How we say the words we choose is just about as important as the words themselves. Our voice is a powerful instrument that can motivate the troops or lull them to sleep. There is a huge difference between presenting and persuading. Your voice is a complete arsenal of persuasive techniques in and of itself. For example, you can say the same thing but mean five different things, depending on the tone of your voice. You can say “Thank you” laden with sarcasm, love, hate, anger, humor, or surprise–just by changing the tone and inflection of your voice.

Peter Blanck, in his research, found that judges communicated their bias and attitudes by the tone of their voice. The juries in California were twice as likely to convict trial defendants when the judges already knew the defendants had a record and prior convictions. The law simply states that the judge cannot share this private information with the jurors. Researchers found that when (judges) the judge gave the instructions to the jury, his words and tone of voice lacked warmth, patience, and tolerance.

You can change your rate of speech, your vocal fillers (um, uh, ah), the volume, pitch, inflection, emphasis, and even the pauses that you use. You can keep an audience listening with both ears and with full energy, rendering them absolutely spellbound because of the power of your voice.

Your voice is who you are. It is your trademark and your calling card. Your voice must exude energy, confidence, and conviction. We tend to judge others by their voice: Is it confident, nervous, relaxed, energized, tired, weak, or strong? If you sound unsure and timid, your ability to persuade will falter. Persuasive voices have great volume, varied emphases, good articulation, and a pleasing pitch. Master Persuaders use vocal variety and frequently vary their pace.

The good news is you can change many characteristics of your voice. Tape your voice. What does it project? Your voice must be interesting and easy to listen to in order to help, rather than hinder, your ability to persuade. Does your voice work for you or against you?

PACE refers to how quickly you speak. Mehrabian and Williams found that people who spoke faster, louder, and more fluently as well as those who varied their vocal frequency and intensity were perceived as more persuasive than those who did not.

Speeches delivered at fast speeds are more persuasive than those of slow or moderate speeds, because persuaders who speak faster appear more competent and knowledgeable. At these faster rates, receivers are not able to mentally engage in counter-arguing.

Pace and SPEED are also important to keep and capture attention. We can think three times faster than we can speak. We have all had conversations and were able to listen while thinking of other things. When we speak faster, we can keep attention longer. There is less time for our audience’s mind to wander. Studies show that we generally like faster speakers and find them more interesting. Most speakers average 120 to 180 words per minute. But there is no ideal speed. Franklin Roosevelt spoke 110 words per minute while John Kennedy raced along at 180 words per minute. Persuasive speakers will speak fast enough to excite and energize the mood of the audience but will be able to slow their pace down to create a mood of anticipation.

FILLERS can destroy your presentation, hurt your credibility, and annoy your audience. Most people feel they don’t have a problem with this, and most of them are wrong. You would be amazed when you tape yourself what words you use to fill in space during a speech. Fillers are not acceptable and need to be eliminated from all speech. Vocal fillers include the common “um,” “er,” and “uh.” Some people have their own idiosyncratic way of filling in the silence between ideas that makes them uncomfortable. Some repeat the first two or three words of a sentence until their brain catches up and they decide what they’re going to say. Others might say, “Okay” at the end of every sentence, as if they’re checking audience com prehension.

PITCH is the highness or lowness of the speaker’s voice. Low is best. In our culture, deeper voices are generally interpreted as reflecting authority and strength, for both men and women. In addition, a deeper voice is stereotypically considered to be more believable, indicative of an individual’s sincerity and trustworthiness. Some speakers even drink hot tea before they speak, a technique that creates a lower sounding voice.

Remembering to employ variety in your speaking is a constant challenge, but it is of paramount importance. You can help people remain alert and pay attention while you speak if the pitch of your voice rises and falls. There are two main reasons why this strategy works. First, the varying pitches will prevent your voice from sounding monotonous. Second, the varying inflections can help emphasize a particular word. Remember, if you are not an engaging speaker, you will not be persuasive.

Clearly ARTICULATE every sentence, phrase, and word. When your speech is clear and coherent, it conveys competence. When your articulation gets sloppy, it suggests lack of education and laziness. Consider how lawyers, doctors, supervisors, lobbyists, and the like must be articulate if they are to survive professionally. Good articulation conveys competence, experience, and credibility. Another practical reason to have good articulation is simply because it is so much easier to follow. As previously discussed, people will comply with you more if you are easy to understand.

Treat your PAUSES like gold. Well-timed pauses attract attention to a particular part of your presentation, give others time to tune in and process your message, and help you gain poise and confidence if you’re rattled. Use intentional pauses for the points you intend to drive home. Not only does a pause increase comprehension, but it also helps to highlight important points. Use pauses to create attention, emphasis, and mood.

A carefully planned pause usually comes before the point you want to highlight. It is a common mistake to not hold the pause long enough. Be sure you allow enough of a pause that the full effect will be felt. When you do this, the audience anticipates and listens closely to what you will say next. They can tell something important is about to happen. This strategy is made even more effective when you combine it with pitch strategies: Be sure that as you come to the pause, your pitch is high, thereby building suspense and giving momentum to what will follow. Inflecting your pitch downward will defeat the purpose, providing a feeling of resolution instead of suspension.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

What are you using to fill in the pauses in your presentation? How are you going to stop using vocal fillers?

Make an audio of your self and judge yourself on pace, inflection, pitch, volume, articulation, and pauses.

Analyze your call to action and persuasive presentation and add silence to the key moments.

Why Do I Need Professional Singing Voice Lessons?

Picture This:

It’s your birthday. It’s late afternoon and the sun is on its way down. Nothing is happening at the moment because you’re sitting down in the company of friends trying to entertain yourself hoping someone would make a suggestion like, “Hey, let’s do something!” Just as you’ve had enough of doing nothing, a group of friends surprise you from the rear, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!” What a treata.you hug each onea then out the blue, one of them decides to sing a special song just for you on your special daya.

Your eyes and everyone else’s eyes are looking at each other questioning, “Why is this person with this unattractive voice singing NOW or EVER in his life?! We were nice. We survived it. Nobody died but, boy, it would have been nicer if that person could have sung that special rendition two days earlier before anyone could have had the chance to hear it.

Do you think you would continue to sing if you knew everyone else did not think as highly favorable of your singing voice as you do?

The “everyone else” category includes:

1.) Empathic persons – those people who will want to give support of your singing just because you’re just another human being

2.) Relatives – they like the thought of someone in the family who not only sings but also becomes famous by their singing [so they can borrow money from you when you become rich ] “and it might just happen if we cheer him on strong enough…”

3.) Friends – those acquaintances that will give an opinion of your singing voice that you would hopefully flatter you; even if it were not fully the truth. They want your friendship.

4.) Associates – those whom you have some sort of business relation and will not express any negative feelings concerning your singing voice so that they won’t jeopardize any personal future benefit you might offer them

5.) Church members – wonderful people but their spirituality may interfere with their honest judgment concerning your singing voice

6.) Nice, unknowing people – they may or may not speak the truth to you about your singing voice since they have no investment in you not to mention that they may not know what they’re talking about.

So who or what can you trust?

Answer: Unbiased, vocal music professional instruction. Someone who’s had the training and experience. A professional voice teacher with solid teaching experience. You want to entrust your singing voice, your time, your financial resources to a learned, well trained singing voice teacher that can explain step-by-step how you can maximize your singing voice ability without hurting it.

When you find the rightvoice lessons, you and others will hear and become impressed with the consistent improvement of your singing voice.

To try to teach yourself how to sing and be successful is tricky and usually frustrating. It can be very discouraging to fail to make the strides with your singing voice you knew you could if you had the proper singing voice instructor.

Sing to Feel Good About Yourself

Sing to Feel Love From Your fans

Sing and Hear Their applause!

To Your Singing Success,

Houston Simmons

4 Simple Steps to Singing

Duration : 0:0:30

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