Month: September 2017

Preparing your Voice, Breath and Body

For most speakers, preparing for a presentation involves working on the content and power point slides. ‘What you say’ is important. But ‘How you say it’, is what transforms a good presentation into a brilliant one. If you want to be perceived as charismatic and memorable, learn to prepare and use your voice and body effectively for presentations.

A few things you can do to prepare ‘Your- Self’:

• Tap into the full potential of your breath. Learn to effectively use the lower chest and abdomen (belly) to power your voice
• Develop healthy posture. Learn to keep your spine and body aligned.
• Learn to use the right vocal pitch, intonation, inflections, pace and tone
• Practise your vocal delivery regularly for a few days before the presentation. Your vocal delivery should empower your message & enhance your professional image
• Record your presentation and listen to it objectively. Check if you are sounding monotonous, too fast or slow, too soft or high pitched.
• Learn to improvise to sound conversational and natural

Using your Voice, Breath and Body effectively while Presenting

A few things you should be aware of while you present:

• Take a few relaxed breaths before you start speaking
• Align your spine and centre your body before you start speaking
• Avoid holding your breath when you are planning what to say next
• Learn to make effective use of pauses. Don’t use vocal fillers like ‘Uhm, Uh’. Breathe whenever you pause
• Avoid using long sentences that will strain your breathing. Your audience will also find it difficult to understand you
• Speak at a pace that is not too fast or slow. Vary your pace depending on your content
• Make yourself interesting with vocal variations, often referred to as voice modulation in India
• Avoid wearing high heels and waist hugging clothes so that you don’t squeeze your body and breath