A powerful voice projects a trustworthy aura around the speaker. A trained voice is, hence, of utmost importance for business people hosting speeches and presentations, but is by no means limited only to them.
Accompanied with the appropriate body language, voice is a medium to boost first impressions — and second ones, for that matter.
Getting Nervous?
Many speakers tend to get nervous before delivering a presentation. Many more continue being nervous during the actual act. A number of little tricks can help with that, but the key is to not let nervousness affect the voice.
For one thing, shaken speakers tend to rush their presentations — the habit making them breathless, less audible and poorly presentable overall.
Contrary to popular belief, speech training is so much more than just about improving one’s voice. It also helps the speaker gain confidence, improves articulation and pronunciation, and seem relaxed but authoritative at the same time.
In a nutshell, voice training programs help the speaker gain/polish the following skills:
- A strong presence
- Perfect audibility
- An engaging sound of the voice
- Improved self-confidence
- Enhanced persuasion
- The ability to keep the audience engaged
Voice Training: the Basics
How exactly does voice training work? Skilled voice couches are capable of bringing out the finest in a speaker, respecting their unique traits. Forget about long sessions spent in front of the mirror, trying to improve gesticulation and audibility.
Voice training simply doesn’t work that way, due to a simple reason: the sound of the voice you hear differs from the one listeners hear. How come?
Thanks to biology, as it were. Scilicet, curious bones located in the middle ear (auditory ossicles) are nested conveniently to help the eardrum vibrate against them.
The resulting vibrations are then being transmitted to a spiral-shaped structure within the inner ear (cochlea), which transforms that vibrational energy into electrical energy.
That’s how the sound of the voice the speaker hears is being generated. Because the vibrations are created with the help of auditory ossicles, this process is called bone conduction.
Bone conduction generates lower pitch sounds than air conduction — the process transforming acoustic information by the means of the air outside the speaker’s ears. That’s why most people (a stunning percentage of 73 percent!) dislike hearing their recorder voice.
To spice things up, the pitch is a dynamic category, relying greatly on the environment. E.g., people tend to speak louder and with more authority during heated argumentations. That isn’t to say the cadence changes, however.
Science has it that the latter is a learned trait, relying on the upbringing and the environment.
Knowing all these curiosities, how can voice training programs actually help? The truth is: there are various programs addressing various issues. Notable common issues include:
- Speaking too quietly
- Speaking in a monotone
- Speaking in a high voice
- Speaking too fast
- Using too many nasals
- Mumbling
- Lack of expression
- Poor articulation
Albeit voice training programs address all these perks, more important to notice here is that a professional voice coach will help the speaker perform self-analysis and detect the actual key issues impeding them.
Common techniques taught by voice coaches include breath support, optimum pitch, voice projection, rich vocal resonance and expressiveness of the voice.
Once mastered, those skills are certain to help the speaker command attention, inspire listeners and ooze self-confidence. The skills garnered are not necessarily linked to executives. They also come in handy in all kinds of business environments, i.e., in customer care, office and sales.
Voice Training for Presenters
For those who wish to move forward from merely improving their voice, there are custom-tailored presentation programs. On top of learning how to get the maximum potential out of your voice, those will also help with more practical situations.
In short, they teach the presenter to maintain self-confidence in all kinds of situations that may arise (and to be sure, tricky ones are certain). To illustrate:
- Having a finely structured presentation guarantees a good start, but what happens with Q&A?
- Dealing with a difficult or more demanding audience will require some fine-tuning. Do you know how to handle it?
- Do you know how to always speak with clarity, influence and personality?
- Do you know how to impact any kind of audience and keep it engaged during and after a presentation?
- Does your body language relay confidence and authority?
- Do you know how to improvise during disruptions?
- Do you know how to leave listeners with an enduring impact?
If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, then you are in a dire need of a skilled voice coach. As explained, such individuals teach way more than just improved audibility and articulation.
Instead of a Conclusion
Finally, let’s not forget that an overall impression matters in private life, too. Self-confidence is just the trait to keep propelling you forward, regardless of the situation or the setting.
Forget about your profession for a moment and treat yourself to a training program that will help you always stand out. Rise and shine all the time!
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