Chipo Mashingaidze

Happy Monday!
We carry on with our nuggets and I trust that a number of them will help you on your presentations skills journey.

Today, we talk about vocal tone. Vocal tone has been defined as " the way we use our voice to convey meaning, emotions, and attitudes".

When I first started my broadcasting career, one of those who had gone ahead of me was Mai Chisamba. One of the things she did in addition to the TV interviews on "Good Morning, Zimbabwe" was to be one of the voice characters for a radio drama that was recorded at the ZimSec complex. It's a while back and I'm racking my brain to remember what organisation was responsible it.

Anyway, one day they needed someone to take a small part in this radio drama and I happened to be available. I didn't have many lines but even the few that I had had to be a recorded a number of times ibefore I could get them right. Why? Because I was missing something in my vocal expression and the director asked me to repeat my lines a few times before I nailed it.

Being on radio, it was vital for the tone in every sentence - every word - to paint a picture because the listeners had nothing but our voices to help them paint a mental picture of what was going on.

When you are doing a presentation, while your words help you to paint a basic picture, the tone of your voice add detail to the story. You place emphasis, emotions, mood etc through your vocal tone. In fact, speakers who master how to use vocal tone to make their presentations/speeches engaging achieve a connection with their audiences better than others. Words talk to the mind, tone speaks to the heart and the heart sways perceptions and attitudes.

Use vocal variety to create impact and achieve connection.

A key element of your preparation is practising your speech. My method of practising is a little odd but it works for me.
After structuring my presentation, I like to write it out in full, with each point and it’s elaboration being attended to individually. I read each point out loud to myself before I proceed to the next one. While I know that it is part of a larger presentation, I like to here how it sounds on its own and whether I am placing emphases in the right places to achieve the impact I desire.

After the paragraph practices, I then read the full presentation and assess whether there is a logical progression of ideas.

I practise a great deal in front of a mirror so that I have an idea of what people see as I speak to them. I repeat the speech out loud so that I get accustomed to hearing my own voice say the words I’ve written. That process helps me to internalize (NOT memories) my presentation.

When I have done that, I reduce the presentation back to notes or bullets so that I’m not “reading” it during my presentation.

My final rehearsal is at the event. I always arrive early so that I can familiarise with the room and adjust to the sound of my own voice via the PA system.

That is my process. Because we are all different, we will need different methods of preparation. The point is to ensure that you practice - at least a couple of times. Going in “cold” is not advisable.