Improving Communication Skills With Voice Tonality
by Chris Farmer
There is a famous proverb that states, ‘Judge not, lest you be judged.” But the truth is you will be judged by others. People must make judgements about you. And they will make sweeping judgements about you, based on a very limited amount of information. People make judgements based on the evidence of their senses and they will go on what they see and hear.
An interesting fact is that your future to a certain degree depends on your making a good impression in the minds of others. This can include your employers, your customers, your friends and your family.
In order to make a good impression, it’s not only with what you say, but also HOW you say it. The following list will help you make a good impression: speak deeper, speak louder, speak slower and lastly speak with variability. Let us go through this one by one.
First speak deeper. Everyone has a range of tones available to them. You can speak with a higher voice (squeaky) or with a lower tone (resonant). The advice is to speak with a deeper, more resonant tone. Deeper tones are associated with maturity, authority and intelligence. Don’t speak with a squeaky, high pitched voice as you may be judged as lacking authority and immature.
Secondly, speak louder. If you wish to make a good impression, it is better to speak slightly louder than you usually do, within reason. If you speak slightly louder than what does this suggest about your levels of confidence in your material. The answer is that you have higher levels of confidence in what you are saying. Don’t allow yourself to shrink back and lapse into a feather-weight volume. It implies that you lack the confidence to “come out with it.”
Thirdly, speak slower. If you want to make a good impression, slow down the rate of your delivery. Slow the rate of “information per unit time”. This is because it takes time for your listener to hear and absorb your material.
If you speak too quickly and bombard your listener with too many points per minute, you create confusion in the mind of your listener. As a result, your message becomes bewildering and nonsensical even if, on paper, your message is fully coherent. Pay attention to your pacing and slow down to a moderate pace. Putting the same point the other way round, don’t talk too much and don’t talk too quickly.
Lastly, speak with variability. If you wish to make a good impression, then vary your voice tone. Allow your tones to vary and inject some contrast, give colour and spice to your voice tones. Don’t be monotone as monotone voices drone on and on, and on and on, using only one tone never changing, always the same, boring the pants off everyone, with dreary tones, that go on and on, forever… Don’t let that be you, be lively and vary your tones.
In summary people make judgements based on the evidence of their senses; they go on what they see and hear. In order to make a good impression, not only with what you say, but also in HOW you say it remember to speak deeper, louder, slower, and speak with variability.
About the Author: Chris Farmer is a Management Training Consultant specialising in Management and Personal Development Training. The courses provided by Corporate Coach Group have helped hundreds of managers become immediately more effective.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
