Using Your Voice in Presentations

Using Your Voice in Presentations

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  1 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice USING YOUR VOICE Use your voice like a musical instrument MTL: The Professional Development Programme
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  2 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice Attribution: All images are from sources where a Creative Commons license exists for commercial use. All icons are on subscription from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train Learn. UsingYour Voice Introduction: Few people appreciate and use the vast range of colour, texture and meaning in their voices. It can sometimes come as a shock when they hear themselves recorded for the first time and discover their tone, flatness and lack of range. However with awareness of what we can do with our voice, practice and conscious effort, the voice can be turned into a versatile presentational instrument. In this topic, we’ll show you 7 important ways to use your voice.
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  3 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 1. VOLUME: LOUD OR QUIET? Voice volume is the way you get your message across to your audience. The best way to speak is on the outward breath. If, when you breath in, you fill not just your lungs and chest but also the diaphragm (your abdomen area), you will have the maximum exhaling breath with which to speak. Aim to project your voice to the back of the room so that it hits and rebounds off the back wall. If you have a naturally quiet voice, use a microphone. Don’t shout; project Flickr attribution: /wwworks/864731205/
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  4 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 2. PACE: QUICK OR SLOW? We each have a natural speaking pace which reflects the flow of thoughts and feelings in our brains. Women, for example, tend to speak more quickly than men because their feelings flow more freely. Be aware that your speaking pace may not suit some people in your audience. It is the one thing that can annoy an audience who either want you to go faster or go slower. Speed up when you are creating tension and slow down when you need emphasis, solemnity, or suspense. Vary your speaking rate to suit everyone listening Flickr attribution: /smkybear/2415169672/
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  5 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 3. PITCH: HIGH OR LOW? Pitch is the degree of acuteness in the voice. A low and slow pitch can indicate gravity; a high and fast pitch can indicate excitement. To get a sense of the different levels of pitch, try these sentences out loud: High pitch: "It's a wonderful day!" Middle pitch with inflection on "lovely": "It's a lovely day!" Middle pitch: "It's a nice day!" Lower pitch: "It's a miserable day!" Lower pitch still: "It's a horrid day!" Play your voice like a musical instrument Flickr attribution: /113026679@N03/16190829970/
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  6 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice Resonance Resonance is the sound made when your breath reverberates in the empty spaces inside you. It gives a deeper, stronger quality to your voice. If you are speaking in a large room without a microphone, resonance will enable you to fill up the space without straining. In this exercise, you can feel resonance by placing both hands on each part of your body and saying the sound as deeply as you can. Place your hands on your tummy and say "Oh“. Place your hands on your abdomen and say "Ah“. Place your hands on your breastbone and say "Ah“. Place your hands on your throat and say "I“. Place your hands on the top of your head and say "Ee“. Place your hands on your head and tummy and say "Oi“. Place your hands on your tummy and say "Oh“. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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  7 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 4. ARTICULATION: CLEAR OR GARBLED? Articulation is a form of gymnastics between the tip of the tongue, the teeth and the lips. If your audience hears "50%" when you pronounced a garbled "15%", it could make a big difference to the meaning of your presentation! Similar confusion can arise if you do not distinguish clearly between "m" and "n", between "f" and "s", and the last part of words. Use tongue- twisters to loosen your lips before you go on. Speak with the clarity of church bells Flickr attribution: /stanzebla/20547123603/
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  8 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 5. TONE: MONO OR MULTI? Tone is a musical expression which includes tempo, pitch, timbre and emphasis. Most English speakers have just two or three tones of the musical scale (some are monotone). The Welsh and West Highlanders of Scotland on the other hand use at least an octave and a half. A monotone speaking voice is invariably dull to listen to, while a variety of tones leads to a more pleasant talk. For interest, inject emotion into your presentation Flickr attribution: /tuncaycoskun/13989363550/
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  9 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice How to Develop the Right Tone for Your Talk There is a famous piece of research in communication that says you tell others more in your tone of voice than in your choice of words. If you are calling your children to dinner from another room, they will know at once whether you are angry because they are late, excited because the meal smells great, or indifferent because you're just passing on a message. It's in your tone of voice. It's the same with your presentations. If you take out all context and meaning from what you say, it is like reading from the phone book. There will be no emotion, no attempt to communicate, no message, no you. It will be monotone. As a speaker, you cannot apply tones to what you say mechanically. Tone emerges as a result of you knowing what you want to communicate. It must be clear in your mind. Think about the way a child talks animatedly when you ask them about their day when they come out of school as opposed to the day after. It's because the experiences they are re-telling are fresh in their minds.
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  10 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 6. PHRASING: MAKING SENSE OR NOT? If the unit of writing is the word, the unit of speaking is the phrase. A speech can be broken into chunks of phrases which carry individual pieces of meaning. When we deliver our speech, it is necessary to speak in phrases rather than separate words so that we convey the whole meaning. Boston Bruins PA announcer, Jim Martin Flickr attribution: /dan4th/2193513879/
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  11 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice 7. INFLECTION: UP OR DOWN? Inflection is the way our voice rises and falls at the end of phrases to signal to listeners an underlying meaning. If the voice stays level at the end of a phrase, it implies a statement. If the voice rises at the end of a phrase, it gives the effect of a question or an expectation of more to come. If the voice falls at the end of a statement, it implies a command or end. Don’t confuse people by getting your inflections and emphases in the wrong place. Your message changes with your inflections Flickr attribution: /usairforce/16872770121/
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  12 | MTL: The ProfessionalDevelopment Programme Using Your Voice This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn AFinal Word The secret to developing a clear and pleasing speaking voice is practice. The Greek orator, Demosthenes, used to go down to the seashore and declaim his speeches above the sound of the waves and then stand in front of a mirror with pebbles in his mouth to practise his enunciation and clarity. In time, he became the greatest orator of Ancient Greece.