Five Quick Tips to Empower Your Speaking Confidence: Welcome to the Playground

Dear Friend,

Have you ever been featured on a radio show, TV, or podcast?

Do you want to be?

I’ve had several such opportunities lately, and it’s a lot of fun!

If you don’t have a theatre or performing background, however, it can be nerve-wracking, at least the first time.

I interview people regularly, for my blog and for TV Toastmasters. I’m also interviewed, most recently by Paula Vail www.wellnessinspired.com.

Paula’s podcast interview with me aired this last Tuesday, August 7, on Seattle’s KKNW1150 am. You can see the 26-minute video version on the station’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXHAJDiik1U&list=PLU_fj7dCXSCVD7pi6Rey4MeTRhwNnAN6q.

I know how precious your time is, so I’ll give you five top highlights of the program:

1) Breathe with a relaxed belly and ribs out; don’t clench your abdomen.

2) Have your body straight, with good posture.

3) Speak with resonance (pretend like you’re a little nasal – use the whole area inside your head, not pushing your voice back into your throat; this helps you avoid that low, ‘gravelly’ sound.)

4) Speak in your authentic pitch range (this can be more challenging than you think!)

5) Feel something while you’re speaking – that way, your audience will, too. This is called “emotional espressivity.”

These tools are actually very simple. The hard part can be breaking years of bad conditioning.

The inner voice (what you’ve been taught about yourself and have told yourself over the years) and the body, our physical vocal instrument expressing our outer voice, are closely entwined.

When you start working with your voice, you will transform. As you transform, so will your voice.

If you take the time to watch the whole video, notice I did a couple of things “wrong.” And that’s okay! You’ll be okay if you do things “wrong,” too. What did you notice? What are you afraid of doing “wrong?”

Let me know on the blog!

Lake Oswego’s Transformational Voice® Teacher (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.)

Laura