Find Your Voice

You are self-conscious when you open your mouth. Your words are all spoken with the same pitch, the same inflection. You feel your listeners drifting off. You've come to the right blog. Here are two simple ideas.

 

First, push your voice to the limits in rehearsal. (You ARE rehearsing your talks many times, aren't you?) Try varying the volume, pitch, and rate of your delivery as much as you possibly can. Yes, this will sound ridiculous. The idea is to break out of the old pattern you are in, much like stretching your muscles before a run. You may not need the full range, but it will be easier to move around within it.

 

Second, study actors. These professionals work their voices for all they're worth. Here's an exercise we use in my basic speech class. I bring in a DVD of an animated movie. I happen to like The Incredibles, but most other feature-length animated films will work. I put pictures of the actors in front of the class for the students to look at during the scene we watch. This allows the students to imagine the actor delivering the lines, allowing them to realize how exaggerated the delivery actually is (it just seems normally for a cartoon character). The students are assigned one character to follow through a scene, noting the emotion the character starts with, the emotion the character ends on, and the emotional cues in the pitch, rate, and volume of the voice the fill us in. Even if you don't want to be this formal, try watching a film like this and closing your eyes every so often during scenes that you know well. Now ask yourself, does your delivery even come close to the work the actors are doing? Yet far from embarassing themselves, they have become stars partly by using the full range of their voices. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you, right?

Avoid the LCD

    There is a section of our culture that likes to approach life in a relaxed manner. Those following this philosophy don't take anything more seriously than they must. They don't like formality, being forced into structure. They are consistently casual. While this lifestyle might seem to have benefits,say, for heart health, it can (and usually is) carried too far. Nowhere is this easier to spot than in use of language. The danger lies in becoming too comfortable with slang, crude terms, and off-color humor. This creates an image that is undesirable in many situations.

    In mathematics there is a term we can borrow, the Least Common Denominator. For us it means using the lowest, raunchiest words that will get our meaning across. I understand that this is sometimes used in humor, or for emphasis, but when it becomes our normal mode of speech we are in trouble. Isn't there a huge difference between "Can you excuse me for a few minutes?" and "Man, I really gotta take a crap!" One will work in the office, the other is better saved for a fishing trip.

    Now don't get me wrong. My everyday language extends into some crass terms at times, but usually to make a point. The idea is to use appropriate language. When the people down the street let their huge dog make a pile on my lawn again and don't clean it up, I describe the incident in much coarser terms than when I visit a client and ask where their men's room is. Why? The different types of language make different impressions.

    So when do you switch up? Follow the number one rule of speech making "Know your audience." If you're still not sure apply the old test "When in doubt leave it out."

 

 

Yes, it Should be Fun

If you haven't come across it anywhere else yet, let me acquaint you with the term "fanny factor." It refers to the amount of time people will sit before their attention to your presentation flags. Have you ever turned on a flashlight with weak batteries? The beam starts out bright and fades away. If you shut of the light for a little while and turn it back on the beam will start out just as bright as ever. So it is with the human attention span. We want to make our points when attention is at its highest, give our listeners a chance to recharge, then make our next point. Where does the recharge come from?
One good way to let your audience rebuild their attention span is to move them from passive listening to participation. Ideally you should involve them in an activity that helps make your point or enhances your lesson in another way. Whenever possible choose something lighthearted. For instance, at the beginning of a seminar where participants are strangers to each other, arrange for your audience members to pair up and introduce themselves. Assign them the task of creating an "award" that they could present to their activity partner. This award should be based on the life experiences and characteristics that help define the recipient. One person may spend a lot of time skydiving, spelunking, and hiking. Their partner could create the "daredevil" award for them. Audience members then introduce each other to the entire group by presenting the award and explaining how their interview partner earned it. Some groups may be too large for each member to be introduced, you could assign the pairs to join larger groups for the introduction stage.
Different authorities place the fanny factor at six, eight, or ten minutes into a presentation. Others place a second attention break at 20 minutes. One thing is certain, you should take this characteristic of audiences into account early and often.
Here's a little warning: make sure that you do not take up more of your time with activities than speaking, and make sure you do not allow more time than needed for the activity. In either case you are in danger of losing control of the direction your presentation takes, and possibly losing control of your audience.
So where do ideas for these activities come from? Surprisingly, I have found very few by using Internet searches for "icebreakers," etc. But there are many books available with games for trainers, parlor games that can be adapted, stunts, challenges, and of course, magic tricks. (You knew I would recommend magic tricks, didn't you?) If you know a teacher, they will certainly be able to give you ideas to help review, reinforce, or illustrate your points. And watch this blog, because every Friday entry will contain another fun activity you can introduce into your presentation. Hey, I've got to keep your attention, don't I?