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Brenda Smith, Speech & Drama Coach: Posted on Monday, May 30, 2011 10:14 AM
Are you maximizing the effect of your voice or speech skills to increase your Business presence or Career aspirations? Recently, at one of my workshops which happened to be focussing on how to enhance the sound of your voice and apply it at networking opportunities, I had a client, Blair, (not his real name)a Sound Engineer, who felt a bit frustrated that networking only applied if you had enough contacts in a big city environment, but not now in his new small rural community. One of the first things we worked on was to improve his speech by having him consciously open his mouth wider and to articulate his words carefully, as he had a common habit of mumbling when he spoke that it was difficult to hear him; plus, he lacked energy or enthusiasm. After a few specific exercises and rehearsal, he perked up. Next, we worked on writing a simple but sharp “sound bite” that he could use when he met anyone, anywhere, (at the grocery store line-up’s,community events, barbeques, etc.). He did some role-playing so he would be confident with his new networking tag. Finally, I indicated that he needed to get himself out of the house to try his new voice skills out over the next week. The following week Blair called me to say that he had met someone at a community event who worked in the Broadcast industry, and Blair, using his sound bite in the conversation, led to his getting hired. He called me to say that he would never had known about the job as it was not advertised, and if he had not purposely use his new voice skills and sound bite at that event to engage the man in a conversation, he would have missed out on this opportunity. It was at that event the man suggested that he would be a good candidate for the job. Here are the top 5 ways to maximize your voice: 1. Tune up your speech and voice skills by getting an audit or assessment done by a speech coach to improve the sound and clarity of your speech. You do not hear what others hear you say and sometimes you do not realize the annoying vocal habits that you have adopted over the years. 2. Infuse energy into your voice and apply that to your presentations, your face-to-face customers, job interviews, and networking skills. You want to avoid having your tone of voice sound dull or uninterested in others. Also, if you are generally shy or quiet, you can easily learn how to project a louder confident voice to mirror an expert status. 3. Speak to Community groups: Introduce your business at your local Chamber of Commerce by speaking for a few minutes about the benefits your business is offering people in your community. Be sure to use your networking sound bite,so you do not ramble or sound disjointed. Go to other service groups and associations to also get the word out. Always remember to use your new tool, your powerful voice, to get your image out in the public and generate business. 4. Authenticate your sincerity to help your clients or customers out by meeting with them personally to handle any complicated situation, or over the telephone to follow-up with a service call. Your message over the telephone must be polite, warm, and calm to suggest a tone of support and co-operation. Here your voice is your best tool and shows your personality for people to remember you. 5. Invest in voice training to you and your staff training as they are the front-line of customer service, and they are the ones who may have to give visiting clients or CEO’s the tour of your business,or do a Power Point presentation that you want to be engaging and go beyond just showing of slides. Doing Staff Training Videos, meetings on Webinars and online teleconferencing requires Communication that is clear, concise, correct, and courteous. There are different vocal techniques that you need to learn when using your voice to speak on podcasts or videos. Business strategies today are moving toward the social media, webinars,and videos on your website to get your message out there. If you transform your voice skills to the online formats as well; then you will increase the bottom-line of your business and your brand. What are your particular voice concerns that I could help answer? Leave a comment below |
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Brenda C.Smith,Speech & Drama Coach: Posted on Thursday, May 26, 2011 9:02 PM
Hey, Just thought I would share my recent article with you so you can have the opportunity to try out a few exercises if you think your voice needs a boost- especially when you're trying to achieve your message but your voice falls apart on you. Does your voice match your inner personal message to the world? Indeed, you may have a truthful message that you deliver with passion to effectively mesmerize your audience to action. However, does the passion of your story match the sound of your voice or is it out-of-whack with your inner zeal? For example, do you speak with energy to lead the listener into the pivotal moment of the story – when suddenly your voice cracks, or your pitch level sounds too timid, or too high, that it sounds like a total disparity to the intended robust message that you wished to convey. The audience becomes distracted by this. To remedy this situation you could take some tips from actors who train their voices daily as part of their artistic skills. Actors during their vocal training develop strong foundational steps to express their character’s personality, such as a king commanding his court or troops, in an authoritative loud voice, not the voice of a shy young actor who cannot project his sound or resonant a full tone. The three key areas of strengthening your voice encompass extending breath support, improving diction, and increasing the range of resonation with the presenter’s body. Here are some simple exercises to get you started on strengthening your voice to empower your passionate message. Breath-Support Exercise 1: Make your breath more effective using your diaphragm to repeat aloud your vowel sounds and extend them for a longer duration. Read aloud lines of your speech or some poetry, gradually including more words on one breath so you can do it easily, and not run out of air. Imagine what would happen if a trumpet player suddenly ran out of air, there would be no sound; so that is why musicians also increase the strength of their breath. Clear Diction Exercise 2: Practise changing your word emphasis, stress, and clear articulation of specific words. Repeat one key line from your speech that is important to your audience’s take-away. Ask yourself: how many different meanings can I put on that one line of my speech? This exercise shows you how delivery of one word could alter the entire essence of your line. If you are sloppy with your diction, particularly slurring the end sounds or rushing words together, the audience only hears bits and pieces, not the entire content clearly. Take the time to focus on clear enunciation to enhance your meaning and nuances. Full Resonation Exercise 3: Move your tone from resonating too much in your head, nasal, and throat areas down to your chest area. Place your hand on your chest and repeat aloud “low” extending the vowel sound so that you can physically feel the vibration of the sound being resonated. This requires mind-directed focus supported by your breath. Finding your best voice will necessitate you to practise a range of sounds from high to low until you feel the point where it resonates fully, and is most comfortable for you. Wow! This is your inner personal voice that will impact the audience and be free of any tension or disconnection with your passion. As a presenter take the time to discover and free your vocal sound to find your true or optimal voice that will enhance and definitely match your inner message, so the audience can experience and share your passion. Let your audience truly hear the inner essence of your powerful voice. |
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Brenda C. Smith: Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 2:44 PM
Has this ever happened to you? You’ve prepared your speech, power point, and your presentation or your webinar, and you’re all set to go; but suddenly as you open your mouth to speak, you hear your voice crack; then you need to cough to try to regain some sort of composure and vocal strength. This totally throws you off and you spend most of the presentation sipping on water, racing through your speech, losing your breath and your focus as you struggle through it to the end. The most likely reason for this happening is because you chose not to spend very much attention to the health and maintenance of your voice, which just happens to be the single most important instrument that you are using to convey your message or to make your business sale. The next time you prepare and rehearse your speech, also take time to warm-up your voice, and do it again just before you are about to speak. Begin your warm-up with a relaxation exercise to release any muscle tension in your body. Stretch in all directions and loosen your shoulder, neck, and jaw muscles. Start at the top of the head and mentally work down to your toes to focus your mind on releasing any tightness that you feel. Next, consciously let yourself use your diaphragm to control your breathing force. Warm-up your tone by humming so that the sound is resonated in your chest, pharynx, and mouth areas. Try letting the sounds, such as “AH” escape through an open mouth. Find your most comfortable pitch level, so you can control your pitch to avoid unexpected squeaks or tension creeping up on your sound.  Keeping voice fit includes avoiding drinks with caffeine, dairy products, or alcohol to avoid your vocal folds from drying out. They will adjust to how you as a speaker treat them. If you abuse them with unhealthy foods or with physical abuse, such as, yelling, shouting, and smoking; then they respond by protecting themselves and shutting down. The cure to revive them is complete rest and lots of water. For the few minutes that it takes to do a vocal warm-up, it is certainly worth keeping your own health, and avoiding embarrassment when you do your next speech. For a complete free vocal routine please sign up on our website http://voicepowertraining.com |
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