How to Sound Clear, Confident & Credible

How to Sound Clear, Confident & Credible Whether you are speaking to an audience of one hundred people or ordering your lunch at your local café, your voice is a key part of your ability to communicate effectively within both business and social environments. If you have a speech or presentation to make, even if it is online, it is vitally important that your voice is warmed up so that it is clear, confident, flexible, dynamic and expressive from the moment you begin. Try the following warm up and practice exercises to develop and prepare your voice before your next speech and notice the difference in the quality of your sound. Preparation To gently warm up and stimulate the muscles involved in producing sound: 1. Start by standing tall so that you have an imaginary straight line running from your ear down your body to your shoulder, hip and ankle. Give your body a very gentle shake to release any tension you may be feeling and keep your knees slightly flexed. 2. Gently circle your shoulders forward 5 times and then backwards 5 times. 3. Turn your head gently to the left, then to the right, then tilt it upwards and then forwards in a slow nodding action. Take your left ear gently towards your left shoulder and then reverse it by taking your right ear towards your right shoulder to feel a gentle stretch along the side of your neck. 4. Using your fingertips, gently massage your face paying attention to your jaw joint just below your temples to loosen it up. Softly tap your face, head and neck with your fingertips. 5. Open your mouth as wide as possible (imagine you are trying to swallow your head!) and then squish it up as small as possible. Now try an exaggerated chewing action; then a huge smile. 6. Circle your tongue around inside of mouth a few times along the front of your upper and lower teeth, then poke it out and move it up and down and side to side. 7. Keeping your lips softly together, breathe out so that they vibrate (like a horse!) Breathing and Sound Deep breathing is important for relaxing and managing nerves as well as for supporting your voice: 1. Breathe deeply through your nose into your diaphragm (imagine your stomach filling with air), to a count of 5 and hold for a moment; then slowly breathe out through your mouth to a count of 5 2. Breathe in again and as you breathe out keep your lips together and hum to a count of 5 3. Breathe in again and as you breathe out move your hum to an open ‘maaahhh’ sound 4. Use your out breaths to sound each of the vowels in turn A (aaaa as in ‘are’) E (eeee as in ‘easy’) I (iiiiii as in ‘eye’), O (oooo as in ‘’oh’) U (uuuuu as in ‘do’) 5. Try some gentle humming up and down the scale (it doesn’t matter if you’re not in tune!) 6. Using an ‘ng’ sound, slide your voice up and down the scale like a siren 7. Sing some of your favourite tunes being careful to stay relaxed with no vocal strain Pace and Pause Pauses are incredibly powerful in speech and are a key component in sounding clear, confident and credible. Effective pausing allows you to punctuate your sentences, highlight your main points and gives your audience a chance to process what they have just heard. However, too many pauses can be frustrating for your audience and make you sound less credible. The pace of your speech will impact how people hear your message. If you speak too quickly, which can often happen if you’re nervous, it can make you sound anxious, uncertain or insensitive to whether people understand you. Too slow can be boring, monotonous and make you sound unprepared or less articulate. You need a steady pace that is natural for you and incorporate lots of vocal variety to engage your audience. You can practice pace and pause by reading any piece of text out loud. Try reading the following paragraph experimenting with the pace, and getting used to silence by over exaggerating the pauses. Samantha sat peacefully and patiently under the huge old oak tree. She was waiting for Joseph who was supposed to meet her at their favourite spot at 2pm. He was late and if he didn’t arrive soon Samantha would have to start tucking into the picnic lunch she had carefully prepared that morning. As she gazed at the clouds wondering what could have kept him, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It was Joseph walking up the hill towards her struggling to carry a large red box. Tone The tone of your voice can have a huge impact on the meaning of your words. See how many different meanings you can suggest by changing your tone and inflection when saying the following words: Hello Goodbye Yes What Stress Emphasising certain words can enhance their impact and even change the meaning of a sentence depending on which word is emphasised. Try saying the following sentence 7 times just stressing a different word each time and see how many meanings this sentence has: I never said he loved his wife Pitch Varying your pitch when speaking will keep your audience engaged. However, beware that a higher pitched voice sounds less authoritative; extremely low pitched voices can be difficult to hear. Try saying each of the following phrases using the pitch indicated in brackets: • • • • • It’s a wonderful day It’s a lovely day It’s a nice day It’s a miserable day It’s a horrid day (high pitch) (middle pitch with emphasis) (middle pitch) (lower pitch) (even lower pitch) Intonation is a good indicator of how you feel about what you’re saying. Notice how your voice tends to rise when you make a positive point and fall when you make a negative one. • • We’re doing well in Europe, but not in the Middle East Turnover is down, but productivity is up and for the second year running ** Note: Be careful not to give an upward inflection like a question when making a statement as this can make you sound uncertain and kill your credibility. Volume It is important to be heard when you’re speaking so be aware of the audience and the environment you’re speaking in to ensure that you use the correct volume. Too loud can sound arrogant and overbearing, too soft can sound weak and insecure. Varying your volume during a speech will add interest and make your speaking more dynamic. Practice projecting your voice and varying your volume by reading a piece of text out loud. Variety Try reading some text or saying some phrases with as much vocal variety as possible. Remember to vary volume, pitch, pace, pause, rhythm and tone. Here’s one (not true!) to try: • The human brain starts working the moment you are born, and doesn’t stop until you stand up to speak in public Clarity To really get your articulators working and your speech crisp and clear, say each of these tongue twisters out loud 3-4 times. 1. Where and when will wonderful Wendy wed? 2. I want a proper cup of coffee in a proper copper coffee pot 3. Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. A cheery tune for a choosey tuna She sells sea shells by the sea shore; the sea shells she sells are sea shore sea shells Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York The Leith Police dismisseth us Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? She is a thistle sifter and she has a sieve of sifted thistles, and a sieve of unsifted thistles because she is a thistle sifter Betty Botter bought a bit of butter, but she said ‘This butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter.’ So she bought a bit of butter, better than the bitter butter, and it made her bitter batter better! Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop; where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits Send toast to ten tense stout saints' ten tall tents If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose? Soldier shoulder solder, soldier shoulder solder, soldier shoulder solder Quick kiss. Quicker kiss. Quickest kiss. Possessive pronoun, possessive pronoun, possessive pronoun Kitty caught the kitten in the kitchen Plaid pleated pants, plaid pleated pants, plaid pleated pants Ghosts get gobbled by ginormous gorillas Dennis dropped Derek’s digeridoo Pickle people pick particular pickles, they prefer their pickles perfectly picked precisely so their pickles stick There's a chip shop in space selling spaceship-shaped chips. Douglas Dougie’s dog Doug dug deep holes The winkle ship sank and the shrimp ship swam Can you can a can as a canner can can a can The peppy puppy the prince presented the princess produced piles of poop in the palace Black bug's blood, black bug's blood, black bug's blood Lips, teeth, tip of the tongue, lips, teeth, tip of the tongue, lips, teeth, tip of the tongue A big black bug bit a big black bear, and made the big black bear bleed blood Red lorry yellow lorry, red lorry yellow lorry, red lorry yellow lorry Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread Stupid superstition. Stupid superstition. Stupid superstition. A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk. Please pre-freeze the peas Nixon knits Nick's knickers Freshly fried flying fish If Stu chews shoes, would Stu choose the shoes he chews? Shep Schwab shopped at Scott's Schnapps shop; one shot of Scott's Schnapps stopped Schwab's watch A big black bug bit a bold bald bear and the bold bald bear bled blood badly Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat. Pad kid poured curd pulled cold The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick Mixed biscuits. Mixed biscuits. Mixed biscuits. Rubber baby buggy bumpers The roof of the mouth, the tip of the tongue, the lips and the teeth Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches? Many mini mice make nice merry music