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On September 3, 1939, Britain’s King George VI took to radio waves to inform an anxious Great Britain that the nation was, for the second time in a generation, at war. “In this grave hour,” the king began, “perhaps the most fateful in history, I send to every household of my peoples, both at home and overseas, this message, spoken with the same depth of feeling for each one of you as if I were able to cross your threshold and speak to you myself.”

Given the opportunity, it’s quite possible that he would have preferred to address each of his subjects in that very personal manner rather than via a live radio broadcast. George VI—born Albert Frederick Arthur George, and known to those closest to him as Albert—had suffered since childhood from a crippling nervous stammer (more commonly called a stutter on this side of the Atlantic). Second in line for the throne, he only became king after his elder brother, the dashing Edward, famously abdicated the British throne in order to marry an American divorcée in 1936. Thus Albert was thrust into a position of leadership that he didn’t want but was bound by duty and honor to fulfill. And less than three years into his unexpected reign, the reluctant king was called upon to address the nation as it plunged once again into war.

Albert managed to address the nation with surprising grace. He was not perfect, but he managed to get through the speech and deliver his message to a frightened and uncertain public. One listener was David Seidler, a young British boy who had evacuated to the United States before the Blitz and who, like the king, suffered from what he describes as a “profound” stutter. “I heard these wonderful, moving speeches, and had heard that he had been a terrible stutterer,” Seidler recalls. “If he could cure himself, it gave me hope” (Horn, 2010). Seidler grew up to become a screenwriter and penned the Academy Award–winning film The King’s Speech. Seidler, who overcame his stutter as a teenager, accepted his Oscar “on behalf of all the stutterers in the world. We have a voice. We have been heard” (Seidler, 2011).

Many people feel anxious about delivering speeches—and some manage to avoid it. But consider the nervousness and challenges that King George and David Seidler managed to overcome in the process of finding their voices. As their stories illustrate, with the right tools and plenty of practice, even the most nervous or challenged individuals can become accomplished and engaging speakers. In this chapter, you’ll learn the basics of effective speech delivery that will help you connect with your audience and deliver an effective presentation. We begin by acknowledging the nervousness you may naturally experience before moving on to key methods of delivery, guidelines for effective delivery and presentation aids, and tips for practicing your speech.