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Westside Toastmasters is located in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California

Hints for Easier Reading

Because reading a script is a physical activity, here is a checklist of steps that make the physical process easier.

  • Use heavy paper—no less than 20-pound; 60-pound is better.

  • Be sure you have a lectern wide enough for sliding the pages to the other side as you read them. (Do not staple them together.)

  • Be sure all the pages are numbered.

  • Never end a page in the middle of a sentence or thought group.

  • Use only one side of the page.

  • Leave a wide margin for directions to yourself.

  • Double- or triple-space.

  • Use a typeface that is easy to read.

  • Use a large, bold font.

  • Mark your script for thought/breath groups and emphasis, and put in all your self-directions on the wide right-hand margins.

If you follow these steps and make sure you familiarize, personalize, emphasize, and harmonize, you will become one of those rare speakers who not only present well but make the written word come alive. And the next chapter will show you how to use that ability in meetings, those frequent forums where the written word plays such a key role.


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