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I wanted to improve my presentation skills. I felt my voice was too nasal and thin, I spoke too fast, and emphasised too many words. So I approached a voice tr

I wanted to improve my presentation skills. I felt my voice was too nasal and thin, I spoke too fast, and emphasised too many words. So I approached a voice training coach. It seems everything -- from delivery, pauses, speed of delivery to sore throats -- could be improved if one could pay attention to proper breath control, and diaphragmatic breathing. I can certainly attest to that.

WalterBright 7y ago
I went looking for a voice coach. All I could find were singing coaches and autistic speech therapy ones. Nobody who could coach me at giving presentations. How did you find yours?
- alialghamdi 7y ago
  I didn't take courses, but as far as I know proper breathing techniques are also taught by singing coaches, if that's what you are looking for.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    I was looking for coaching to enunciate clearly.
    - thomasrognon 7y ago
      I'm interested in this also. Would love to hear if you find something/someone good.
- sriram_malhar 7y ago
  You could look for coaches who train actors AND singers. But my coach trains singers primarily, and it seems to me that the techniques are the same. I wanted to work on my enunciation as well, in addition to loudness, cadence, nasality etc. My speaking style is staccato, and I emphasise too many words. That she corrected by telling me to read from a fully prepared script if I could help it, which is useful for recordings in these times! That got rid of the staccato, because my low-bitrate brain was freed from having to figure out what clever thing to say next :) Then to work on the cadence, I had to underline at most two words per line, which would most effectively deliver the import of that line. Finally, breath control. "Speaking from the diaphragm" is a real thing. There's a daily regimen of vocalization and breathing exercises that I do. My neighbors look at me oddly. But these exercises do help. Good breath control allows you to deliver a long line, with appropriate pauses and cadence, without feeling your tank is going to empty soon.
- thijsc 7y ago
  Did one session with an acting coach once which was very useful. Most useful tip he gave me: in between sentences focus on breathing out, instead of breathing in. If you clear your lungs they will take care of filling up automatically.
- gingerlime 7y ago
  Also curious. I tend to strain my vocal chords when I talk and can’t talk very loud. Normal conversations are fine but even reading to my son I feel like I’m straining my voice. Would definitely be interested in some coaching and zero interest in singing. I wonder if it’s something you can do via zoom? Especially these days ...
- WalterBright 7y ago
  Here's the thing. I often listen to recorded voices at 1.25x or 1.50x speedup. Some people can be easily understood faster, others not. A commonality in those that can be understood are they are professionals, and ones that can't are lay people. Clearly (!), the professionals enunciate in a way that's much more understandable. I've also noticed when listening to a presentation that some presenters are a lot easier to listen to. I'd like to improve my presentations in that way - that means tone, pacing, enunciation, etc.
Cthulhu_ 7y ago
Can confirm that breathing is super important in speaking; my sister has the weird habit of continuing to talk until her lungs are nearly empty, to the point where you can hear the 'distress' in her voice. It's a bit annoying tbh.

WalterBright 7y ago

I went looking for a voice coach. All I could find were singing coaches and autistic speech therapy ones. Nobody who could coach me at giving presentations. How did you find yours?

alialghamdi 7y ago
I didn't take courses, but as far as I know proper breathing techniques are also taught by singing coaches, if that's what you are looking for.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  I was looking for coaching to enunciate clearly.
  - thomasrognon 7y ago
    I'm interested in this also. Would love to hear if you find something/someone good.
sriram_malhar 7y ago
You could look for coaches who train actors AND singers. But my coach trains singers primarily, and it seems to me that the techniques are the same. I wanted to work on my enunciation as well, in addition to loudness, cadence, nasality etc. My speaking style is staccato, and I emphasise too many words. That she corrected by telling me to read from a fully prepared script if I could help it, which is useful for recordings in these times! That got rid of the staccato, because my low-bitrate brain was freed from having to figure out what clever thing to say next :) Then to work on the cadence, I had to underline at most two words per line, which would most effectively deliver the import of that line. Finally, breath control. "Speaking from the diaphragm" is a real thing. There's a daily regimen of vocalization and breathing exercises that I do. My neighbors look at me oddly. But these exercises do help. Good breath control allows you to deliver a long line, with appropriate pauses and cadence, without feeling your tank is going to empty soon.
thijsc 7y ago
Did one session with an acting coach once which was very useful. Most useful tip he gave me: in between sentences focus on breathing out, instead of breathing in. If you clear your lungs they will take care of filling up automatically.
gingerlime 7y ago
Also curious. I tend to strain my vocal chords when I talk and can’t talk very loud. Normal conversations are fine but even reading to my son I feel like I’m straining my voice. Would definitely be interested in some coaching and zero interest in singing. I wonder if it’s something you can do via zoom? Especially these days ...
WalterBright 7y ago
Here's the thing. I often listen to recorded voices at 1.25x or 1.50x speedup. Some people can be easily understood faster, others not. A commonality in those that can be understood are they are professionals, and ones that can't are lay people. Clearly (!), the professionals enunciate in a way that's much more understandable. I've also noticed when listening to a presentation that some presenters are a lot easier to listen to. I'd like to improve my presentations in that way - that means tone, pacing, enunciation, etc.

Cthulhu_ 7y ago

Can confirm that breathing is super important in speaking; my sister has the weird habit of continuing to talk until her lungs are nearly empty, to the point where you can hear the 'distress' in her voice. It's a bit annoying tbh.