This is a TED Talk by Robert Ballard, deep-sea explorer.
If you can, watch it without listening to the words, just to the pitch of his voice, especially about half way through the talk, at about 7.30.
The majority of his speech is incredibly monotonous.
He gives the impression that he is ashamed of what he is saying, that his audience will find it boring and that it needs to be hurried, get it out of the way as soon as it can be done.
There were times when I thought I would stop watching.
It was that bad!
I didn’t stop watching.
Why?
Because …
he compensated with some fabulous, very successful strategies that had his audience engaged despite the monotony.
What were these strategies and can we use them ourselves?
There were six that I noted, and all of them are powerful – they needed to be!!
1. The message is simple and strong
He has a very simple, well articulated message. Why are we spending so much time and money on space exploration and so little on exploring our oceans? It is repeated. The whole presentation supports it. And the fact that it is regularly stated as a question keeps it hooked into his audience’s minds and hearts.
2. He uses the unexpected
Several of his statements stand out for me but there are others. The first that aroused my attention was the one about how everything he learned at school in his field was wrong. The second was about the map. Normally when we see a blank space on a map we assume it is just an area of similar topography. A space like that on a map of the sea is blank because it is not mapped. Life under the sea exists in ways no life should. Water is upside down. Volcanoes work in ways volcanoes shouldn’t. He sets his audience up and hits them regularly with the unexpected and each point made that way hits strongly.
3. He uses images.
There are 57 image slides in this presentation with no words. There is no conflict in his audience’s minds between spoken and written words. The images reinforce what he is saying and his audience is more likely to remember a point made and supported by an image than one that is only made verbally. I can still see in my mind’s eye the little girl with her mouth open in amazement.
4. Humour
He’s not exactly a humorous speaker, nor a comedian, but he uses subtle humour, and again often the unexpected. There is self effacing humour, and his use of the name Easter Bunny, the statement “I would not let an adult drive a robot. He doesn’t have the gaming experience.” just three examples. And the audience laughs. But they laugh and they are acknowledging the humour but they are also being drawn to the point he is making at the time. The humour simply highlights it.
5. Clever use of Pause
Robert uses pause to highlight a particular point and his uses it powerfully, interspersing it between questions and single words.
He also uses pause as an antidote to a long session of fast-paced narrative. And that is powerful too.
6. Repetition
He repeated the main message. He repeated his main points. He repeated his humorous “Easter Bunny” statement. And it wasn’t saying the same thing over again. It was calling back to it, later in the speech. It’s a powerful technique, puts the segment just completed, monotonous though it may be, into perspective and creates support for the point he is making, or the idea he has introduced.
7. Passion
This man believes in what he is doing.
He is excited by it.
He is passionate about the possibilities it offers and about creating excitement in his audience and in the world, about his project.
And it shows, when he allows it, in his use of pause, in his enthusiasm, and in his energy.
These are not rhetorical devices he just inserted into his speech. They are the result of his enthusiasm and dedication and excitement.
He left the best for last when he talked about being able to ignite that same enthusiasm and excitement in middle-schoolers, when he talked about “creating the classroom of the future” and how you “win or lose a scientist by 8th grade”.
This is what we want. This is a young lady not watching a football game, not watching a basketball game. She’s watching exploration thousands of miles away and it’s just dawning on her what she is seeing. And when you get a jaw dropping, you can inform, you can put so much information into that mind …
And he had a standing ovation.
Monotonous, maybe, boring no!
Your voice is a powerful tool in creating the success of your speeches and presentations. Just on its own, it can make or break your public speaking. Use these five tips to learn how to harness the power of your voice.
Firstly, let’s not lose the audience. If they cannot hear you, you have lost them. Project you voice. Articulate well; so that they know exactly what you are saying. Pronounce each word so that they understand it. Explain abbreviations and acronyms.
Using a microphone is a huge subject and I won’t go into details here. A few points… Practise beforehand if you can. Discover the way to adjust the height of the microphone. Check if the microphone picks up sound from all around or just from straight on. Give it some “p’s” and “s’s” to see if it pops or hisses. Please do not tap it or blow into it. Some microphones are delicate and damaged by tapping or moisture. If you cannot practise, before you begin, adjust the microphone to your height and speak directly into it then be prepared to forget it. It will be obvious if people cannot hear you. Take the time, then, to adjust it again, and test loudness and direction. If you cannot fix it, leave it and project!
If the audience is bored, you will lose them. Inject variety in your voice. Use pause to keep their attention. Add strong eye contact to the pause – interact with your audience when you use it. Ask a rhetorical question, make a challenging statement and then look at them – tilt your head, smile and you have added power to your impact.
The pauses must be deliberate, however. Learn to be as fluent as possible. If you need to spend time thinking, say so. The audience is happy if you are happy, confident and composed. Please don’t fill the space with fillers, like “um”.
Take the time to monitor your speech for these fillers. Join a club (for example, ITC) and have your speech monitored for you, so you are made aware of using these fillers. Or have a friend or family member do the monitoring.
Make sure you vary the volume of your presentation as well as the pitch and pace. It is possible to speak softly and project. Like the “power pause”, this is another way of adding power to your impact. Volume has its place, but if you have ever dealt with an icy stare combined with quiet anger then you will know the power of quiet control in comparison to emotional loudness. So use a quiet voice for power, but use it sparingly.
So there you have it – 5 powerful ways to make your voice work for you when you present those speeches. Go out there, try them and see the change in your results!
Bronwyn Ritchie is a professional librarian, writer, award-winning speaker and trainer. She is a certified corporate trainer and speech contest judge with POWERtalk, a certified World Class Speaking coach, and has had 30 years’ experience speaking to audiences and training in public speaking. In just 6 months time, you could be well on your way to being admired and rehired as a speaker? Go to http://www.30speakingtips.com to get the 30 speaking tips FREE.
Make sure you vary the volume of your presentation as well as the pitch and pace.
It is possible to speak softly and project.
Like the “power pause”, this is another powerful way of keeping attention..
Volume has its place, but if you have ever dealt with an icy stare combined with quiet anger then you will know the power of quiet control in comparison to emotional loudness.
So use a quiet voice for power, but use it sparingly.
Well do they?
No I’m not asking if they were distracted.
I’m asking, Could they hear you?
Breath is what allows you to project your voice.
Did they hear each word?
Articulate each word, so that they know what you said. Make sure your pronunciation works for your audience. Do they relate to your colloquialisms and sayings?
Explain abbreviations and acronyms or at least make sure their context ensures they are understood.
Don’t lose the audience before they even have a chance to be distracted, and you will if they don’t even know what you said.
Building an authentic, engaging public speaking voice that connects and inspires action and change.
Your voice.
As a speaker, your voice.
What does that mean?
Obviously you form words and release them into the air for your audience with your voice.
And this public speaking teaching, or tip, is about that.
But there is another meaning to the word voice.
It is an opinion, an attitude.
My dictionary gives the example of “a dissenting voice”.
As a speaker, your voice, then, is your attitude, your opinion, the way you present those things, the way you present your message.
…………………………………..
Here is the tip that is normally delivered to trainee speakers …
If you speak in a monotone, you will lose the audience.
They will be bored.
Add excitement by varying your pitch.
You can also use change in pitch, volume and speed to emphasize new or important ideas.
…………………………………….
Let’s look at that in two ways.
It’s true.
But to expect someone to insert change in pitch, volume and speed, just to avoid monotony, is useless.
It feels fake and foreign to any idea of communication that the speaker novice might feel as natural,
just reinforcing the negative idea that public speaking is an unnatural performance, rather than authentic communication.
………………………………………….
But what if we saw voice as just an authentic, natural expression of your opinion, your passion, your message, your feeling of connection with your audience;
an authentic, natural expression of the thing that you need to get out into the world,
the thing that you want your audience to hear and know and understand and act on?
Then, surely that change in pitch, volume and speech would come naturally
(unless you have a deadpan presenter style.
I saw it done, just once or twice, most famously by an international champion speaker.
She wore a pair of half-moon glasses over which she glanced at the audience. She delivered mostly in a monotone.
But her material all came from an incredibly insightful dry wit and that delivery style just highlighted her essence, suited her message perfectly.)
For the rest of us, we need our voices to reflect our message, our passion and conviction, our connection with our audiences.
…………………………………………….
But that’s not to say that we can’t highlight part of the speech by artistically enhancing voice changes.
There is a certain amount of leeway to an authentic speech that allows a certain amount of performance layered on top of your genuine, conversational tone.
Once you have the appropriate level of conviction embedded in your material,
have defined the feel of the connection you want to develop,
then you can work on adding and enhancing the changes in pitch, volume, and tempo.
Use pause for drama.
Speak quickly to communicate your energy and enthusiasm, and then use a slower rate for emphasis.
You can also deliberately vary the structure of your sentences. A single word can have huge impact used on its own, particularly if it comes after a wordier segment.
All of these are keeping your audience hooked.
Not only do they maintain and strengthen your engagement with your audience
they also reinforce your own confidence and conviction.
Not a word of that was mentioned in the original tip about voice, was it? And yet it works.
Try it some time!!
As a speaker, your voice, then, is your attitude, your opinion, the way you present those things, the way you present your message.
That voice is your brand, as a person, as a speaker.
And if you can define it,
know it in all its details
and all its layers,
you can much more easily speak to engage,
to persuade,
to get results
and much more easily build your confidence and authority
Join me here to learn how to find and define your voice, your speaker brand voice.