{"id":71325,"date":"2022-07-05T16:08:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T20:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=71325"},"modified":"2022-07-13T15:57:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T19:57:04","slug":"voice-in-public-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Manage Your Voice in Public Speaking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What kind of voice should you use during public speaking? How loud should you speak? What about speed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Managing your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/public-speaking-voice\/\">voice in public speaking<\/a> is one of the hardest things about it, especially if you have little experience speaking for a large audience. Many beginner speakers practice saying their script but pay little attention to their voice, which is where things tend to go awry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some tips for managing your voice in public speaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-mind-your-voice\"><strong>Mind Your Voice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In public speaking, voice is often an afterthought, but it shouldn&#8217;t be. Communication expert Jay Sullivan advises <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-pay-attention\/\">paying attention<\/a> to the speed, volume, and tone of your voice when speaking for a large audience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Speed: <\/strong>You\u2019ll more likely need to slow your pace rather than speed it up\u2014most people talk fast out of nervousness. (Sullivan does add that talking fast <em>on purpose<\/em> can imply a sense of urgency.) Also, incorporate pauses to give your audience time to process what you just said. (Shortform note: What\u2019s so bad about talking fast? Not only does it make you appear less confident and unorganized, it also makes your audience work harder to understand you\u2014which goes against Sullivan\u2019s advice to focus on their needs. Work on your pace by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jenniferhennings.com\/jennifer-hennings-blog\/3-ways-to-slow-down-when-youre-nervous\">recording yourself as you practice<\/a> your presentation. From there, you can gauge exactly how fast you\u2019re talking and make adjustments. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.throughlinegroup.com\/2019\/07\/31\/5-tips-for-fast-talkers-to-slow-down\/\">A good rate to aim for is 150-160 words per minute<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Volume: <\/strong>When speaking without a microphone, Sullivan recommends projecting your voice enough to reach the person farthest away from you. Deliberately varying your volume can keep people more engaged. Saying something loudly can emphasize a point; counterintuitively, lowering your voice on occasion can encourage them to lean in and listen more intently. (Shortform note: Remember that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatrefolk.com\/blog\/projecting-your-voice-without-yelling\/\"><em>projecting<\/em> your voice is different from <em>yelling<\/em><\/a>\u2014yelling uses your vocal cords, while projecting uses your diaphragm, or the muscle at the base of your chest. To practice using your diaphragm, try this exercise: Take a big breath in, feeling your abdomen expand, then force all the air out with a \u201cha.\u201d You should feel your diaphragm contract.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tone: <\/strong>Inject energy and positivity into your tone by delivering your message with a smile. Avoid sounding lifeless, which tends to happen when you read your notes in a monotone voice. However, Sullivan cautions that while varying your tone, you should avoid \u201cupspeak\u201d\u2014using a rising inflection at the end of a declarative sentence, making it sound like a question. This type of tone makes you sound tentative. (Shortform note: Sullivan says you should avoid upspeak, which is often derided as an undesirable practice, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bustle.com\/p\/uptalk-is-actually-important-feminist-communication-cue-so-seriously-stop-policing-how-women-speak-62520\">others argue that it has a necessary function<\/a>: Contrary to the belief that it makes you sound tentative, it may actually encourage other people to listen actively and discourage them from interrupting.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What kind of voice should you use during public speaking? How loud should you speak? What about speed? Managing your voice in public speaking is one of the hardest things about it, especially if you have little experience speaking for a large audience. Many beginner speakers practice saying their script but pay little attention to their voice, which is where things tend to go awry. Here are some tips for managing your voice in public speaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,15],"tags":[670],"class_list":["post-71325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-education","tag-simply-said","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Manage Your Voice in Public Speaking - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it comes to public speaking, voice is often an afterthought. But it shouldn&#039;t be. Here&#039;s how to manage your voice when public speaking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Manage Your Voice in Public Speaking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When it comes to public speaking, voice is often an afterthought. But it shouldn&#039;t be. Here&#039;s how to manage your voice when public speaking.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-05T20:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-13T19:57:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/public-speaking-performance-speech-orator.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"How to Manage Your Voice in Public Speaking\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-05T20:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-13T19:57:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/\"},\"wordCount\":481,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/public-speaking-performance-speech-orator.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Simply Said\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/\",\"name\":\"How to Manage Your Voice in Public Speaking - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/voice-in-public-speaking\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/public-speaking-performance-speech-orator.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-05T20:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-13T19:57:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"When it comes to public speaking, voice is often an afterthought. 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