6 Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking Voice

When most people think about how to improve their public speaking skills, they often overlook one of the most important tools at their disposal: your speaking voice.

Common public speaking tips might include how to start your speech or how to overcome public speaking fears, but your voice influences the impact of your speech and can make or break its success.

Fortunately, you can learn to use your voice, just like playing a musical instrument, to increase your power and persuasiveness in any conversation or speech that you give.  This is becoming increasingly important now that a lot of presentations are being done virtually.

All you need is a little bit of guidance, so now I’m going to walk you through my 6 tips to help you improve your public speaking voice. 

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1) Slow Down

When you speak more slowly, your voice has more power and authority. Your listeners have an opportunity to absorb and reflect on what you’re saying.

A speaking voice that exudes confidence will give your words greater importance.

All-powerful people speak slowly, enunciate clearly, avoid filler words and express themselves with confidence.

When you speak too rapidly, your pitch increases, often to something squeaky and child-like. This decreases the impact of your words and your influence on the audience because listeners downgrade the importance or value of what you are saying.

So remember, a loud, confident speaking voice presented with an even pace will lead to a powerful and moving speech.

2) Use Voice Exercises

The human voice is like a muscle. It can be made stronger with exercise and use.

Many people with weak voices have become powerful, confident speakers by building their voices over time with exercise.

Here’s an example. Memorize a piece of poetry and recite it regularly as you drive or walk around. Imagine that you’re making a dramatic presentation on a stage, in front of a large number of people.

Put emotion and strength and emphasis and energy into the words. Go slowly. Change the emphasis on each word in the line of poetry, thereby changing the meaning of the line.

3) Record and Listen to Your Voice

As you develop your ability to speak powerfully, record yourself reading poetry or parts of plays. Replay these recordings over and over, looking for ways to improve your pronunciation, your delivery, and your pacing.

4) Record Phone Conversations

You can increase your level of vocal mastery by recording your side of conversations and listening to them afterwards. Every time you record and play back your own voice, you will hear different ways that you could improve your delivery and articulation next time.

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5) Focus on Pauses

The drama and power of a speech is contained in the silences that you create as you move from point to point. There are four kinds of pauses you can use to put more power into your presentations. They are, “The Sense Pause”, “The Dramatic Pause”, “The Emphatic Pause”, and “The Sentence-Completion Pause”. To learn more about the power of pausing, click here.

6) Eat and Drink Well

Energy is essential for good speaking and voice projection. Before a short talk, eat lightly. This ensures that you are bright and alert when you start speaking and that your brain is functioning at its best.

Before a long talk, it’s essential to eat well. A solid, high-protein breakfast or lunch will give you energy to burn for four to five hours. Protein is brain food, and you need it to think and speak effectively. Your voice will remain strong and your mind will stay clear.

To ensure the best possible voice, only drink room temperature water prior to and during your speech.

Coldwater can chill your vocal cords and decrease the amount of warmth in your voice. When you have a sore throat, it can be difficult to speak clearly and project that voice. If this occurs, drink hot water with lots of honey and lemon juice. This miraculous combination has saved me on several occasions.

By following these 6 steps you will drastically improve your speaking voice. The feeling of confidence and readiness that will accompany practicing these presentation skills will make you feel unstoppable. It’s a great way to overcome any stage fright that you might deal with in front of large crowds.

Public Speaking Voice Training

Whether you’re preparing for a meeting at work or are hoping to pursue a career as a professional public speaker, being able to master your public speaking voice is an incredible skill that you can truly use in any situation.

If you’re looking to join the world of high-paid professional speaking, reserve your spot today.

If you’d like to learn more about speaking professionally, be sure to check out my other public speaking tips. You can also browse my public speaking resource page to see a collection of my best blogs, videos, and courses for professional speakers.

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin and Youtube.