Voice coaching Glasgow: three tips for your next presentation

As anyone who has attended our voice coaching courses will know, I’m fascinated by the human voice.

There’s so much you can do with it.

You can convey mystery and intrigue.

You can instil confidence or doubt.

And you can get your voice to a place where it’s pitch perfect.

Here are three tips you can put into practice starting today.

1. Warm it up

This will feel silly when you do it first.

Your voice is a muscle, though.

And, like many of us do before we exercise, we warm up thoroughly.

But often the first time we use our voice in a day is when we say hello on a morning call.

And then we speak for the next 16 hours.

So let’s warm it up and stretch it out.

Here’s a minute-long video on doing that online (while on mute, of course).

By doing so, you’re ensuring good performance throughout long days.

It also means you can use more of your lower and higher register.

Another way of saying: you’re able to play more keys in your vocal piano.

2. Choosing the right words to highlight

The best presenters and broadcasters do this.

They see a word coming. They want to show the audience that it’s important.

So they slow right down and they emphasise.

In business, however, we can choose the wrong word.

For young reporters I’ve coached this year, it’s been joining words like “and” or “but”.

These words are inconsequential.

Emphasising the word “and” in a speech adds little to your delivery.

So here’s what to do.

Slow down your rate of speech.

You’ll give yourself time to see these important words coming.

And rather than saying: “It’s about saving money AND time.”

You’ll say: “It’s about saving money – and time.”

That’s real impact.

3. Breath, Pause, Speak (BPS)

I use this technique every day.

It’s got a practical usage, for a start.

When I’m recording voiceovers, it gives me a clean edit.

Rather than rushing straight from an audible breath into the first word, it goes like this:

• Breathe in
• Pause for a second or two
• Speak

I call it BPS.

You’re less likely to be recording voiceovers than me, though. So what’s the benefit?

It’s a technique to give you time to think.

Often, when we’re asked a question, we start responding without considering our answer.

We use filler words and we talk in circles before the answer finally dawns on us.

Here’s a better way of dealing with questions.

Breathe. Pause. Speak.

Give yourself that time to consider the answer first. Then speak.

Finding your voice

I love building people’s confidence in how they sound.

I’ve grown used to hearing my own voice back.

It was painful at the start, as it is for everyone.

I used to insult myself for how I sounded.

But was it helping me perform better? Absolutely not.

So let’s work together to help you tune into the right frequency for you.

Email us today.

Colin Stone is Communications Lead and our voice coach at Pink Elephant.

Read more about him here.

Voice coaching Glasgow blog written by Colin Stone.
Voice coaching Glasgow blog edited by Andrew McFarlan.
All photos in Voice coaching Glasgow blog by Pink Elephant Communications.

Voice coaching Glasgow blog