 In our first video about delivery, we talked about how important controlling your voice is to the effectiveness of your speech. But your vocals aren't the only aspect of delivery that have an impact on your credibility as a speaker and your ability to achieve your speech goals. Your physical delivery also plays an important role, beginning with your physical appearance. I say beginning because your appearance is the first thing your audience will notice about you and your speech. In other words, they will see you before they hear you. What do your clothes say about you? Your hair? Your posture and your composure? Hopefully, they speak to your knowledge or expertise in a topic area rather than detract from it. The best rule of thumb is to dress appropriately for the speech topic, the audience, and the occasion. That will mean something different as each of the variables change. For example, if you're giving an inspirational speech as the coach to your youth soccer team, a suit and tie might be a bit much. But if you're addressing the kids at the team's end of the season awards banquet, you might want to get that tie back out of the closet. Each audience topic and occasion will dictate the choices you make with your appearance. One of the most important aspects of your physical delivery is eye contact. Think about it. Our society, eye contact, or lack thereof, can be associated with perceptions of honesty, respect, emotional investment, confidence, competency, and much more. Many of the popular, yet terrible pieces of advice out there to cope with speech anxiety revolve around avoiding eye contact in some way. Get nervous when making eye contact? Look over the top of the audience's head. Hate to look at all your audience members? No problem. Just pick out a point in the back of the room and talk to it. Don't listen to this nonsense. If you're not looking at your audience's eyes, you're not connecting with them. A good tip is to look at an individual long enough to complete a sentence or thought. In other words, don't scan the audience too quickly, but also don't turn your speech into a staring contest with any one individual audience member. Some other helpful guidelines to effective physical delivery? Stand confidently. Your posture says a lot about you and your self-assurance. Gesture naturally. Don't imitate the karate kid, but you also shouldn't turn your speech into the mannequin challenge either. Let's find some balance. Move freely. Similar to your use of gestures, you typically want to avoid standing perfectly still, but you also don't want to overdo your movements to the point that you're pacing, dancing, or swaying. Many suggest moving during the transitions in your speech as a physical metaphor. We like that idea. That can serve as a starting point to motivated movement within your speech. And smile. When delivering a speech, you should never look like you're trapped in a medieval torture device. Smiling creates psychological immediacy in your speech and gives the impression that you might actually be enjoying yourself. Audiences like that. I've talked a lot about what you should do in your speech, but there are also a few bad habits that you should avoid. First, no gum. Nobody wants to see or hear that in a speech. Get rid of it before you go up. No hats. Hats can cast a shadow on your eyes and face, and generally speaking they don't improve your delivery. Save for rare occasions, get rid of them. No fidgeting. When speaking, we often get nervous. When nervous, we often have distracting habits. Some play with their hair, others their jewelry, while others a pen or their notes. Whatever your favorite fidget is, it isn't helping your speech. Get rid of it. No vocal fillers. You know, like these vocal fillers, they don't like really like help your speech, all that like much. In fact, they can be extremely distracting to the audience and should be avoided. Just like eliminate these two. That's it. Be natural, enthusiastic, confident, and direct with both your vocal and physical delivery. Nothing to it, right? In all honesty, good speech delivery is difficult to achieve for most beginning speakers, but it is something that you should absolutely strive for as you continue developing your speaking skills. With some extremely rare exceptions, it is something that only comes with practice and experience. Let me sum it up by asking a bit of an odd question. Who is the bass player of your favorite band? Most people would have a difficult time answering that question. Why? Because if he or she is doing their job, you really never notice them. Sure, if you took the bass out of the band, it would stand out, but the instrument does not and should not draw attention to itself. It supports, but does not lead. It's essential, but is not the headliner. If the average concert goer is paying attention to the bass player, it's because he or she screwed up and is trying to do too much. Likewise, once audience members begin paying attention to the speaker's delivery, they are no longer paying attention to the message. Good delivery will always enhance the audience's focus on the message, not detract from it. So, pluck away on the bass strings of good speech delivery and rock on.