Does your speech have ‘legs’? Erik Palmer’s PVLEGS is a checklist for evaluating speaking by public school students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the May 22 issue of Educational Leadership there is an excellent article by Erik Palmer titled Speaking Out on pages 62 to 66. He discusses teaching public speaking in schools, and his very useful PVLEGS acronym for a checklist (a rubric) where P is poise, V is voice, L is life, E is eye contact, G is gestures, and S is speed. Figure 1 has it listed as follows (and also can be downloaded as a .pdf file):

 

PVLEGS Checklist for Presentation Delivery

 

Poise

I appear calm and confident.

There are no distracting behaviors.

I recorded myself and watched for fidgeting, shuffling, and odd tics.

 

Voice

My voice is just right for the space – not too loud or too soft.

Every word can be heard.

I don’t mumble or blur words together.

 

Life

I have feeling/emotion/passion in my voice during the entire talk.

Listeners can hear that I care about my topic.

I have appropriate life in my voice.

(Enthusiasm for things I’m excited about;

sadness for sad topics, anger for upsetting things; etc).

 

Eye Contact

I look at every listener at some point during my talk.

My eye contact is natural and fluid.

If I use notes, I only glance at them quickly to remind myself of key points.

I talk to my audience, rather than read at them.

 

Gestures

My hand gestures add to my words.

Emphatic hand gestures make key points stand out.

Descriptive hand gestures make it easy to visualize my talk.

My face is full of expression. Facial gestures add to my words.

I lean in, shrug, and use other body motions to engage the audience.

 

Speed

I speed up, slow down, and pause where appropriate to add to my message.

I change pace for effect.

 

PVLEGS appeared back in 2010 in his book Well Spoken: teaching speaking to all students. There is a two-and-a-half minute YouTube video introduction. PVLEGS might be used in a rubric for multiple evaluations by advanced Toastmasters clubs, a topic I blogged about on May 2, 2022.

 

The legs cartoon was adapted from this cartoon at Wikimedia Commons.