How to use a “Reader’s Copy” and the “Taking it off the page technique”
Sometimes we have a long, complicated and precise speech, are reading from a book or long quote, or are an on-air journalist or voice-over artist, and want to find a way to make this reading sound vital and extemporaneous. In these cases, I use a “Reader’s Copy” like the one pictured in this photo and the “Taking it off the page” technique illustrated in this video. Otherwise, reading from a text can sound read, sound memorized, because it has the even tempo, lulling us to sleep, rather than waking us up to listen. This is why I prefer talks that are deeply “known” vs. talks that are memorized. Conversational speech has a variety of stops and starts, ups and downs, fast and slow, loud and soft. When we must read or memorize, we work to bring that variety into the delivery.
READER’S COPY
This photo is an example of a Reader’s Copy. I made up all of the symbols because they are clear to me. There are no rules, just use what is clear to you. You can use any way of formatting the text as long as it works for you. As you can see in the photo, generally, I use all caps, bold, italics, parentheses, and mark breaths, pauses, and transitions with backslashes or lines.
Here is what I use for clarity:
//=PAUSE/BREATHE for Transitions
BOLD=EMPHASIZE, hit hard, move through the thought to that point
ITALIC=TOSS AWAY and rattle off
_____LINES=BIG TRANSITIONS/SECTION BREAKS
The purpose is to remind the speaker which words of phrases to emphasize, which to “toss away,” where to breathe, where there is a pause of transition, where the talk climaxes, and where the internal arcs require builds.
Reader’s Copies require the same number of hours reciting out-loud. Alas. It is important to practice, making sure to allow each time to be different. If you find your speech following the same exact emphasis each time, play with switching it up.
TAKING IT OFF THE PAGE
Taking it off the page is the practice of “grabbing” a line or two, looking out into the audience, and paraphrasing it slightly while infusing the words with your own unique voice, cadence, and humor. This does take practice. The key is really to allow yourself to play, to enjoy the language, to ignite rapport with your audience, and as always, to breathe.
Here is a video of me illustrating “Taking it off the page.”