December 3, 2013

The Compleat Reader

Fellow speaker,


When reading from a text (e.g., reading a story taken from a book), make the text bold, 24 point or greater, 2 1/2 spaced, and print out the text.

Then go through the text and draw "/" marks between the places which are short phrases and where you would take a natural pause (e.g., "Four score and seven years ago / our fathers brought forth on this continent / ...").

Put the pages side by side with one page on the left and rest of the pages on the right.  When reading, first read up to the first "/" silently in your mind, then look at someone in the audience and REPEAT out loud what you just read in your mind.  Continue this throughout the reading: read silently up to the next "/", then look at a different person in the audience and repeat out loud what you just read in your mind.

As you read, when you are about half-way through the page on the right, slide the page over from the right side onto the left, and continue reading.

Reading,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com