Audience Contact and Use of Notes

1. Explain the importance of audience contact and the part use of notes plays in this.

¹ Having good contact with your audience is a great aid in teaching. It wins their respect and enables you to teach more effectively. Your contact with them should bring you into such close touch that their every reaction is immediately felt by you as speaker. Your use of notes plays an important part in determining whether you have such audience contact or not. Extensive notes can be a hindrance; but skilled use of notes is not disturbing, even if the circumstances require that they be somewhat longer than usual. That is because a speaker who is skilled does not lose his contact with the audience by looking at the notes either too much or at the wrong time. On your Speech Counsel slip this is given attention, and it is listed as “Audience contact, use of notes.”

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10, 11. What should encourage us to learn to use an outline?

¹⁰ Use of outline. Few beginning speakers start out by speaking from an outline. Usually they will write the talk out in advance and then either read it or deliver it from memory. Your counselor will overlook this at the beginning, but when you come to “Use of outline” on your Speech Counsel slip he is going to encourage you to speak from notes. When you master it, you will find that you have taken a great stride forward as a public speaker.

¹¹ Children and adults who cannot even read give talks, using illustrations to suggest ideas. You can prepare your talk with a simple outline too, the same as the Scripture presentations that are outlined in Kingdom Ministry. You speak regularly without a manuscript in the field ministry. You can do it just as easily in the school, once you make up your mind to it.

12, 13. Give suggestions on how to make an outline.

¹² Since working on this quality is to help you to get away from a manuscript, both in preparation and in delivery, do not memorize your talk. It will defeat the purpose of this Study.

¹³ If you are using scriptures, you can ask yourself the adverbial questions, How? Who? When? Where? and so forth. Then, as they fit your material, use these questions as part of your notes. In giving the talk simply read a scripture, ask yourself or your householder these questions, as appropriate, and answer them. It can be as simple as that.

14, 15. What factors should not discourage us?

¹⁴ Beginners often are concerned that they will forget something. However, if you have developed your talk logically, no one will even miss a thought if you do overlook it. Coverage of material is not the main consideration at this stage anyway. It is more important for you now to learn to talk from an outline.

¹⁵ It is possible that in giving this talk you will feel you have lost many of the qualities already learned. Do not be alarmed. They will return and you will find yourself more proficient at them once you can learn to speak without a manuscript.

16, 17. In making notes, what should we remember?

¹⁶ Just a word about notes used for talks in the ministry school. They should be used to recall ideas, not to recite them. Notes should be brief. They should also be neat, orderly and legible. If your setting is a return visit, your notes should be inconspicuous, perhaps inside your Bible. If it is a platform talk and you know you are going to be using a speakers’ stand, then notes should be no problem. But if you are not sure, prepare accordingly.

¹⁷ Another aid is to write the theme at the top of your notes. Main points should also stand out clearly to the eye. Try writing them in all capital letters or underlining them.

18, 19. How can we practice using an outline?

¹⁸ Your use of only a few notes in delivering your talk does not mean you can skimp on preparation. Prepare the talk in detail first, making as complete an outline as you wish. Then, prepare a second, much briefer, outline. This is the outline that you will actually use to deliver the talk.

¹⁹ Now put both outlines in front of you and, looking only at the abbreviated outline, say just as much as you can on the first main point. Next, glance at the more detailed outline and see what you have overlooked. Go on to the second main point in your abbreviated outline and do the same. In time, the shorter outline will become so familiar to you that you can recall everything in the more detailed outline just by looking at your few brief notes. With practice and experience you will begin to appreciate the advantages of extemporaneous speaking and will use a manuscript only when absolutely required. You will feel more relaxed when you speak and your audience will listen with greater respect.