Using Your Voice

I've been at events where some rude, inconsiderate moron in the crowd stands up, holding a chocolate donut in one hand and a buttered roll in the other and shouts "Hey ”I can't hear you!" Well, at least that's one way to know if you should speak up. But ”you can't always rely on me being in the audience, unless you're serving donuts and rolls!

Although I am the first to say that actions speak louder than words, your vocal delivery plays the role of interpreter for the message. If the visual media is truly the content and the body is definitely the delivery, then the voice is a combination of both. Words carry information and action. In order to develop the action in your voice, you have to consider a few issues such as:

• Breathing properly

• Phrasing and pausing

• Avoiding problems

Breathing Properly

Sometimes your choice of where to take the next breath can disrupt the flow of your words. By breathing between phrases, rather than during phrases, you get an opportunity to vocalize better. The key to this is having enough air in your lungs to sustain a longer phrase. For example, I have been known to deliver very long phrases with volume and emphasis. I believe that's from knowing how to breathe properly. Some say it's because I'm so full of hot air that the Gettysburg Address would be a cinch ”but, I pay no attention to insults from family members !

When you don't have enough air, you may end up rushing through your words, and then they run together from speaking so quickly. Chances are that your emphasis and inflection will be lost. In any case, by having enough air, you can say longer phrases more slowly, which helps to make the message clear.

First, let's find out if you are breathing properly right now. Try this. Stand up and take a deep breath. Did your shoulders go up? Did your chest expand? Are you still holding the air in your lungs as you read this sentence while you turn blue? Okay, okay breathe again, please . Let the air out! Whew, that was close!

If your shoulders went up, you filled your chest with air. Unfortunately, that's not the way you naturally breathe. The air normally goes into the lower abdomen. Try this test. Lie down on the floor, face up, with a book on your stomach. No, not this book ”I want you alive at the end of this exercise! Breathe normally and watch the book. Notice it moving up and down? That's your diaphragm at work. The muscles in your stomach, not your chest, control breathing. Now take a deep breath and force the book upward ”it should be easy once you concentrate on the correct muscles to do the job.

Next, remove the book, stand up, and take the same deep breath, but don't expand your chest or raise your shoulders. Your stomach should expand. This is the proper way to breathe between your phrases when speaking.

TIP

Try breathing through your nose and it will be easier to expand your stomach (diaphragm). Of course, when speaking, the tendency is to also take in air through your mouth because it is already open . It's not where the air enters but where the air reaches that makes for better vocal control.

Again, the key is having enough breath to complete long phrases or sentences without running out of air. This is important for languages such as English, in which the major points are made at the end of phrases, not at the beginning. Without enough air, your voice might trail off and the audience will not hear the key part (the end) of the sentence. The beginning of the next phrase will be less connected to the important part of the prior one. The result is confusion for the audience.

The following is an exercise for breath control. You should be able to say this entire passage in one breath.

What a to-do, to die today, at a minute or two to two

A thing distinctly hard to say, yet harder still to do

For they'll beat a tattoo at twenty to two

A rah-tah-tah-tah-tah-tah-tah-tah-tah-too

And the dragon will come at the sound of a drum

At a minute or two to two, today,

At a minute or two to two.

When you develop truly excellent breath control, you will be able to say the above passage two times with one breath.

If you can't remember the above phrase, here's another breathing exercise you can try. In one breath say, "One by one, they went away." Pretty easy, right? Okay, add another to the count, like this, "One by one and two by two, they went away." Try adding another to the count and in one breath say, "One by one and two by two and three by three, they went away." Don't forget that each of these segments have to be done in one breath. You should shoot for as high as "twelve by twelve," and, with practice, fifteen or higher is possible, as you get more control of your breathing.

Phrasing and Pausing

Take natural pauses between your sentences. Say a phrase, pause, then say a phrase and pause, and so on. By using this technique, you can control the pacing of the presentation. Natural pauses give you a chance to make eye contact, to breathe, or even to think. You end up with smooth transitions and a more consistent delivery.

Fillers Are Killers

The funny thing about getting up in front of people is you have an altered sense of time. You think you're going too slow and you begin to pick up the pace, not so much with your speech, but more with your thoughts. You begin to think more quickly and between one phrase and another phrase the audience hears "uhhhhhh," "ummmmm," "errrrrr," "ahhhhh," and the like ”you know ”the fillers. The sounds you make in between the words you say. Fillers are not language. They are grunts and groans. The audience can't process fillers. In fact, if you have a lot of them in your presentation, the audience becomes preoccupied with the distraction and they end up concentrating on your fillers, not on your phrases!

Fillers can even be whole words, such as "okay," "right," "you know," "again," and "see," to name a few. Fillers are evidence that you are thinking out loud. You're letting the audience hear you think. To counter this problem, use silence as a filler and it will appear as if you are taking natural pauses when you speak.

The Opening Pause

When I'm coaching a person, I always suggest the opening two-second pause. Right after the first phrase, such as "Good morning," you should take a two-second pause. That's right! Complete silence for two seconds. It can seem like an eternity, but it gives you the chance to establish two important things: pacing and anchors.

From a pacing perspective, the opening pause sets up the audience. They get to know right away who is in charge of the momentum. People have to know that you are in control. That's the role of the presenter ”to control the flow. The role of the audience is to be controlled. If you don't appear rushed, the audience settles into the presentation at the pace you have set.

Those two seconds of silence help you in another way. In our earlier discussion of anchors, we talked about identifying the friendly faces to focus on. Unfortunately, you can't establish anchors in the audience until you first take the stage because that's when almost everyone is seated. You can't look out in the audience 40 minutes before the presentation, see a few people, and shout, "Hey ”you three ”you, you, and you ”don't switch seats on me ”I need you to be my anchors later!" (I don't think so.) No, you'll have to find your anchors during the opening pause. Don't worry, though, it will only take you about two seconds to scan the crowd for those friendly faces. Typically, those sitting under the most light are the easiest to spot.

When in Doubt ”Pause First

Have you ever been asked a question during your presentation and you didn't know the answer? Well, don't blurt out the ignorance right away! Instead, pause for a moment. Here's what happens: Someone asks you a question and you don't know the answer. You stop, you pause, you look to the heavens for some revelation ”you get none ”you look back at the person and say, "I'll have to get back to you on that." The audience will be thinking, "Ohhhh mannn ”you were sooooo close. If you only had the knowledge, you would have known!" That's a lot better than saying, "I don't know ”blue?" Then the audience thinks, "Blue? ”and you call yourself a doctor?" I've seen this happen plenty of times. You don't want to leap into the fire with a very quick, and likely incorrect, response. Remember that the audience is on your side. They want you to be right.

The pause maintains whatever level of credibility you had before the question was asked. By pausing for a moment, the audience actually believes that you could have answered the question, given enough time (yeah, like about a month). The point is that the group watches you search your mind for an answer, even though you never come up with one. It's politics at its best!

So, when in doubt, pause first. It buys you time and credibility. Of course, don't stop there. The words "I'll get back to you on that" indicate your intention to follow up at a later point with an answer. Make sure you do!

Targeting Phrases

Once you have control over your voice, you can direct your phrases for more impact. You can target your words to entire sections of the audience or simply to one person.

It's a given that everyone in the room has to be able to hear you. Sometimes a microphone will be needed for the entire audience to hear every word you say. But, because you can't count on having a microphone in every situation, you'll have to learn to project your voice.

Although proper breathing is important to voice projection, you should also target your phrases toward the back of the room to be sure everyone hears what you say. One way to do this is to play to the back third of the audience. In the theatre, it's called "playing to the cheap seats." The farthest one-third of the audience is where most of your phrases should be targeted because if they can hear you, everyone can hear you.

You never have to worry about the people in the front. They took those seats. They'll give you their wallets! But the people in the back ”the troublemakers! Pretend that they are never sold, never convinced, never in agreement with your message. This forces you to target your phrases to them. The good news is that this causes your chin to lift slightly higher in the air, opens your throat, and makes your voice clearer. In addition, you'll find yourself facing forward more often in order to project to the back of the room. The intensity of your phrases, no matter how calm or soft-spoken, become more audible and your facial expressions more visible!

Voice projection helps when fielding responses from the audience. Sometimes an audience member speaks so softly that only you and a few other people hear the person. Make sure you repeat the question or comment so that the entire group can hear it. If you fail to do this, then your response will make sense only to those who heard the original question or comment in the first place. Also, by repeating a question, you get more time to formulate your answer.

You can also target your phrases directly to a specific person. You can do it with just a look, but you get more impact if you know the person's name. People love to hear their name. Watch a TV commercial. If it has your name in it, you love it!

A name is so important! How would you feel if you raised your hand to ask a question and the presenter knew your name but chose to identify you by your seat number instead! Names add a personal touch to the presentation.

When you reference a person by name, only the first name is needed. This makes it a little easier for you because last names can sometimes be difficult to remember or even pronounce . Of course, if you are speaking to an audience that you have never met before, it will be difficult to identify people by name. During interaction, you could ask that people identify themselves to the audience before they speak. Then, you'll know a person's name and be able to use it in your response.

Targeting your phrases to an entire section or to a specific person makes the audience more conscious of each other and more respectful of your effort to take the time to treat people as individuals.

Transitioning

Transitioning is having something to say during changes in your presentation. Those changes can be as a result of movement or can be from the visuals themselves.

Movement in the triangle, from place to place, can be very obvious when your space is bigger. It may take several steps to get from the middle to the front, for example. You should not be moving on a key phrase. The words have more impact when you are still. Suppose you want to say the words "It saves money" in the front of the triangle. If you are in the middle of the triangle and a few steps away from the front, you have to add a transition or some extra words to allow you time to get to the front. Once there, and not moving, you can say the key phrase, "It saves money." Perhaps your entire phrase turns into: (said from the middle while walking to the front) "One of the most important advantages of this new product is that (now you stop at the front) it saves money." The transitional text allows you to move to the next space and deliver the key words while standing still.

Transitions are also useful whenever the visuals change, although this is less of a requirement when using slides or electronic images because they change more rapidly . But a more traditional medium, such as overheads, requires verbal transitions.

Here's what happens. The time it takes to remove one transparency from the overhead projector and replace it with the next can take several seconds. Don't let that time be filled with silence. Have a transition ”something to say as you approach the equipment, as you change the visual, as you set the next visual, and as you move away from the equipment. Even in the world of state-of-the-art electronics, a pause to press a remote control is just as obvious as changing an overhead if you leave too big a gap with nothing to say.

Don't confuse silence with timed pauses. A timed pause lasts about one to three seconds and is useful to get the audience to think or to ponder a question. Dead silence lasts longer and tells the audience you can't really think of anything to say at the moment.

Rule of Threes

People remember things in sets of threes. Our system of government is based on the number three, many religions are based on three, even the family ”mother-father-child ”is based around the number three. You can find this rhythm in many political or religious speeches. Key concepts or arguments are constructed around three references. For example, a politician might make the statement: "We'll be more prosperous, we'll pay less taxes, and our children will have a future." Notice the use of three references in the phrasing to make a point. Many references include a triad of some sort , such as Julius Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered") and the courtroom oath of " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth " Even the Olympic Games grant three medals, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

Try to incorporate the rule of threes when presenting your next topic. It's easy, it's simple and it works like a charm !

Avoiding Vocal Problems

Just as with the body, distractions can occur when using the voice. Most of the time, the vocal problems can be corrected, but sometimes our natural speech will sound different to diverse audiences. Accents are an example of natural speech to some, but unique speech to others.

If you have an accent, as most of us do, it means that you will sound different from what the audience may be used to hearing. My grandmother, who came from Italy, once said to me in broken English, "Don't laugh at people with accents. They speak one more language than you do!" Of course, accents from speaking a foreign language are no less noticeable than regional accents. When I delivered a seminar in Mississippi the person who introduced me ended the opening remark with "at least you'll like his New York accent." Just as I began to speak, I looked at him and said "Wait a minute. I thought you had the accent ."

The point is that if you have a well-rehearsed presentation and you can be understood when you speak, your accent should not reduce your effectiveness.

Some believe in eliminating regional or foreign accents, but I think they constitute diversity in voice and help make the individual stand out for an audience. If you can be understood, then don't worry about an accent. However, some other vocal issues can become major problems if not corrected.

The Mumbler

The mumbler is the person who does not enunciate clearly. The lips stay so close together that the audience can't even see the words forming. When the mouth stays very closed, volume decreases and the words are barely audible. Remember to loosen those lips and articulate !

TIP

Place a pencil across your mouth between your teeth. Push it as far back as you can, which stretches your lips. Bite down a little on the pencil and begin to talk. Say a couple of phrases for about 30 seconds up to a minute. Take the pencil away and notice how flexible your lips are and how much better you enunciate every syllable.

The Garbler

Another person with an enunciation problem, the garbler is the person who speaks so quickly that the audience can't hear the end of one word before the next word arrives. To correct this problem, try saying a short phrase very slowly by stretching out each and every syllable in every word. This helps to reduce the speed of speech.

TIP

Find a newspaper article and read the first two sentences out loud. Read them again out loud and you'll probably go even faster. Okay, now read the words in the sentences backward, one word at a time. Hear how slowly you must read and try to match that speed when you speak. Although in practice that pace is definitely too slow, your habit of speaking too quickly will offset the slow speech and the result will be a closer-to-normal speed.

The Droner

The droner has a constant, monotone, expressionless voice and is the closest known cure for insomnia! The problem is from little or no inflection. This is often prevalent among presenters who have limited interest in the topic or those who have been presenting the same information in the same way for too long. They are simply bored with the stuff they deliver. The voice reflects the boredom, gets lazy, and eventually becomes monotonous.

One solution to this problem is to practice placing stress on different words in a sentence. For example, the following list uses ALL CAPS to show the changing emphasis in the same phrase:

And WE offer the best service.

And we OFFER the best service.

And we offer the BEST service.

And we offer the best SERVICE.

Try saying these phrases out loud and note the difference in the stress of the capitalized words. Placing emphasis in this way forces the voice into a higher and lower pitch within a phrase by adding vocal variety to an otherwise droning tone.

The Dropper

The dropper is the person who starts out with a lot of volume and then gradually drops off to the point where the audience is straining to hear the disappearing words. This problem is definitely related to improper breathing. The exercises mentioned earlier can help with sustaining longer phrases. But, sometimes, the words drop off because you are not completing one thought for yourself before introducing the next. Basically, you become anxious to get to the next part of the argument. The key to avoiding this problem is to maintain volume through the end of every phrase.

TIP

In addition to breathing exercises, you can also try adding a question at the end of every sentence. Keep in mind that this is only for practice. Don't do this while presenting. For example, add the question, "Is that statement clear?" to every sentence. The question forces a slight raise in pitch and volume. Plus, the extra words make the sentence even longer, forcing you to plan for more air to get to the end. When presenting, you can still silently say the question to yourself if you feel you are dropping off in volume as you present.

When a vocal problem becomes a distraction, you need to take steps to eliminate it. When your voice becomes trained to the point where you can control it effectively, you gain another advantage in conveying the message you intend for the audience.