***Captivate Your Audience Just by the Sound of Your Speaking Voice

By Nancy Daniels The Official Guide to Public Speaking
The official guide to Public Speaking

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Imagine standing at the lectern.

1. You know your material.
2. You are able to control your nervousness.
3. You make eye contact with your audience thereby talking to them and not at them.
4. You deliver your speech or presentation with color, with life, with emotion.
5. You speak with a voice that sounds nothing like what you hear on your answering machine.

It is quite possible that you are able to satisfy the 1st four requirements. The question, however, is whether requirement #5 is something you have ever considered.

If your hair is a mess, you fix it because everyone sees it. If your voice is problematic; i.e., it is nasal, whiny, too soft or too loud, or maybe you sound like a child or you speak in a monotone, or you mumble, why would you not fix it considering everyone hears it? What you hear on your voicemail is the sound by which everyone recognizes you. That is your vocal image.

Recently I had an opportunity to spend a day at a marketing seminar in North Jersey. One of the speakers was a very dynamic presenter, however, his voice was too loud and excessively nasal. While I had heard him speak in the early part of the day, he was also the final speaker for the closing of the seminar. I chose to leave early because I knew if I had to listen to another hour of him, I would get a headache.

What surprises me is the number of professional speakers who have done nothing to improve the sound of their speaking voice. We all have a better voice inside. I refer to it as your real voice, a voice that is warmer, richer, probably deeper in pitch, and sounds mature, not old, not young. Just mature.

Voices like that of George Clooney or Kathleen Turner or Morgan Freeman or Elizabeth Hurley are not anomalies. There are so many fantastic voices in this world, most of which will never be heard and you may possess one of them. But until you learn the techniques for finding that resonant voice, you will never know just how great your voice really is.

If you want to see a tremendous before and after video clip of one of my clients, I invite to go to my website and click on Craig in the upper left box. His change is outstanding.

Good voice training means you will sound better, you will probably look better, and you most definitely will feel better about yourself. And, and added bonus is that you are going to like hearing yourself on your answering machine!