Do you have something vital to tell your team, your company, or the world? And will we believe it? Here's how to sound like you mean what you're saying. 

When you give a speech or presentation, do you ever worry that you aren't doing the topic justice? I mean thinking that you're just not good enough to deal with a subject this serious.

If you do, stop it. The truth is, you are everything to your audience! 

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Why else are you standing in front of us to deliver your talk? We're not here to gaze in awe at your PowerPoint slides. We're here to hear you speak, because there's something about you that's special.

Truly. In most situations, you are the one person in the whole world who should be giving this presentation, not only because you probably know the topic intimately. You also have something special to offer us from the combination of your education, knowledge, experience, job title, and the sweat you've put into your preparation and practice.

All of that is why we're here to listen to you.

As long as you sound like you mean it.

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Your Voice Needs to Be Alive With Purpose

So why do so many speakers not sound that way? I believe it's a combination of relying too much on content (and not enough on context), and the fact that almost no one gets any training in how to use the voice. In fact, it goes deeper than that, having to do with understanding what the voice is for.

Let's face it: public speaking is about a lot more than just being heard. Much of what has to do with meaning and emotion comes through your voice and nowhere else. So there's an aspect of training your ear as much as your vocal apparatus. You need to be able to hear when you're hitting the right notes of authenticity, credibility, honesty, and emotional commitment (and a lot more besides) when you're speaking. In other words, it's about how to speak for leadership.

It takes practice and experience to be on this wavelength—lots of practice and experience. But the first step, as it usually is with important things, has to do with awareness. I believe you'll help yourself if you start believing this fact:

Your voice needs to be alive with the purpose of what you're saying.

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How Do You Sound Like You Mean It?

Much of speaking with a dynamic voice has to do with technique, of course: sheer skill in knowing how to express vocally what you're thinking and feeling. Without that link, your audience is just hearing a repetition of your data through a vocal channel. So, put the work in on improving your vocal delivery. You can work with a speech coach, or simply spend time listening to people who are good at this in podcasts, audio books, and speaking engagements. Pay attention to what people are doing vocally in all those meetings, videoconferences, and conference speeches you're listening to!

For instance, here's an easy way to begin: Listen closely to all the speech openings where the speaker says: "It's a real pleasure to here with you today," or "I'm honored to have been asked to speak to this group." You'll hear that very few speakers actually sound like they're pleased, honored, etc. Instead, we hear the perfunctory opening that the speaker knows he or she is supposed to include, but with no feeling behind it. Think about it: if you start out by, basically, being a little dishonest with your audience, where does your credibility go from there?

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Start Sounding Like You Mean It Before You Speak

What in the world does that mean? It means make it easy for yourself to speak with purpose by understanding what your purpose is! What I mean by that is, spend more time—maybe much more time—thinking about listeners and what they really need from you in this presentation.

Once you've figured this out, ask yourself this simple question: If this wasn't a business presentation, how would I sound if I were trying to make this point with my family or a good friend? Then say the thing out loud again.

I'm betting that you sound more honest the second time around, and much more committed. That's because what you're hearing is the real you, not the you who is trying to sound all serious and business-like. Instead, you'll be tapping into your natural skills at sounding like you mean it. After all, you've been using those skills your whole life!

Now just bring that person on stage. See? Problem solved!

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Gary Genard is an actor, author, and expert in public speaking and overcoming speaking fear. His company, The Genard Method offers live 1:1 Zoom executive coaching  and corporate group training worldwide. For nine consecutive years, he was ranked by Global Gurus as One of the World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals. He is the author of the Amazon Best-Seller How to Give a Speech. His second book, Fearless Speaking, was named in 2019 as "One of the 100 Best Confidence Books of All Time," and he has been named as One of America's 5 Top Speech Coaches. His handbook for presenting in videoconferences, Speaking Virtually offers techniques for developing virtual presence in online meetings. He is also the author of Speak for Leadership: An Executive Speech Coach's Secrets for Developing Leadership Presence. His latest book is The Confidence Book: 75 Ways to Reduce Your Anxiety, Let Go of Your Fears, Change Your Negative Thinking, and Live Fully in the Moment. He is also the creator of The Dr. William Scarlet psychic mysteries. Contact Gary. 

Cat photo credit: Oleksandr Brovko on unsplash.