In high school I was chosen to be a narrator for the spring concert. Confidently I stood on stage and delivered to several hundred people. My speech was clear, easy to listen to, but lacked vocal variety. The music director told me I was emphasizing every single word. It is like having a sentence with every word in caps.
This made me easy to understand but can quickly bore the audience.
What’s the answer?
Presentation Tip #10: Only Emphasize 2-3 Words in a Sentence.
Look at the following sentence:
To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.
If you were delivering it, you might say:
To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.
In High-school I delivered this line like this:
To be successful you need to have goals and a plan to reach them.
Every word was emphasized. You can improve your voice and vocal variety by following Patricia Fripp’s advice: emphasize 2-3 words a sentence.
To emphasize a word, change how you say it. Even pause for a micro second beforehand. This subtle shift in your voice will cause the words to stand out.
Record yourself before and after. You’ll notice the extra vocal variety and your audience will love you for it.
Great tip – vocal variety is so important to a compelling speech.
I have seen advice to go through your speech and put a red dot above or below the line every few words. Then, as you present, raise or lower your voice tone based on the position of the dot. Instant variety.