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Imagine yourself standing before an audience, preparing to make an address. How will you actually deliver your speech? Will you read from a manuscript? Recite from text you’ve memorized? Speak extemporaneously from an outline?

In most classroom settings (as well as many settings outside of class), speaking extemporaneously from an outline will allow you to achieve the best possible results. This delivery mode enables you to adopt a natural, conversational style that audiences appreciate. Yet there are certain situations in which you may want to read from a manuscript or recite your speech word-for-word from memory. We examine each of these three delivery modes in turn, starting with reading from a manuscript.