About a year ago I married one of my best friends from college. While our lives had taken very different paths after graduation, we somehow found ourselves both single again in our 40s. He was living in California. I was across the country in Tennessee. Reflecting on the beginning days of our relationship, he asked me recently, “when did you know you were falling in love with me?” The answer for me was an easy one. It was the first time he called and I heard his voice on the other end of the phone.
I don’t want to get too mushy here, but there is something moving, almost magical, about the human voice. You’ve probably experienced this magic for yourself when the voice of a loved one brought you calm, excitement, or strength.
And yet with all of this incredible power the human voice has, we don’t spend much time thinking about how to develop it, leverage it, and care for it. That’s probably because we assume that when it comes to our voice, we are stuck with what we are born with. And to some extent, that’s true.
But today, I want to talk about the power your voice has, some things you can do to make it more effective, and how to care for it before you give a presentation.
Your Speaking Voice
Have you ever been watching an advertisement and you hear a voice you recognize? Is that Will Arnett? Maybe Matthew McConaughey? I love trying to identify celebrity voiceovers. Like your signature or your fingerprint, your speaking voice is unique to you.
But we haven’t yet been able to truly identify or measure the unique qualities of the human voice because there is a huge research gap when it comes to studying it. Anne Karpf points to this gap saying, “The human voice is such a taken-for-granted, inescapable aspect of communication.” But, she goes on to say, because the human voice is almost always accompanied by words, it makes it hard to study the actual texture and meaning of a voice apart from the words being spoken.
And yet, we somehow intrinsically and gutturally know that different voices have different effects on us. Mostly this is because of something called paralinguistics.
Paralinguistics
Paralinguistics are the “extra things,” outside of the words, that give meaning to the communication and give each voice it’s own sound. Things like pauses, nonverbals (“um” and “er”), intonation, pitch, rate, and volume. If you tried to imitate what someone’s voice sounded like, you’d imitate these types of things. And while we don’t talk about paralinguistics much, we seem to at least understand what they are. But we sometimes forget that we can use them make our voices more effective. Simply by changing the pitch, volume, and rate of our voices, we can change the meaning and feeling of our words. Here’s an example.
Say the following sentence slowly, with a quiet voice, pausing briefly after each word.
I can’t wait to tell you about my day.
Now say the same sentence quickly, more loudly, and with eagerness.
I can’t wait to tell you about my day.
The feeling changes because of the paralinguistics. Which reminds us that it doesn’t just matter what you say. It matters how you say it. So here are a few tips for leveraging a few of your paralinguistics.
Pitch (the placement of your voice on a musical scale, low or high)
Speakers who speak at the same pitch are called monotone. A voice without pitch variety quickly becomes boring and feels dispassionate. And if you think the pitch of your voice doesn’t matter much, consider this. Research has shown that we often elect candidates with lower pitches. So raise the pitch of your voice just a little to express excitement, curiosity, or to express care. Drop the pitch of your voice just a bit to show authority or gravity. But don’t try to recreate your voice. The aim is to keep your pitch natural, matching it to your content, but varying it to show emotion and to reinforce meaning.
Volume (the audible level at which you speak, loud or soft)
Your volume can also be a tool for leveraging your speaking power. But that doesn’t mean yelling to get our attention. I find that using a quieter volume for more serious content lends extra gravity and attention to it. On the other hand, using a slightly louder volume for lighter content tends to communicate excitement. As with most paralinguistics, your audience craves variety. So don’t be afraid to slightly change your volume at different times during your presentation.
Rate (the pace at which you speak, fast or slow)
I often say that rate is one of the most unused, but most powerful, of all speaking tools. We tend to think that our rate should stay the same throughout the presentation, but being “mono-rate” is no better than being monotone. But what is a good speaking rate? Dom Barnard of Virtual Speech found that the most popular TED speakers have a slightly quicker rate than some of their less-viewed counterparts. He says to aim for an average rate of around 175 words per minute. But the key here again, is variety. Think about how the example above (I can’t wait to tell you about my day) changed just with a difference in how fast you said it. Consider how different parts of your presentation might be more meaningful if you sped them up or slowed them down.
Vocal Prepping
Once you’ve given more attention to your voice, and once you’ve explored how paralinguistics can add to your communication, it’s time to prep your voice for speaking.
Warm Up: The same way you’d warm up your muscles before a workout, you should warm up your voice before presenting. Ingo Titze, director of the National Center for Voice and Speech at the University of Utah, says that it is important to exercise your voice on a regular basis. He says, “If you never stretch your vocal cords . . . eventually the ligament will atrophy into a simpler structure and you won’t have that range available to you.”
An easy vocal warm up is to pick a word that you might say often in your presentation. Say it at a comfortable pitch and volume. Then repeat it, raising your pitch until you reach the top of your range. Then keep repeating it, this time lowering your pitch until you reach the bottom of your range. You can do the same thing for volume and rate, using the same word or picking a phrase or sentence to repeat.
Watch What You Drink: Before giving your presentation you should watch what you drink. Try to avoid drinks with alcohol, sugar, and caffeine. Registered dietitian Sharon Zarabi says, “The vocal folds require moisture to work efficiently and though caffeine comes in the form of a liquid, it acts as a drying agent. In fact, caffeine pulls water out of your system and depletes the vocal folds of needed lubrication. Dry vocal cords tend to tighten which temporarily hinders voice range and endurance.” It’s probably best to sip on cool or lukewarm water (anything too cold can restrict your vocal cords). Or opt for warm, decaffeinated tea.
Just a little bit of thought and prep can make your voice more effective and more pleasing for your audience. Again, the goal isn’t to change your voice. After all, research shows that 83-86% of the time audience members prefer a speaker’s natural voice over one that falls outside of his range. The goal is just to leverage and exercise the full power and range of the voice you already have.
From vocal coaching to slide design, one of our experts at Ethos3 is ready to help with your presentation needs. Reach out to us now.
