PLAY WITH YOUR

VOICE

PUBLIC SPEAKING

We require oxygen.

In order to speak, you must breathe.

Breathing deeply

calms your nerves.

helps you focus.

improves posture, which projects confidence.

The quality of your voice

impacts your message and

how you are perceived by the

audience.

Remember:

Consider your…

VOLUME

RATE

PITCH

PAUSES

We respond to change.

Your audience will

react to any change.

Make your change

purposeful by

understanding how

powerful your voice

can be.

VOLUME

Be heard.

You want to be

comfortably

heard by

everyone in the

audience.

Vary your volume.

Speaking continuously at the same volume for

any period of time can put the audience to

sleep.

Varying volume can…

Emphasize words or phrases.

Mirror emotional content.

What volume would be appropriate for telling a

sad story?

RATE

Speak naturally.

Aim for a comfortable rate of speech.

Not too fast.

Not too slow.

The Pros’ Rate

One researcher analyzed a variety of 9 TED

talks to count their words per minute.

He found the average rate to be 133 to 188

words/minute (“What Is”).

Al Gore came in at 133 wpm.

Jacqueline Novogratz averaged 188 wpm.

Both speakers were comfortable and could

speak with clarity at their rates.

Rate is influenced by…

Birth/culture/history

Nervousness/stress increases rate.

Write “SLOW DOWN” in your notes.

Mental fatigue slows us down.

We also tend to make more mistakes when tired.

Complexity of words/content.

Larger words, tougher concepts cause us to slow up.

Pauses

Your own, in the audience, in the speaking environment.

Fast or slow?

Generally, slow is better than fast.

Again, it’s most important to be comfortable

and CLEAR.

Aim for clarity.

Work within your vocabulary.

Fast or Slow?

Change it up to add variety to your speech.

Would you increase or decrease your rate to

convey:

Confusion

Excitement

Anger

Sadness

Frustration

Exhaustion

Solicit Feedback

Ask for feedback.

It’s hard to grasp our own rate of speech. Ask an

audience member how you’re doing.

PITCH

We make music when we

speak.

Pitch is defined as the notes we use in our

speech.

Monotone is boring. Ask Ferris Bueller.

Use different notes to sound more interesting.

Pitch reflects your tone, your attitude.

Anger might lower pitch.

Excitement may increase pitch.

Activity: Playing with Pitch

You’re about to receive two cards:

One contains a quote.

One holds an adjective.

You will be asked to read your quote to the

class in an attempt to communicate the

emotion/tone on your other card.

The class will guess what emotion/tone you

are attempting to project from a list on the

board.

PAUSES

Pauses are golden. They…

allow the audience to take in your words.

communicate emotion. (Think back to Al

Gore.)

control the pace of your delivery.

replace filler words.

allow you time to breathe.

give your mind time to catch up to your mouth.

WHEN TO PAUSE

Before you start your speech.

allows you to align everything physically,

mentally, and emotionally

Oxygen calms nerves

The Clause Pause

Wherever you’d see a comma in writing, use

short pause in speech.

Wanting to impress my husband on our

anniversary [pause] I prepared eggs [pause]

bacon [pause] and pancakes for breakfast.

The Point Pause

Transition through parts of your speech using

longer pauses.

Separate points

Set apart a story

The Dramatic/Emphasis Pause

When you want to emphasize a key word (or

phrase), try pausing immediately before and

immediately that which you want to stand out.

The before pause tells an audience to listen

up.

The after pause signals us to remember what

was said.

The (Rhetorical) Question

Pause

If you ask your audience a question, give them

time to think about an answer.

e.g. Have you ever considered what it would be

like if you took the time to ask more questions?

e.g. “Think for a moment about how you would

feel if…”

Silent participation is important!

Failure to pause will frustrate your audience.

The Speaker-Needs-Something

Pause

We need to

Think (use silence instead of filler words)

Drink

Check our notes

It’s OK! Take a second to collect yourself!

Works Cited

Dlugan, Andrew. "Speech Pauses: 12 Techniques to Speak Volumes with Your Silence." Six Minutes RSS. Six Minutes, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. <http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/pause-speech/>.

Dlugan, Andrew. "Toastmasters Speech 6: Vocal Variety." Six Minutes RSS. Six Minutes, 27 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. <http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/toastmasters-speech-6-vocal-variety/>.

Dlugan, Andrew. "What Is the Average Speaking Rate?" Six Minutes RSS. Six Minutes, 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. <http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speaking-rate/>.