Back to: Virtual Meetings – tips
Speak clearly, correctly and conversationally. Here is a checklist that you may find useful.
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| Aspect | What makes a difference | Advice |
| Speed | Our voices tend to speed up when we show enthusiasm and slow down when we want deliver a focussed message with clarity. | Ask people if you speak too quickly. Reduce your content by 20%. |
| Volume | Some presenters have naturally loud voices and others have quiet ones. This is connected to how we are built (our frame) but note that one reason that audiences lose interest is that they cannot hear. | If you are built like a baritone then you should be ok. Otherwise, pick up the volume from your normal level to about double. |
| Intonation | Intonation is the symphony or music of our voices, the way our voices rise and fall. Our voices tend to fall when we are coming into land with a key message. We tend to rise when we want audience reaction or when we ask a question. | Be clear to make your voice fall when you are delivering your key message. |
| Word stress | We stress the important words in presentations. Word stress is not just about saying a word or key phrase louder. You can stress words by saying them higher or faster. In short the stressed word is the one that is different. | Write down your three most important messages from your presentation. Highlight the key words/ phrases and try speaking these words (or chunks) higher, louder and faster. |
| Enunciation | There are over 40 vowel sounds in English (A/E/I etc.) but we are lazy and tend to shorten these to a ‘UH’ sound. | Practise opening your mouth wide in order to make more of the vowel sounds. |
| Pauses | We often feel uncomfortable when there is silence in a conversation. It is the ‘pregnant pause.’ However presentations are different and as well as making your point, pausing helps your audience to process your message (especially important when English is their second or third language.) | Practise speaking with pauses of at least 3 or 4 seconds. If it feels unnaturally long you probably sound better. |
| Breathing | You need to breathe in synch with what you are saying. You will not be able to project your voice if you run out of breath. We normally don’t think about breathing and so it is difficult to train ourselves. | Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Relax. Breathe in deeply. |