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In watching TV or the movies, I am always impressed with the dictio I hear from the actors. It doesn't matter what characters they are playing. And, it doesn't matter which nationality they are, their articulation is clear and concise. It is part of their training. Can you say the same about your diction?
They say that man’s greatest fear is public speaking and that his second greatest fear is dying. According to Jerry Seinfield that means, "that most people at a funeral would rather be in the coffin than give the eulogy!" To my knowledge no one has died from public speaking. Your hands may ...
Absolutely. I have worked with many, many people who were not outgoing or extroverted but were able to 'bite' the bullet, so to speak, and address an audience with great success. The question is, how do you 'face' the crowd the first time and conquer your fear, your inhibitions, your timidity? First, it is important to realize that, in many respects, you are no different than the extroverted individual who is deathly afraid of the speech or presentation. Nervousness in public speaking is not selective. It is man's greatest fear, so rest assured, you are not alone.
You bet. Generally speaking, women make better audiences for one specific reason: they laugh more. Male audiences, on the other hand, are more difficult because of ego. And, it does not matter whether you, as the speaker, are male or female. The results are the same either way.
It seems that studies done on the speaking voice say that men prefer women with higher-pitched voices. These studies report that men ‘see’ women with higher-pitched voices as being younger and thinner. I beg to differ! In all the movie in which the directors specifically want an attractive (and yes, sensual) sound, they don’t choose high-pitched voices for the roles.
You have a much more dynamic voice inside of you. You have a voice that is probably deeper in pitch than your habitual voice. You have a voice that is rich, warm and resonant. How can I say these things and be confident in my analysis of your voice without ever having heard you? Because the majority of people throughout the world power their voice by means of their throat and voice box. And, if you are part of the majority – which is 99% of the population – then you are unaware that by changing your voice placement, you could discover a voice that is truly your best asset.
I recently read an article by a man who teaches presentation skills. He was discussing the fact that most people hate their voice on recording equipment because it is unfamiliar to their ear. What 'floored me' about his message was that he was suggesting you accept it and live with it. While I would assume that this man probably shows others how to speak with more color and more life (gosh I hope he at least is doing that if he is teaching presentation skills!), he has no idea what voice training is about. None whatsoever.
When I first started my business, I was showing my husband the 'before & after' video clips of my clients. A German-speaking Austrian, he was amazed at how much better he understood their words in the 'after' takes. What is fascinating is that I did not work with my clients on their diction - aside from nasality which is a subject unto itself - because I have found that with the right approach, your articulation will improve and be much more distinct once you find your true or 'real' voice.
Neither is correct. The voice that is too loud hurts the listeners' ears -- the voice that is too soft is not being heard. In both cases, the message is being lost because listeners are unable to focus and it all boils down to volume. I just received an email from a Public Speaking Forum in which the writer was questioning what to do with her client's loud voice. The responses from those who are professional speakers, as well as some who teach presentation skills, were interesting and varied -- none of which I would recommend.
As a people, we are conce ed about the image we project. Certainly in business we want to project a professional image. Does your speaking voice complete that image or does it detract? By the way, I’m not talking about the voice you hear in your head. I’m referring to the sound you hear on your voicemail – the sound by which everyone else recognizes you.
I love all the articles and advice on the internet today which deal with quelling nervousness, combating nervousness, eliminating nervousness and ending those nervous jitters. Unfortunately, most of them do not discuss the benefits of nervousness in public speaking or in the job interview and why it should be your best friend and not your worst nightmare!
Without a doubt, most people experience some type of nervousness in delivering a speech or presentation. It is normal; it is natural; and, in truth, it is beneficial. There are others, however, who are filled with such fear and dread at just the thought of public speaking, that panic ensues. When you absolutely, positively cannot stand and face an audience, you need more than a few tips to enable you to accomplish your goal. When I work with clients who have difficulty addressing a group of people, I take them through an exercise that is most successful. And it is simple, to boot.
When you look into the sea of faces in your audience, have you noticed that there are some people who smile? Whatever the reason, every audience has smilers and they can be found throughout the room when you are speaking. It just happens. Whether you are presenting to 5 people or 500, there are always smilers and those are the ones that you should target during your talk.
If you have trouble making eye contact with your audience, I suggest you make every attempt to change that practice. A young lawyer with whom I was working would glance about the room, briefly looking at someone and then immediately glancing at someone else, never actually seeing any of us in his audience. At first, you would think he was making eye contact but as he continued in this pattern, you realized that he saw no one in his audience. A furtive glance tells your listeners that you have something to hide.
I once met a man who told me that his soft-spoken voice made others become quiet and pay attention to him. It took everything in my power not to laugh in his face. In today’s loud, fast-paced, hectic world, being soft-spoken is definitely not a strength, especially in America. To be constantly asked to repeat yourself is one of the reasons others take over the conversation. Imagine watching a movie and the volume is not quite loud enough to be able to understand the actors’ words. That is exactly what is happening when you speak and others cannot hear you.
Speaking in a normal volume of sound can be especially tricky for the soft-spoken. If you are asked to repeat yourself or are often interrupted, then you should consider remedying the problem if you expect others to hear what you have to say. Those who are unable to hear you, tire of asking you to repeat yourself. And, in most cases, you will be interrupted because those with bigger voices will take over the conversation.
Ideally, it should be your goal to deliver an excellent speech or presentation with enthusiasm and passion. However, if you had to choose, which one do you think would be better? A great speech with a boring delivery? Or a mediocre speech given with expression and emotion? There is no simple answer to that question; however, with a lifeless, dull and flat delivery, you will lose your audience no matter how great your words.
There are various approaches to voice training that you should be aware of if you are interested in improving your vocal image. Even some coaches who are published will not teach you the basic fundamental of good voice improvement because they are working with the voice you already have. Good voice training means discovering the voice you don’t know you have. And the only way that will happen is when you are taught to use your chest cavity as your primary sounding board.
While everyone recognizes a nasal voice in which excessive sound is traveling through the nose while speaking, many are unaware of the opposite extreme known as denasality. When you are congested or if you suffer from allergies, often the result is a voice in which little or no sound is able to be carried through the nasal passages because they are inflamed and swollen. Recently I spoke to a young man named Jason whose voice exhibited both characteristics. In addition, the pitch of his voice was unusually high for a man.
Does this sound familiar? You hear a recording of your voice and you cringe? Perhaps you are embarrassed. Well, you are not alone. Most people do not recognize what they hear on the recording because it does not sound like the voice they hear in their head. Unfortunately, the voice on the recording equipment is exactly how you sound to everyone else.
Many men wish that the pitch of their speaking voice was deeper – similar to that of James Earl Jones or Vin Diesel. You don’t need to be a bass, however, to have a great speaking voice; and, Kevin Spacey is proof of it. Warm, resonant, rich and melodious, Spacey’s voice is very soothing and, given the right tone, sensual. The voiceover for Honda, Spacey ‘sells’ their TV commercials because his voice instantly creates trust, integrity, class and value for their cars. Whether Honda’s vehicles are worthy of such praise is not the issue. Spacey’s voice makes it believable.
Do you know the difference between diaphragmatic breathing and what you are doing right now? The chances are good that you are a shallow or lazy breather because the majority of the population breathes in this manner. What do I mean by shallow or lazy breathing? Using the upper chest for respiration. And, you may think this is normal or natural when indeed it is not.
If your diction is difficult to understand, it could be due to an accent. Please understand that accents are not a problem. They are part of your culture; part of what makes you, you. If you have an accent, I do not recommend trying to eliminate it. Instead, I suggest you work on speaking more clearly and your 1st step in the process is to record your voice. Until you hear how you sound, you may not recognize that your diction is at fault.
Ladies, I want you to imagine lying on a table on your stomach, your breast is dangling through a huge hole in the table, and a mammography machine proceeds to squeeze your breast in the exact same manner it does during a mammogram. Now I want you to imagine that instead of being in that ‘squished’ position for 20 or 30 seconds, you are relegated to that pressure for 45 minutes! According to the Radiological Society of America, “stereotactic mammography pinpoints the exact location of a breast mass by using a computer and x-rays taken from two different angles.
I recently received an email from a man who runs a museum in Australia inquiring whether he could include my blog posts in his newsletters for his museum guides. Why would a museum guide need information on the voice? Because his employees often speak non-stop throughout their day.
If you are scheduled to give a speech or presentation, plain speaking should be your choice so as not to appear affected, superior, or on exhibit. Plain speaking, simply put, is the ability to speak and be easily understood by all in attendance. And, it goes hand-in-hand with the theory of treating your audience as if you were having a conversation in your living room. Lengthy sentences, long words, flowery speech, or highly technical terms do not lend themselves to plain speaking.
In addressing an audience, be it to 4 people or 400, one factor will remain the same: the format of your presentation. You will still have an opening, a development, and a closing. However, there are major differences in your delivery as well as your contact with your audience which is dependent on the size of your group. 1. You will need more volume if you are speaking to a large audience. While this may seem like a no-brainer, many people are not good at judging whether they are being heard well or not.
You are probably not comfortable hearing your voice on your voicemail or your answering machine and yet you may not realize that if you hear your voice that way, so does everyone else. Because the manner in which you hear yourself is vastly different than what the recording equipment is telling you, might it not be an idea to consider improving your vocal image? The other day I received a phone call from a man in the New York area who said he had found me through my website. His intention was to sell me on the idea that his company would produce and distribute my video products.
I recently attended my uncle’s memorial service and it was wonderful to watch 4 of his 6 children talk about him. There is no doubt that all were experiencing butterflies as they stood at the lecte but they did an excellent job controlling their nervousness. The expression of their emotions, however, varied greatly.
I hear from many people about their chronic hoarseness, a persistent sore throat, and even loss of voice by the end of the day. This is called vocal abuse and until you change how you produce voiced sound, you will not stop this abuse.
Stress is one of the most debilitating factors affecting our lives today. From the stress of losing a job to the frustration of finding a new job, from the strain of running a household to the additional pressure of handling a career, from the stress of raising children to the stress of trying to increase your pay grade, stress comes to each and every one of us in some manner on a daily basis. Unfortunately, stress can affect your speaking voice.
With the start of the New Year and the resolutions we vow to keep, there is one change that can improve your life – both professionally and personally – simply by discovering your ‘real’ voice. Easy to accomplish and guaranteed to get better with age, your ‘real’ voice is deeper in pitch, warmer in quality and will sound more mature than your habitual voice. You have a better voice inside but you were probably unaware of that fact.
If you are scheduled to give a speech or presentation, plain speaking should be your choice so as not to appear affected, superior, or on exhibit. Plain speaking, simply put, is the ability to speak and be easily understood by all in attendance. And, it goes hand-in-hand with the theory of treating your audience as if you were having a conversation in your living room. Lengthy sentences, long words, flowery speech, or highly technical terms do not lend themselves to plain speaking.
As a voice specialist, I have known for many years that a good voice improvement course can be an excellent means of accent reduction. Yesterday, I received an email from a Taiwanese man studying in Boston. His 1st language is Mandarin Chinese; and, he has been enrolled in an accent reduction course for the past 4 months.
Many years ago when I first started my business, one of my clients, a woman billing herself as a professional speaker, was quite adamant in her disagreement with me about nervousness. She said that she was never nervous making a presentation and did not think nervousness was good.
When it comes to public speaking, so much attention is given to the preparation and ensuing delivery of your material that the practice of your speech or presentation is often overlooked. I am amazed at how many people go over their script or their outline in their head and never say their words out loud. How can you possibly know how your presentation or speech will sound if you do not say your words OUT LOUD? How we write is not how we speak.
In today’s multicultural world, many people are looking to eliminate their accent and I have a better suggestion. Instead of trying to get rid of your dialect or accent, why not clean it up? n You may believe that your accent is keeping you from getting the job you want or moving ahead in ...
The one characteristic that all great public speakers possess is passion – intense, driving emotion that colors their speech, their facial expression and their body language. You hear it in their words; you see it in their actions; and, you can feel it in your soul. Their passion can motivate you to bettering your life in some fashion.
There is no question that excessive nasality, also known as hype asality, can be like nails on a blackboard. Just listen to Fran Drescher for any great length of time and you may find that her whiny, nasal sound becomes quite annoying.
If you are like most people, you probably don't like hearing yourself on your voicemail or answering machine. Did you know, however, that what you hear on any type of recording equipment is exactly how everyone else recognizes you? Your inner ear, the means by which you hear your own voice inside your head, is unable to distinguish how you really sound because of distortion. Essentially, your voice is vibrating in the solid and liquid of your brain and is telling you that you sound a lot better than you really do.
In today’s fast-paced business world, speaking in a soft-spoken voice is definitely not to your advantage: you need to be heard the 1st time you say it. While softer levels of volume may be culturally correct in some countries, here in the States, we tend to talk in a volume that is comfortably heard by all in the same room.
One of the secrets of dynamic presentation skills is the ability to connect with your audience. In that sense, the idea is to make each person think you are talking directly to him/her. How is this possible if you have an audience of 50, 150 or 500 people? There are several things you can do to achieve the connection.
Recently, I worked with an NFL player in voice and presentation skills. During his 3rd session, he discovered the techniques for increasing his volume without shouting which I refer to as projection. He was stunned. It did not hurt his throat; it sounded better; and, his voice carried with more depth and breadth.
Of all the various types of speeches and presentations we hear, that which stirs the most emotion, that which expresses the most passion, is the commemorative speech. For the sole purpose of paying tribute, the commemorative speech is dedicated to people, places, institutions, or ideas.
You can do it. You can end a vocal delivery that is flat, insipid, and lackluster. But first you will have to give yourself permission to do so. This does seem like a strange suggestion, doesn’t it? If you speak in a monotone, however, you probably keep your emotions bottled up inside of you which is why you must permit yourself to let your emotions be seen, be felt and be heard. While you may not like this suggestion, nothing will change until that permission is granted.
It is sad that Mariano Rivera underwent surgery on his vocal folds (cords) recently. The Yankees’ closer was diagnosed with severe vocal abuse in which polyps had developed on his vocal folds. A month prior to his surgery, he noticed a decrease in his ability to speak which was characterized by a raspy, whispery quality. What is interesting is that, with the right training, he could have prevented it.
Many times people are not being heard because they speak too softly. There is another group, however, who are not being heard because they are not speaking distinctly and clearly. They are known as the mumblers. If you are being asked to repeat yourself because your words are not being understood, then you should do something to stop your lazy lip syndrome.
Has this ever happened to you? You stand to give your speech or presentation; and, when you begin speaking what comes out of your mouth is higher in pitch and quivering to boot. So what is to be done? In most cases, nervousness is the cause of the quiver. (There are some voices, however, that quiver whether one is nervous or not.) There is a means of eliminating the quiver that works even when you are nervous.
There are so many people with so many great messages but the moment they open their mouth to speak, the sound that emanates from their lips is anything but captivating. All too often, we are so preoccupied with the message and subsequent delivery, that we never take into account the vehicle which transports our words.
Yes, your lack of volume is the issue. I can’t tell you how many people get in touch with me because of this problem. And, it doesn’t just affect those who are soft-spoken. The amount of volume needed in a loud bar or club (or even a wedding) is at least 50% more that what I refer to as Volume 1 – your everyday level of speaking. If you are soft-spoken, however, that percentage is higher.