The verbal part of public speaking is the most crucial element of all, as this is your primary means of delivering your message. But content isn’t everything; how you sound makes as much a difference as what you’re saying.
Voice Speech
The key to effectively using your voice is to be heard and understood by all. This requires two things: voice projection and enunciation. Giving a speech won’t work if your audience can’t hear you. Therefore, you must project your voice and make sure you can be heard even by the people at the back row. Voice projection is different from shouting, which sounds aggressive and does nothing but turn off your audience. Moreover, shouting tires you out and damages your vocal cords. Voice projection aims to increase one’s average sound through focus and intensity. It’s not painful or tiring for the speaker, nor does it sound unpleasant.
Vocal projection is a mix of physical and mental focus. You need to stand straight and tall, and you must be confident about what you’re saying. You must also learn to use all your vocal tools, that is, to speak with your throat, your lungs, and your diaphragm. This is a skill that can be learned, so practice by speaking in an empty room and observe how your voice sounds to you. Again, the idea is to make yourself heard by someone at the back row, without resorting to shouting. Of course, just because everyone can hear you, doesn’t mean you’re making any sense. It’s just as important to enunciate your words, to pronounce each individual syllable clearly. Avoid slurring words together, which is something that happens when one speaks too fast and is not careful with pronunciation.
One classic way to improve enunciation is to practice speaking with some hard candy in your mouth. Have a friend nearby listen to you and give you feedback on whether or not you’re intelligible. With enough practice, enunciation becomes second nature and will increase your effectiveness as a speaker tenfold.
Inflection and Tone
Another priority is to make your audience know they’re listening to a human being—a person with thoughts and feelings. You can do this by varying your inflection and tone so as to add drama to your speech, making it more interesting to listen to. Nothing kills a speech like monotone, as when a speaker talks in a slow, robotic way that seems to stretch the minutes into hours.
According to expert speakers, an excellent use inflection is to begin your presentation with a low voice. Later on, when you are talking about something important or exciting, you can increase your inflection and give a more energetic tone. The idea is to sound like you mean what you say.
It’s also important achieve the right speed for your speech. Do not talk too fast as to be unintelligible, nor too slow as to lose everyone’s patience. Take time to put some pauses in your speech. The most logical places to put pauses are after each sentence, and right before each important thought.
Avoid repetitive words
Excessive repetition of words and phrases is the bane of public speakers, largely because they are either not aware they are doing it or become aware after of it the fact. Repetitiveness is an impulse used by speakers to fill pauses or to buy time to remember their next point. The downside of this is that repetitiveness becomes distracting, boring, and unprofessional. Consider these “crutch words”:
- I mean
- You know
- Right?
- That is to say
- Ah, er, um
To avoid repetitiveness, you first need to be aware that you’re doing it. Listen to your speeches and pick out words that come up too often, like the ones above. You can enlist the help of a friend or a vocal coach to help you identify your “crutch words.” Another way to avoid them is to fully memorize and practice your speech beforehand. That way, you can glide from one point to another without wasting any time on verbal tics.
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