3 Hacks to Improve Your Voice and Tone for Effective Communication

On November 2023,
Bad Bunny (the most famous reggaeton singer)
Went viral for asking his fans to leave his Whatsapp group
if they liked his newest song.

??????

It doesn’t make sense.
Where is the problem?
Well.

If you listen to this song NostalgIA,
You can clearly notice his voice.
The point is that,

Although it his voice it is not him.
The song was made with AI and people loved it.

F***!

Substituted for a machine.
Our voice is unique.
Made or not by a machine everybody
Matched that voice with a particular person.

This post is neither about AI nor
the uniqueness of your voice.
It is about factors and tips you may introduce
In your way of speaking to level up your skill.

We all had the experience after a speech,
When you wondered why the speaker did it so well
But you don’t know why?

This post is about it.

đź“Ą Receive in your inbox a FREE mini-course to learn
how to speak in public better than 90% of your colleagues

Volume

Most of speaking places have microphones and
Amplification systems.

However, if this is not your case
Keep reading to discover some tips that
Can improve your performances.

Adjust your voice to the size of the room and audience and
the noise in the background.

Which volume is the best?

It depends.

Think about in the same way than
Putting salt to food.

Do you put as much salt for salty ingredients than to sweet ones?
Do you put as much salt for a baby food than to adults?

I think you got logic.

You must use different amount for different tastes.
Remember your own voice sounds different to you
Than to other people.

PRO TIP: When you start your speech,

Look to the people at the end of the room
And check if they are leaning forward,
Sleeping,
Or you can see in the faces they look puzzled.

đź“Ą Receive in your inbox a FREE mini-course to learn
how to speak in public better than 90% of your colleagues

Pauses

If you accept my opinion,
(I hope you do)
You are going to learn right now
About one of the simplest and most obvious tips
That will make your communication skills
Go to the next level.

This is so simple and obvious that
You will feel you are not learning anything,
Because it has been in front of you
All your life.

Pauses.

One of the major fears when public speaking
Glossophobia.
(if you don’t know what I mean Check here)

It´s to go blank in front of people.
No words coming out of your mouth.

Buff…. What a pressure.

Your mouth gets dry,
You start sweating like a pig going to a slaughterhouse.
And,
You can breathe less than inside a car trunk.
This is because we are interpreting silence as

Something bad.

Why not using it in you advantage?

A successful speech is about attention retention.
You want to keep your audience’s attention.
Some of the advantages of pauses are:

  • We have more time to think.
  • We keep the attention.
  • We make our message clearer.

One of the worst mistakes,
If not the worst,

Is uhhhh,  eeeerrr, uuuum.

You know what I mean.
Those noises that add no value to your message,
Make you sound like a sheep.
And,
Communicate insecurity in your words.

Being aware of this will put you over the average of speakers.

Almost immediately.

By adding a small pause of 1-3 seconds when you don’t know what to say,
Will allow you to come up with something,
Will make you sound more confident and knowledgeable in the topic.
And,
Your message will be clearer and more understandable to your public.

Pronunciation

One of the most common (and easy to fix) mistakes is
 
mispronunciation.
 
Also known as,
I want to say something quickly,
I don´t put enough effort into saying it correctly
And the final result is
People focus more on my mistake than in my message.
 
Whenever we are speaking in a casual context
We don´t put much attention in the way
We pronounce.
 
However,
Ignoring pronunciation when
delivering a speech in front of other people,
Especially when you are feeling under pressure,
May not be the best strategy for a successful presentation.
 
Articulating your word clearly will make you sound
More confident,
More expert in the topic
And fulfil your goal,
Make you audience understand your message.
 
Remember this is not about dialects or slang.
You can speak in a perfect North Dakota dialect or
A gang slang and still sound clear.
 
At this point you can be thinking,
Ok, cool.
So now what?
 
Now is the moment to apply it next time.
But before you read on
I will give you a pro tip
So you can use when you are rehearsing your speech.
 
You are going to bite a pencil, stick or your finger
On the middle.
And repeat your message.
By doing this you will force yourself to
Open your mouth more than normal
What will make the muscles in your face
To use their full range.
 
 
All the tips mentioned may sound too simple for you.
And you are right,
Oratory is not rocket science.
Everything has already been invented.
 
There are only 3 secrets:
Practice, practice, practice.
As we understand practicing and immediate feedback are
The key to improve your communication skills,
We have a public speaking course.
 
It is really cool.
We replicate real conditions.
You, 9 more students and the instructors.
Chill and safe environment,
Where you can feel free to make mistakes
And not feeling judged.
 
It sounds great for me,
If it does for you also.