If you are giving a speech in the near future, I’d like to challenge you to try something new… Your task is to pick a topic that you love to talk about and create 10 different possible openings for your presentation on that topic. Your dynamic opening is going to help your listeners decide if they want to listen to you and they will decide in 30 seconds or less. Making a strong positive and interesting opening will help you make a great first impression and help them to decide if you are credible.
Here is an example of what I’d like you to try. I frequently talk about executive speech and voice branding because I want to create an awareness about how you can control the way you sound to your desired perception. Here are 10 different ways to start my presentation using 10 different styles:
As I have evolved as a speech and voice coach over the years, it has become clearer to me that the way we sound creates perceptions and influences the audiences we encounter. You have an identity, too, based on the way you sound and the way you look. It’s a personal brand that you have available to use as a tool to market yourself, to persuade and influence and to create greater impact. Your personal brand differentiates you from everyone else.
Lacking vocal expressiveness is a common problem and sounding monotone won’t captivate your audience. Here is a solution to help you become more vocally expressive:
As business leaders, you use your vocal tone to build credibility, connect with your audiences, display confidence and establish authority. Part of being a great leader is having a voice that people want to listen to, a voice that inspires trust and a voice that can motivate people to action. Below are four strategies that can make your voice the best it can be.
What’s a loving voice? We all know what an irritated, impatient voice sounds like. No, that’s not love at all. When we hear this tone, the voice is very animated, the rate is fast and the rhythm is short and staccato; perhaps the volume has increased, too. (Think Lisa Simpson.) It’s so identifiable, isn’t it? And it’s not a good feeling to be on the receiving end of it.
If irritation and impatience are easy to spot in someone’s voice based on a few characteristics of speech, language and voice, what characteristics are present when you hear a friendly, warm and loving voice? Is it just the opposite of the impatient voice? Well, let’s take a look…..
Sarcasm in the workplace exists at every level of management. Americans sometimes make comments that aren’t sincere or are meant to be a little degrading. In order to be sarcastic, we adjust our vocal tone and often times, our facial expression.Try saying, “great” sarcastically. What do you do vocally to make it sound sarcastic?
Americans use idioms in nearly every conversation without much thought. Non-native English speakers often struggle understanding idioms because they require a lot of background, contextual information.
Among the many aspects of learning a language, non-native English speakers learn how to pronounce English sounds to become easier to understand. There are a few “rules” around the way sounds are pronounced.
Hands down, vowels are more difficult to learn in American English than consonants. Why? Because in American English, most consonants have one sound associated with them whereas, there are five letters in English that represent our vowels system but there are about 22 pronunciations of those vowels.
As business leaders, you use your vocal tone to build credibility, connect with your audiences, display confidence and establish authority. Part of being a great leader is having a voice that people want to listen to, a voice that inspires trust and a voice that can motivate people to action. Below are four strategies that can make your voice the best it can be.
Some presidents stick out as being great orators. Here are 8 presidents and their greatest communication skills as speakers that we can learn from.
Among the many aspects of learning a language, non-native English speakers learn how to pronounce English sounds to become easier to understand. There are a few “rules” around the way sounds are pronounced. 
Hands down, vowels are more difficult to learn in American English than consonants. Why? Because in American English, most consonants have one sound associated with them whereas, there are five letters in English that represent our vowels system but there are about 22 pronunciations of those vowels.