How to develop a voice that makes people want to listen to you?

by Jaques Montegolifier Chartered Accountant

Image is all these days. People's perceptions of you, whether true or not, may influence your professional life, social life, and even personal relationships.

Therefore, understanding your tone of voice communicates to others is so essential to your public speaking performance.

While we have all heard that you should not judge a book by its cover, the fact is that your audience will judge your appearance and voice tone before hearing what you have to say. The audience will start to pay attention to the content of your words after you have passed this first—albeit superficial—credibility test.

How do you make others listen?

Learning how to adapt your voice so that you are delivering the correct message to your audience members is the first step in speaking in a way that makes people want to listen to you. Here are some expert tips for cultivating a speaking voice that holds people's interest, whether you are giving a presentation to a boardroom full of executives or thousands of people on a stage.

• People who do not speak from the diaphragm often do not breathe from the diaphragm, so changing your breathing pattern will help you boost your speaking voice. People who talk with a mouth or chest voice often breathe too shallowly, resulting in an awkward nasal sound. All you must do to improve this is begin practising deep breathing. The source of your breath must be your abdomen, not your chest.

•    When breathing from your diaphragm becomes second nature, any noise you make can originate there as well. Project from your diaphragm when you are talking, singing, or even laughing.

•    Make your voice clear enough for people in the back of the room to hear you. People with louder voices are seen as more dominant and authoritative, as previously mentioned. This point has always been discussed in a communication training program.

•    While you can increase the volume of your voice in general, make sure to vary it depending on what you are saying. If you are referencing a side note, for example, you will lower your voice slightly, mimicking the auditory counterpart of a parenthetical phrase. When making a case, progressively increase the volume as you get closer to the topic. Adjust your volume to express a change in subject or concept.

•    To change your tone, you must use your voice to hit high and low notes. For example, if you ask a question, you should end your sentence on a higher note; if you affirm a point, you should end on a level or slightly lower note.