Reading your speech makes it difficult to deliver your
speech an interesting and confident way. You are tied to
one spot by the speech and it is difficult to connect with
the audience.

There are 4 circumstances when you may want to read your
speech:

1) Political speech - where each word and phrase is to be
scrutinized.

2) Technical speech - difficult concepts are being
explained and accuracy is important

3) A special event - a certain theme is being portrayed

4) Confidence - where the speaker does not feel confident
enough to deliver it without a written speech.

Public speaking is about effectively conveying ideas to the
audience. Reading a speech makes that difficult because it
confines the ability to speak expressively. Some of the
shortcomings caused by reading are;

1) It delivered in a monotonous drone

2) Eyes are kept down reading the script

3) Long sentences and words are used that are difficult to
understand for the listener

4) Little visual appeal - i.e. the speaker does not move or
gesture.

To overcome these difficulties and speak with confidence
the following techniques will help when reading your speech

Speech preparation - write your own speech. It will help
you to know what is in the speech and it will be personal
to you. After you have written your speech, go over it
again looking for words and phrases that do not sound right
when spoken. Spoken language is simpler than written
language. Written language can be hard to understand when
it is spoken. Keep the words and sentences short, to aid
the audience's understanding. If you haven't written the
speech go over it and modify it for your style and your own
stories, i.e. personalizing it. Type the speech so that it
is easy for you to read aloud. Double spaced typing and on
one side normally works best. Also ensure you keep your
pages in order so you do not have to shuffle through them
to find the next sheet when delivering your speech.

Practice your speech as often as you can. In most
circumstances you are trying to achieve a conversational
quality to your speech. You will probably discover phrases
and words that require changing. Your practice should
cover:-

1) Looking up from your speech. If you are constantly
looking down you will not be able to connect with the
audience. You want to familiar enough with the speech so
you only need to glance down to see what comes next and can
look out at the audience when you deliver the line.

2) Bring in gestures into your delivery. Gestures add
visual appeal to your speech and thereby interest to the
proceedings for the audience

3) Use your voice expressively. Keep up a good pace and
vary the tone and pitch as you would in normal
conversation. Your voice should be expressing the ideas and
feelings that are being spoken.

4) Practice in front of a mirror or video yourself, so you
can observe yourself and make improvements. Ask your
friends and family to play your audience and feedback their
observations to you.

Reading your speech makes it difficult to speak with
confidence and to effectively convey your ideas. But it is
not impossible. By carefully preparing and thoroughly
practicing you can improve the delivery of the speech and
make it more interesting and effective for you and your
audience.