Lecturing Effectively
Lectures are comprised of two components: Content and Delivery. Both components are essential for creating an interesting lecture. If the beginning of a lecture captures your attention, the middle builds suspense or intrigue as the lecture unfolds, and the end forms a resolution, you have a lecture in story form – the age-old method for passing on information. Yet, how well a story is told is dependent upon the quality of the delivery.

General Strategies

• Watch yourself on videotape.
• Learn how not to read your lectures.
• Prepare yourself emotionally for class.

Opening a Lecture
Avoid a "cold start." Go to class a little early and talk informally with students. Or walk in the door with students and engage them in conversation. Using your voice informally before you begin to lecture helps keep your tone conversational.
Minimize nervousness. A certain amount of nervousness is normal, especially right before you begin to speak. To relax yourself, take deep breaths before you begin or tighten and then release the muscles of your body from your toes to your jaw Once you are under way your nervousness will lessen.
Grab students' attention with your opening. Open with a provocative question, startling statement, unusual analogy, striking example, personal anecdote, dramatic contrast, powerful quote, short questionnaire, demonstration, or mention of a recent news event. Here are some sample openings:
Vary your opening. Any dramatic technique loses impact upon repetition.
Announce the objectives for the class. Tell your students what you expect to accomplish during the class, or list your objectives on the board. Place the day's lecture in context by linking it to material from earlier sessions.
Establish rapport with your students. Warmth and rapport have a positive effect on any audience. Students will feel more engaged in the class if the opening minutes are personal, direct, and conversational. (Source: Knapper, 1981)
Capturing Students' Interest
During class, think about and watch your audience-your students. Focus on your students as if you were talking to a small group. One-on-one eye contact will increase students' attentiveness and help you observe their facial expressions and physical movements for signs that you are speaking too slowly or too quickly, or need to provide another example. A common mistake lecturers make is to become so absorbed in the material that they fail to notice whether students are paying attention.
Vary your delivery to keep students' attention. Keeping students' attention is among the most important facets of helping them learn. Studies show that most people's attention lapses after ten minutes of passive listening. To extend students' attention spans, do the following:

• Ask questions at strategic points or ask for comments or opinions about the subject.
• Play devil's advocate or invite students to challenge your point of view
• Have students solve a problem individually, or have them break into pairs or small four-person groups to answer a question or discuss a topic.
• Introduce visual aids: slides, charts, graphs, videotapes, and films.

Make the organization of your lecture explicit. Put an outline on the board before you begin, outline the development of ideas as they occur, or give students a handout of your major points or topics. Outlines help students focus on the progression of the material and also help them take better notes. If their attention does wander, students can more readily catch up with the lecture if they have an outline in front of them.
Convey your own enthusiasm for the material. Think back to what inspired you as an undergraduate or to the reasons you entered the field you are in. Even if you have little interest in a particular topic, try to come up with a new way of looking at it and do what you can to stimulate students' enthusiasm. If you appear bored with the topic, students will quickly lose interest.
Be conversational. Use conversational inflections and tones, varying your pitch just as you do in ordinary conversation. If you focus on the meaning of what you are saying, you'll instinctively become more expressive. Choose informal language, and try to be natural and direct.
Use concrete, simple, colorful language. Use first-person and second-person pronouns (I, we, you). Choose dramatic adjectives, for example, "vital point" rather than "main point" or "provocative issue" rather than "next issue." Eliminate jargon, empty words, and unnecessary qualifiers ("little bit," "sort of," "kind of"). (Source: Bernhardt, 1989)
Incorporate anecdotes and stories into your lecture. When you are in a storytelling mode, your voice becomes conversational and your face more expressive, and students tend to listen more closely. Use anecdotes to illustrate your key points.
Don't talk into your notes. If you  need to refer to your note cards, raise the cards (rather than lower your head) and take a quick glance downward, keeping your head steady This movement will be easier if your notes are brief and in large letters.
Maintain eye contact with the class. Look directly at your students one at a time to give them a sense that you are speaking to each individual. Look at a student for three to five seconds - a longer glance will make most students uncomfortable. Beware of aimless scanning or swinging your head back and forth. Mentally divide the lecture hall into three to five sections, and address comments, questions, and eye contact to each section during the course of your lecture, beginning in the center rear of the room. Pick out friendly faces, but also try to include nonlisteners. However, don't waste your time trying to win over the uninterested; concentrate on the attentive. If real eye contact upsets your concentration, look between two students or look at foreheads.
Use movements to hold Students' attention. A moving object is more compelling than a static one. Occasionally, move about the room. Use deliberate, purposeful, sustained gestures: hold up an object, roll up your sleeves. To invite students' questions, adopt an open, casual stance. Beware of nervous foot shifting, however, and aimless, distracting gestures.
Use movements to emphasize an important point or to lead into a new topic. Some faculty move to one side of the table or the lectern when presenting one side of an argument and to the other side when presenting the opposing view This movement not only captures students' attention but reinforces the Opposition between the two points of view .
Use facial expressions to convey emotions. If you appear enthusiastic and eager to tell students what you know they are more likely to be enthusiastic about hearing it. Use your facial features: eyes, eyebrows, forehead, mouth, and jaw to convey enthusiasm, conviction, curiosity, and thoughtfulness.
Laugh at yourself when you make a mistake. If you mispronounce a word or drop your notes, your ability to see the humor of the situation will put everyone at ease. Don't let your confidence be shaken by minor mistakes.
Keep track of time. How long is it taking you to cover each point? Where should you be in the material halfway through the class period? If you seem to be running out of time, what will you leave out? If time runs short, do not speed up to cover everything in your notes. Have some advance plan of what to omit: If I don't have fifteen minutes left when I reach this heading, I'll give only one example and distribute a handout with the other examples
Mastering Delivery Techniques

• Vary the pace at which you speak.

• Project your voice or use a microphone.

• Vary your voice.

• Pause.

• Watch out for vocalized pauses.

• Adopt a natural speaking stance.

• Breathe normally.

Closing a Lecture
Draw some conclusion for the class. Help students see that a purpose has been served, that something has been gained during the last hour. A well-planned conclusion rounds out the presentation, ties up loose ends, suggests ways for students to follow up on the lecture, and gives students a sense of closure.
Finish forcefully. Don't allow your lecture to trail off or end in midsentence because the period is over, and avoid the last-minute "Oh, I almost forgot. . ." An impressive ending will echo in students' minds and prompt them to prepare for the next meeting. End with a thought-provoking question or problem; a quotation that sets an essential theme; a summation of the major issue as students now understand it, having had the benefit' of the lecture just delivered; or a preview of coming attractions.
End your lecture with the volume up. Make your voice strong, lift your chin up, and keep your eyes facing the audience. Be sure to stay after class for a few minutes to answer students' questions.

Elements of Lecture Delivery
How you say something is equally as important as what you say. Thethree major components of delivery are: vocal elements, body language and gestures, and in instructional situations, visuals (or artifacts).