Your voice is an essential tool for engaging and inspiring audiences. First, know your speaking voice and how to use your voice effectively. To be expressive, natural, and clear, you must use your voice well to create that impact by using the following tips.

Volume

When delivering a speech, your goal is to be heard by the audience. So, don’t be modest and speak in a way such that everybody can listen to what you are saying. To draw the attention of your audience, try to vary volume to certain parts of your speech. Sometimes be softer, sometimes louder, so that the selected passages can stand out from the rest. Even when you are presenting with a microphone, don’t always speak softly.

Intonation and Melody

A regular speech that has no variation in tone and melody can bore the audience within a few minutes. So, when preparing or training for a presentation, choose which passages and words that deserve extra attention and amplify the tone to accentuate these points. However, do this naturally. If at some point, something sounds false or exaggerated, it can make your audience lose confidence and trust in you.

Articulate Your Words

Remember, you are speaking to an audience and not to yourself, so the words you are choosing are for your audience in the room and not you. To ensure clarity on your part, do not forget to articulate every word. By doing so, it will ensure understanding of the part of the audience. Sometimes we tend to mumble as we are weighing our thoughts while being introspective.

Emphasis

Changing emphasis on desired words can alter meaning and implication. Even in the same sentence, emphasis on different words can change the focus of the message. Project your voice while still maintaining an intimate and conversational tone.

The Compelling Power of Pauses

A well-timed pause, when placed in a strategic spot in a speech, can make the difference between a good and an excellent presentation. Pauses can be used during a story to let the information sink, to create suspense, and when asking or responding to a question, etc.

Pace and Pitch

Speaking with monotone can lull your audience into a near-sleep state. Practice delivering a speech sometimes slower and sometimes faster so you can arrive at a natural pace. Try alternating how quickly or slowly you speak, how loudly or softly you speak, and how high or low a vocal tone you use. These changes in pace, volume, and pitch can be used to direct the audience’s attention to the desired points you wish to emphasize.

Tone

Our voice sounds differently to others than it does to us. When delivering a speech, there must be consistency between the offered content and the presenter’s tone. For example, nobody can demonstrate control of a situation if using a desperate tone, nor is it possible to prove indignation while speaking softly. Internalize the content of your presentation and check if it’s consistent, then set the right tone for your speech or part of the statement.