Seven Tips for a Good Reading

Last night I went to an Open Mic Night sponsored by the St. Louis Writer's Guild. I really should go to them more often; they leave me feeling energized about my writing. Reading in front of an audience reminds me that the purpose of writing is to communicate with other people.


Many people have told me I'm a good reader and speaker, and I attribute that to three factors: an excellent Oral Interpretation class in college, a little acting experience, and three years of practice standing up in front of high school students (who can be a very tough audience). My philosophy of reading work in public is that if you're going to be audacious enough to claim that your writing merits their time and attention, you'd better have put in some thought and preparation beforehand. Many writers put a lot of work into their words, but then they neglect to give the same care to their presentation.


I humbly offer my 7 Tips for a Good Reading (most of which apply to any kind of public speaking):


1) Practice your piece. Read it aloud at least twice, noting where you want to pause and which words you want to emphasize. If eye contact is a problem, you can even write notes to yourself to look up at strategic points. If you stumble over a sentence, either revise it (I read all my work aloud in the revision stage to find the awkward places) or practice it some more.


2) Be prepared. Print out what you're reading well in advance, and use a big font. In my Oral Interpretation class, the professor made us buy choir binders to hold our readings so there's no shuffling of papers. It was a great investment; I use mine to this day.


3) Work on presentation. Stand up straight, don't sway, and speak clearly. Under no circumstances should your paper block your face from the audience. Practice in front of a mirror if you have to. People take time to process spoken information, so go slowly. (That goes double for poetry.) Make eye contact. The purpose of reading is to form a connection with your audience--and it's a magical feeling when you can see them smiling, nodding, or looking sad about something you've written.


4) Get situated. Take a few minutes beforehand to figure out the setup--how you'll get up to read, whether the microphone will need to be adjusted, etc. Once at my old job, before giving a PowerPoint presentation I checked out the podium where I'd be speaking and realized the screen was behind it. Most people ended up reading their presentations from the screen--and turning their backs to the audience--but I made sure to have a printout so I could both follow my notes and make eye contact.


5) Tell the audience what to expect. It can be as simple as, "I'm going to be reading three poems tonight about nature" or "This is an excerpt of a memoir about my grandmother." At the same time, don't over-explain. We don't need to know about all your problems with your family that inspired the poem; the work should stand on its own.


6) Be confident. If you're prepared, you have no reason to be nervous. If people have chosen to come to a reading, they're a sympathetic audience. (Some of them may be thinking bitter, critical things about everyone, but those people have their own problems that you're not going to be able to fix.) Try to be excited about the chance to share your work. If you don't feel confident, give your best impersonation of a confident person, and no one will notice the difference.


7) Be mindful of people's time. If there's a time limit, work with it. At the readings I've been going to, there's a 5-minute limit for poetry and a 7-minute limit for prose, and I ascertain beforehand that what I'm reading fits well within the limit. You may think it's a good idea to try to use every possible second, but you want a strong ending on your own terms, instead of having to stop because someone has told you your time is up. Don't try the patience of your audience--leave them wanting more.