Public Speaking: Using Your Voice, Pt. 2

If you pick up a book – any book – and open it to a random spot and read a random paragraph, what are the odds of your listeners understanding what the book is about?

When speaking, you have to understand how the parts relate to the whole, with your main points firmly in mind.  This takes us to another valuable lesson in how to use your voice – placing emphasis on the right sections or words that best highlight the main points.  Each of your main points should have a ‘peak’ – a high point of emphasis that will stick with the listener.  So how do you determine what to emphasize?

It’s actually simple in concept – as you look at each of your main points, what idea do you want your audience to take away from each point?  That’s where your emphasis needs to focus.  How you handle that focus can depend on the nature of the point; maybe your delivery becomes more enthusiastic, or perhaps you use pausing creatively to slow the pace and draw the listener’s attention.  The key idea is to highlight what you want your audience to remember after they’ve left.

Next, think about volume.  Most venues will provide some sort of sound system, but you still need to consider the overall volume.  Too low and you risk losing your audience’s attention. Likewise, overly loud can make your audience uncomfortable.  How do you know?  Watch your audience reactions, and if in doubt simply ask them.

One thing to keep in mind about volume is if something happens outside the room, or something distracting happens inside.  That could create a situation where you’ll need to increase your volume. Think about how you might handle a crying child, thunderstorm, or something similar.

Then there’s modulation – using adjustments in volume, pace, and pitch.  This keeps the audience engaged, and it helps them to understand how you feel about a topic.  How you feel can influence how they feel.  We’ve likely all been in meetings where the speaker didn’t properly use modulation, and the discussion was carried out in a monotone.  Few things can lose an audience faster, and at a conference session people will literally walk out if they aren’t engaged.

I mentioned volume above, and it’s a key part of modulation.  Using volume to emphasize a key point, either by modulating up for a question, proper emphasis for an exclamation, or pausing at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Lowering the volume can perk up the audience, but be sure to follow with proper emphasis on the point.

Pace is how fast you speak.  This is a common problem with new speakers – going too fast.  I’ve had sessions where I was particularly nervous that finished ahead of schedule simply because of my pace.  If you have an exciting point, a faster pace may be called for; if its something we want the audience to take away a slower pace may provide better emphasis.  The majority of your discussion should be at an even, moderate pace.  Change the pace up or down depending on what you want to convey to the audience.

Pitch is where the monotone comes in – think of it like an orchestra, where you have to use more than one instrument and more than one note to create a symphony.  Without pitch, you can lose your audience, and what you say will not be memorable (or memorable for the wrong reason).  Think about how you might convey emotions with your voice, and adjust your pitch up or down accordingly.  A higher pitch might excite the audience, where a lower pitch could make them more thoughtful about a point.

So that brings us to the end of part two of using your voice.  Next time we’ll cover a few more ideas before moving on to the next section.