Finding your voice for public speaking

By Ellen Egan

One of the keys to effective public speaking is finding your voice.  Your voice is a voice that speaks with clarity, strength, pitch and volume.  Yes, you have a voice like this inside you.

I remember when I began teaching and my mentor said “Ellen, you have a lovely, soft and pleasant voice.  But, its not helping you get your message across.  You need to speak to all parts of the room, not just the front row.”  It was not what I wanted to hear, but he was kind enough to tell me and to show me a few exercises for projecting my voice.  Now I still have a soft voice in conversation, but I can project my voice in a room with over a hundred people and no microphone.

How do you find your voice?

1.  Stand up straight.  You can’t project your voice if your diaphragm is all compressed.  Hold your chin up and look out at your audience.

2.  Breathe into your diaphragm.  Bring the air into your diaphragm, like you are breathing with your belly, not your shoulders.  When you have the proper breath, you will have the air to project your voice.

3.  Speak from your belly-button.  Yes, your belly-button.  Imagine that the sound is coming up from your belly button, through your diaphragm, up your chest and out your mouth.  You can practice with simple sentences like your name, address, etc.  Notice how your voice reaches all the parts of the room.

4.  Practice voice control.  Once you have found your “belly-button” voice, soo how loudly  you can project.  If your loudest is 10, practice what 9 would feel like, then 8, then, 7, etc.  until you can control the level of your voice. 

Now you have found your voice and you can control it.  The key is to keep practicing and to practice with presentations. 

If you would like to learn more about effectively getting your message across Click Here

To your success,

Ellen