Effective Vocal Delivery

Page 194

Actor Seth Rogen is the rare comedian who uses a monotone voice to great comic effect—his delivery of zinging punch lines in a flat, unchanging tone adds an extra layer of irony to films like This Is the End (2013), Pineapple Express (2008), and Knocked Up (2007). But listening to him deliver a long speech in the same style would likely lull you to sleep. By using varying aspects of your voice, you can engage your audience as well as convey confidence and trustworthiness. Through practice, you can learn to control the elements of vocal delivery, which include pitch, volume, rate, pauses, pronunciation, and articulation.

Varying Your Pitch. To be an effective public speaker, you must make use of the range of vocal sounds that the human voice is capable of producing. These variations of sound range from high to low—like musical notes—and are known as pitch. You speak in a monotone (like Seth Rogen) when you do not vary your pitch at all, and a monotonous speaking voice can be painful for listeners. So how do you ensure that you are using your pitch effectively? One way to practice is to record yourself speaking ahead of time to determine if there are places where you need to use more energy and extend your pitch levels.

Adjusting Your Speaking Rate and Volume. Speakers can use vocal cues to signal to the audience what needs their attention. Just as we use boldface and italic type in the pages of this book to emphasize certain words and phrases, as a speaker you can use audible cues to emphasize certain points.

How fast or slow you speak is known as your speaking rate, and it can also be a key factor in effective speaking. You want to speak slowly enough that your audience is able to hear and absorb what you say but quickly enough to capture the urgency and importance of what you are saying. Typically, if you speak faster, compared with your rate for surrounding material, you signal enthusiasm for the content, and the audience’s interest will follow. When you slow down, your rate signals a degree of seriousness and concern. You would deliver a persuasive call-to-action speech at a faster pace in order to show and elicit enthusiasm. You would deliver a tribute or dedication, such as a eulogy, at a slower pace to demonstrate sincerity and seriousness.

Changes in volume—how loudly or quietly you speak—can also be used to emphasize certain points. What do you want to stand out from your speech for the audience to remember? Is it a statistic, a name, or a product? Think about giving one word or phrase in every few sentences some “punch.” This differentiates the word or phrase from its context.

Using Pauses for Effect. Because many speakers believe that their entire goal is to talk, they pause too infrequently. But taking a moment between statements, words, or phrases and not saying anything at all is one of the most powerful tools available to speakers; it can add drama by giving the audience time to reflect on what you have said and anticipate what will follow. For example, in Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, King’s use of pauses, combined with rhetorical tools like repetition, helped build drama and anticipation as he delivered his address.

Speaking Clearly and Precisely. One of the quickest ways to lose credibility with your audience is to mispronounce a word—especially a word that is specifically related to the subject of your presentation. Pronunciation is the correct formation of word sounds. Many words in the English language are frequently mispronounced, to the point that individuals are not even aware that they are saying these words incorrectly. Check print or online dictionaries for pronunciation keys.

During his presidency, George W. Bush was the butt of countless jokes—often self-deprecating ones—for his frequent errors in pronunciation. But even though Bush sometimes made mistakes in pronunciation, he articulated well. Articulation is the clarity and forcefulness with which the sounds are made, regardless of whether they are pronounced correctly. To speak clearly, even if incorrectly, is to be articulate. All speakers strive to be articulate, but there are several ways in which we routinely sabotage our efforts (O’Hair, Stewart, & Rubenstein, 2007).

When a speaker omits certain sounds in a word, runs words together, and speaks so softly that a listener can hardly hear, the speaker is guilty of mumbling. Most people mumble either because they are in a hurry, because they suffer from communication apprehension, or because they are not prepared to speak clearly.