Most of us have now heard that only 7% of the impact of a powerful presentation comes from the content of what you say, whereas 38% comes from how you use your voice and a surprising 55% is credited to your posture, movement and physical presence. To put it another way, the music and the dance of your presentation is much more important than the words.
This is not to say that the words don’t count. You still have to get them right, because presentations conform to the computing maxim of “garbage in, garbage out”. However, excellent content will be completely undermined if the music and the dance do not fully support and enhance them.
Here then are my ten top tips for effectively projecting your voice in presentations:
o Volume – quite simply, you need to speak much louder than you think you do. You have to project your voice and throw it to the back of the room.
o Modulation – think of a presentation as a piece of music with varied tone and pitch. Sometimes the voice needs to be warm, rich and mellow, at other times confident, dramatic or enthusiastic. Remember to use the lower registers of your voice.
o Variation in speed – continuing with the musical analogy, good speakers vary the speed of their presentation to match the mood they are trying to convey and to keep the audience engaged.
o Slowing down - most of us speak too fast when we present. Speaking slowly, especially when there is variation in speed, tone and expression, will give you much greater authority and presence. Another great bonus is that your mind has to work less hard to keep up with what you are saying and to be sure it feeds you the right word at the right time. Observe some excellent speakers and notice how many of them speak in a slow but expressive manner.
o Articulation and enunciation – when you are stressed, your jaw and tongue tighten and you will tend to express your words less clearly. When presenting, you need to over emphasize your words and to accentuate syllables.
o Stress and emphasis – this is like verbal highlighter pen. Pick out key words and phrases by emphasizing them with a stronger tone and clearer articulation. Indicate in this way the words and points you want your audience to notice. Occasional alliteration helps here. That is, making the word sound like what it is. For example, saying the word “loud” loudly and the word “soft” softly.
o Repetition – repeat key phrases with different vocal emphasis.
o Put pauses in - the use of silence can be very effective. When you make a strong point, pause for a moment to give it time to fully sink in. Short, medium and long pauses scattered throughout a speech can transform it. If the speech is initially scripted, I will normally write the pauses in with “/” for a short pause at the end of a sentence, “//” for a medium pause and “///” for a long pause, when I especially want to emphasize a point.
o Breathe – breathe deeply, from the diaphragm. Also, as you stand up to speak, take a few deep breaths and then remember to keep breathing. It will help control your nerves and improve the tonal quality of your voice.
o Resonance – if you have a good posture, standing upright and balanced, with your shoulders back and down, and if you breathe properly and diaphragmatically, this will significantly increase the richness, resonance and authority of your voice.
There is so much to say about the skills of giving effective presentations. In later articles I will talk about how to improve the “dance”. That is, the 55% credited to physical expression and posture. I will also write about preparing for presentations.
