Presentation Excellence: Vocal Mastery

Summary

If you want to engage your audience in a presentation, you will need to use vocal variety. This means you’re going to vary the following 5 elements

Volume (how loudly or softly you speak): this will depend on the urgency of the situation and whether you need to increase it in order to be heard

Pitch (how your voice comes across producing a high medium or lower level sound): This will be a natural part of your voice, but may be emphasized to add emphasis or variety

Pace (the speed of your delivery): can be slowed down for emphasis or seeded up to convey excitement or emotion.

Articulation (the way you pronounce you words with more or less clarity): will ellow your audience to better understand and connect with what you’re saying.

Tone (the overall quality of the voice, its resonance, richness, ease and the feeling it conveys): is something that can be worked on in order to vary this quality to make your words and messages more impactful.

All of these factors are combined differently depending on the purpose of your presentation, the situation and the audience you’re presenting to.

Ask yourself “How do you want your audience to FEEL?”

Perhaps at the beginning of your presentation, feeling welcomed and motivated. In the middle, possibly feeing engaged and attentive. And maybe at the end of the presentation feeling reassured or committed.

Remember: Our Intention drives our bodies and voices

Make sure your intention is clearly communicated through your voice and body language. The situation you’re in will also condition how your voice will adapt and combine the 5 elements to make the most appropriate impact.

Practice your presentation varying the 5 elements and get someone to give you feedback on these.

Practice with your Team – Guide

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Questions

When was the last time you listened to your recorded voice? Over and above the fact that it sounded strange, what did you think of the quality of your voice in terms of pitch, resonance, tone?

Think of someone who presented something to you, and who impressed you with the quality of their vocal delivery. What are the things that you enjoyed about that voice? Which of these elements could you work on in order to improve the impact you have when speaking?

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