THE THREE VOICE SKILLS

Professional presenters know the importance of keeping presentations short, visually

appealing, and relevant to the intended audience. Moreover, master presenters also know
that the essence of a persuasive presentation is a good voice that has a balanced speaking
speed that isn’t too fast or too slow. In addition, speech therapists work on three master
voice skills for professional presenters:

1. Voice Clarity: The presenter must be clear in pronouncing his words. One can become
automatically clear in diction by strengthening the tongue and mouth muscles. One can also
practice consonant and vowel combinations. Once the tongue and mouth muscles are strong
they will automatically pronounce words clearly (see video).

2. Voice Projection: The voice must have sufficient depth and volume to be heard and
respected as an authoritative voice. Projection requires proper use of breathing through good
posture and having a strong deep volume. These can be achieved by straight posture and by
practicing low pitch humming so your voice depth and volume expands (see video).

3. Voice Variation: To keep listeners interested the voice must vary its pitch. Monotone
voices will put an audience to sleep because the lack of variety in pitch is conducive to
hypnotic relaxation. One can learn to vary pitch by practicing the various musical notes from
low to high and incorporating a varied pitch when one speaks (see video).

Do you need to improve voice clarity, projection, or variation?