Submitted by fab5freddy on
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After listening to myself on a Dictaphone, I found that when I increase my energy my voice gets louder and faster, but stumble over my words, and am generally less clear.
I am trying to work on this and have started reading ‘Set Your Voice Free’ to help me
…but as podcasters I hoped you’d have some tips for this. Does energy have to equal fast and loud? What is more important clarity or energy?
Energy shows through varying your approach
I think Mark may have touched on this when talking about Energy Energy Energy...
The trick is not to talk fast or loud, but to vary your speed, your pauses, your volume and your pitch at certain times.
You're great at your "normal" speed, volume and pitch. Don't spend a lot of time trying to change your "normal" (unless you speak for a living - then it's worth the hours and the effort).
Instead, think about your messages; think about what you're going to emphasize (for example, maybe you're going to emphasize a certain trait by telling a story of accomplishment). THERE'S where you want to show the energy, to "ramp up" the enthusiasm as you make a particular point or tell a certain story.
And then, you take it back down to "normal."
The energy will really show itself - because it's a contrast to "normal."
I'm sure Mark said somewhere that "Energy Energy Energy" doesn't mean being at a constant fever pitch. That's just insane. And it's exhausting to the interviewer.
* Be comfortable with your "normal."
* Know your stories and the points you want to make.
* Put extra "energy" into making those points.
* Practice practice practice.
-Hugh
thanks
Thanks
Will go back to the energy energy energy cast, and continue the pratice with the voice recorder (best £30 I spent)
Vocal variety
HMac's comment reminded me of college speech class, where my teacher worked us hard on "Vocal Variety." (He was an excellent speaker... he ended up presenting on TV.)
I still remember his demo of one vocal variety exercise: "up Up UP... DOWN Down down... arOUnd arOUnd arOUnd"
I suspect that's the sort of thing you need to work on.
I am told I am a good energy speaker
While I am high D, High I, I don't have the usual trait of being a super fast talker. Where I do convey my energy is my body language, change of pace, facial expressions and explosions of passion/energy in the middle of a phrase. Long and loud become just long and loud, not an expression of energy.
*RNTT
I'm doing some vocal stuff
I'm doing some vocal stuff to help my voice. It's fun and now i can sing better too
Just slow down
I am a fast speaker and also (I am told) a decent public speaker.
I also did the trick of recording my own voice, often practicing before delivering presentations to audiences. In doing that, I used to get irritated in hearing myself, pretty much as you heard yourself, stumbling or slurring. Worse still, I heard me saying too many words per minute, diluting and confusing the message.
What works most for me is to force myself to slow down and simplify. To do that I pretend mentally that I am speaking to a group of young children or non-native English speakers (the latter is often the reality for me anyway).
When delivering in that mindset, I feel like I am talking really slow, but hearing the recorded conversation it comes across just fine...!
By the way, if you ever happened to listen to kids' programmes such as Blues Clues, you'd notice how the narrators speak slowly and with a lot of emphasis, pauses and changes of intonation, pitch and sound level. This is because kids' attention span is limited and needs to be stimulated more intensively by the speaker. With the right adjustments, this works just as well for grown-ups...!