After drafting your outline, make sure to practice your speech. With practice, you’ll feel more confident about your presentation—and more comfortable talking in front of your classmates. This comfort level will enable you to use extemporaneous delivery—using only notes for reference rather than reading your speech to the audience word-for-word.

Practice delivering your speech from your full outline several times, until the content starts to feel familiar. Then condense your outline into a set of briefer notes. This will be the outline you’ll use when actually presenting your speech, and it will help you deliver your speech in a more conversational way, explaining the main points and subpoints in your own words, without reading word-for-word. Place your speaking outline on index cards or 8½ in. × 11 in. paper, using large type so that it will be easy to glance down and find your place while you are presenting. You may refer to your notes when you need to refresh your memory, but you should usually be looking at the audience.

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Instead of delivering your speech face-to-face, your assignment may call for a mediated presentation. This means that your speech will be transmitted through a mechanical or electronic medium. When practicing a mediated speech, be sure to practice with the recording technology and camera operator you will use on the day of the speech. Play your practice speech back to see how your speech will appear to the viewers, and make adjustments if needed.