05/04/2024
Here are some thoughts on practicing and rehearsing. I'd love to see your rich thoughts and comments too...
Practice: This implies a focus on improving the fundamental skills required for public speaking, such as vocal projection, clarity, pacing, and audience engagement. Practice involves working on these skills in various contexts, ensuring that you can adapt to different situations, audiences, and topics. It’s about internalizing the material and being able to discuss it naturally, rather than memorizing word for word.
Rehearse: Rehearsing, in contrast, often suggests going over the specific speech repeatedly in a way that aims for memorization and perfection of a set script.
Why should we practice but not rehearse: While rehearse can make a speaker very familiar with their material, it can also lead to a presentation that feels stiff or lacks spontaneity if things don’t go exactly as planned.
