The Sound of Your Voice | "Take a Nice Deep Breath" Article

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Fading Away....
By Dr. Carol Fleming

People had trouble hearing Owen when he tried to give reports to a committee at work. The beginnings of his sentences were fine. It was the ends of his sentences that seemed to just dribble down into silence. This was a huge problem when the whole point of the statement was in the last few words.

“All of our efforts on the West Coast, beginning in January and extending into June resulted in significant changes in the demand for the product, leading to sales figures of over 250,000 dollars…….”

Sometimes a person starts strong and then appears to lose confidence during the sentence ending up in an incomprehensible mumble. But sometimes the individual just plain runs out of air. They think they need to get it all in on one breath…and they don’t.

If this ‘they’ is you, you need to practice talking in shorter phrases so you don’t run out of air when you’re talking.

You should listen to how often other people pause, take a quick breath and go on. You’ll see how normal and easy this is. Try to imitate someone who seems to have good control of their phrasing and air control.

You might try taking one of your reports and making marks at the end of each phrase. Now try reading the reports with pausing at each of your marks. You will automatically take a quick breath in at the pause point. If you tape record yourself, you should hear that your voice remains firm through out the whole phrase. This is good.

Continue to practice this, limiting yourself to no more than 15 words per phrase. The idea is to get familiar with the feeling of this word limit. Practice for however long it takes to get this knowledge. (If you are a parent with small children, reading to them provides an excellent opportunity for your breath control practice.)

Now lift your eyes and try it without reading. If you record yourself, you’ll be in a position to know if you’ve actually done what you intended to do.

You may have a friend who can discretely signal you if your voice is starting to fade away during a presentation. Assure them that you will not be offended if they do so. They may be concerned that they are being critical. They are helping you in a subtle but significant way to have an adequate if not a commanding vocal presence.

Contact us today to discuss how our workshops, coaching and training products can improve your Personal Professionalism and Communication Impact.

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