Welcome to the wonder of your voice! It’s your most powerful public speaking performance tool for persuading, inspiring, and moving audiences. If you get to be a memorable speaker, one reason will most likely be because of your voice.

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We talk about the figurative “voice” as the voice of a generation, the voice of leadership, etc. But your actual physical voice, more than any other performance technique, reflects who you are when you speak to others. Equally important: it’s your instrument par excellence for eliciting in others the same emotions you are feeling. Here are the 5 key tools of vocal dynamics you need to persuade and motivate audiences. 

To speak with impact and influence, you must acquire the tools of full vocal expressiveness. I learned this lesson firsthand at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where I completed my actor training. There, and at the other British acting academies, students work diligently on the technical aspects of vocal production as much as they do on scene study.

They do so to achieve the freedom and power that comes from training one’s instrument and knowing how to use it. The human voice differs from other instruments in that you can train it, not merely train yourself to play it. Here's how to have the voice of authority. And here's how to know if your voice is helping or hurting you professionally. 

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What Your Voice Is Telling You

Often, you will find that when your voice is not performing the way you want it to, the fault will lie in your own intentions being out of balance. For instance, if your voice sounds tight and tense as you’re advocating a point of view, that is probably because you’re straining too hard to get to the end result. Yes, you're out to persuade, but to do so you need to build your case logically. If you have solid evidence, why are you becoming so strident?

What happens if you have a good voice but say the wrong things? Here are 25 words you should avoid in speeches and presentations. Say the right not the wrong things!

The late British theatrical voice coach Cicely Berry gives us some examples of the connection between mental and emotional states and how the voice reveals them. Consider the following:

• Diction not clear = Not being precise enough in thought or not carrying the thought all the way through to the words.
• Trailing away at the end of phrases = Not thinking through to the end of a thought.
• Stiff jaw and immovable lips = Reluctance to communicate.¹

What Your Voice Does For Your Audience

Do you see how the way you express yourself vocally is closely linked to your thinking and motives? Your voice is thus an excellent barometer of how simply and honestly you are getting across to people.

It's all part of the fact that nonverbal communication is centrally important to public speaking success. Yet how many of us think along those lines? We're usually concerned (and often over-concerned) with our content, i.,e., the information we're giving audiences.

But your success depends as much upon your ability to express yourself physically. That means through body language, certainly, which is the element of nonverbal communication we think about first. But it also means your voice, which has a magic power to make people truly listen. 

In upcoming articles on this topic, I'll discuss how to free your voice to gain physical power and the sound of leadership. And I'll also talk about the all-important emotional connection with listeners. That last one is really the key to getting others to feel and think the way you do. And it's really your voice that makes that happen. 

¹ Cicely Berry, Voice and the Actor (New York: Collier, 1973): 76.

This article is excerpted from my book, Speak for Leadership: An Executive Speech Coach's Secrets for Developing Leadership Presence in Public Speaking. Find it on my author's web site and on Amazon.

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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. In 2022 for the ninth consecutive year, Gary has been 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." His handbook for presenting in videoconferences, Speaking Virtually offers strategies and tools for developing virtual presence in online meetings. His latest book is Speak for Leadership: An Executive Speech Coach's Secrets for Developing Leadership Presence. Contact Gary here. 

Main photo credit: Sam McGhee on unsplash.com