Presentation killer - monotonous speaking

I'm sure each of us has attended a really bad presentation at least once . If I'm asked to accuse the most bitter and relentless presentation killer I'd point to the lack of vocal variety. Monotonous speaking is an indispensable component of every bad presentation. A great flow, interesting content, appealing examples, expressive body language, eye contact - everything can be in a speaker's arsenal. But if a modem can  beat her at the vocal variety the odds that the audience will listen to her, focus on the topic, and remember anything the next while after the presentation ends are none.

Convincing speaking voice is a trump in a speaker's pack of means to positively influence her audience. Unintelligible words, squeaky or too loud voice can distract the listeners from the message one is bearing. But if the right pronunciation or an efficient tone of the voice is a flaw relatively easy to rectify, perfecting vocal variety is something one needs to sweat for.

The theory says we have three "sliders" to tune and vary our voice: volume, pitch, and rate. Think on where to speed up and slow down your voice, where to speak up or rather whisper, where to go up or down. All these colors are available on the palette of a speaker and without them the picture will be primitive, gray, and boring.

Rate. Too slow pace will lull the audience and too fast will waste its attention on unnecessary word parsing and buffering. You should find a pace when you express yourself with clear articulation, normal breath, and acceptable volume. Typically a low-pace speaker says 120 words a minute and a fast speaker shoots about 180 at the same time. Your rate depends on your character - there is no golden means - and the key here is rate variety. There is no hard rule on the use of timing but it's accepted to express sad feeling (solemnity, depression, sadness, frustration, etc.) at a lower rate than the regular speech. On the contrary, exciting parts of the message should be delivered with a higher speed. You may want to make short pauses before or after words that you want to attract additional portion of attention to; this also makes easier for the audience to catch unusual or new words if they're preceded by a short pause.

Volume. Moderate loudness is acceptable for the majority of the speech - you don't need to whisper or boom your speech at the audience to keep its attention grabbed all the time. It's trivial, though, to use both extremes to emphasize special messages and have dramatic impact. Heightened emotions are conveyed with a loud voice whereas depressed feelings pass through with subdued voice. In business presentations tough and challenging questions can be asked in a lower voice to set up dramatic and vital scene. Accomplishments, motivation, requests, or anger - these feelings can be expressed through increased volume.

Pitch. A thin, a cartoon-personage's voice lacks authority and may block up the message completely. We need to cultivate deeper tones but going to the bottom level of the pitch scale may result in rumbling and indistinct speech. Playing with this parameter of the vocal variety aims the same target - emphasize certain words, sentences, or ideas in the speech. Heightened emotions go together with a higher pitch whereas depressed feelings or provoking statements reach the audience better by a low pitch.

The theory is great and if you have a speech trainer undoubtedly she'll be spending on that a good chunk of the lessons. But how to improve and polish it you there is no speech coach? I found it efficient to practice self-coaching: you record your speech (better on video, to practice body language as well), analyze weak spots,  make remarks in the speech for vocal variations and do another iteration. Try to think about the three parameters every time you talk and not only during formal public presentations. Listen to great talkers and check how they use the "sliders" of rate, volume, and pitch to deliver their point in a variety of tints. Vocal variety is the hardest skill to train and consummate but if recognizing a problem is the first step to its solution, knowing a solution is the second step, then the third one is to realize it and it all depends only on us.

Technorati tags: presentations, vocal variety, public speaking

Comments

[fledl003]

Great points of public speaking! The idea of recording is great. If possible, try video recording and watching yourself back. I tried it recently and made heaps of gains!

Cheers

[Michael Sweigart]

May I also suggest that a person interested in polishing presentation skills join Toastmasters? Toastmasters International is the leading organization devoted to making effective communication a worldwide reality. Using a "we're all in this together" approach and a tested program for skill development, every member of Toastmasters has the opportunity to develop and practice communication and leadership skills in a mutually supportive and positive learning environment. For more information, or to find a club, visit toastmaters.org. I found it helpful; I hope you will, too.

[Roman Rytov]

Absolutely Mike! Toastmaster International is the greatest organization for learning and practicing speaking skills. I advocated it and explained in details its greatness here: http://roman-rytov.typepad.com/miles/2006/06/join_toastmaste.html