings related to the topic. This can help you become facially expressive as you deliver specific points during your speech. Keep in mind that a lack of facial expressiveness on your part—or worse, overly rehearsed or exaggerated expressions—will come across as insincere, unbelievable, or both.

Gestures and Body Posture. Your gestures and posture also reveal the intensity of your involvement with your topic and thus affect the degree of immediacy your audience feels. In everyday conversation, you naturally use your hands and move your body to help you describe something or tell a story. However, when you give a speech, nervousness can cause your gestures to be awkward, stilted, or even nonexistent. You may attempt to manage your nervousness through adaptive gestures, such as fidgeting, twirling your hair, or fiddling with your jewelry. Your posture may even stiffen, causing you to start swaying back and forth. Any of these changes can block you from creating a sense of immediacy with your audience. Folding your arms across your body or jingling your pocket change sends the message that you’re not engaged with your topic or your audience. Slumping over a lectern suggests that you’re bored or tired—further eroding immediacy. Carefully monitor your gestures and posture to make sure you are producing congruent messages. As Chapter 6 explains, this happens when your verbal communication and nonverbal communication match. When rehearsing your speech, focus on proper posture and practice specific gestures, such as pointing, to emphasize main points or to reinforce your visual aids.

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Personal Space. Presentations often involve the use of a lectern or simply occur at a physical distance known as public space. You may recall that public space exists when communicators are 12 or more feet apart (Chapter 6). Large physical distance between a speaker and the audience can reduce a sense of immediacy. But many of the nonverbal behaviors discussed earlier—such as varying your vocal pitch, maintaining eye contact, and practicing facial expressiveness—keep you connected with the audience even when you are physically far away.

Additionally, moving purposefully around the presentation space reduces the physical distance. When Reshma Saujani speaks to an audience, she walks out from behind the lectern to share success stories about Girls Who Code. Although you, too, will want to reduce the space between you and your listeners, there are three common pitfalls to avoid. First, only move to emphasize a key point or when transitioning to another point in your speech. Also, avoid distracting the audience by pacing back and forth. Finally, be aware of cultural norms related to personal space that may be specific to your audience. You don’t want to be perceived as too pushy or too remote. It is important during your speech rehearsal to give attention to how you use personal space.