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Public speaking, like showbusiness, takes practice, practice, practice. Speaking doesn’t feel natural until you’ve done it enough to become second nature. A natural, powerful, and confident speaking voice is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal if you want to attract high-paying clients.
Even if you don’t aspire to give a keynote at a world economic forum or go viral with a TED Talk, improving your public speaking skills is still an essential part of your journey to attract high-paying clients.
To get advice beyond the basics, I again turned to an industry where powerful public speaking is a critical part of your job: Oscar-caliber acting. Roger Love has been Hollywood’s go-to guy for singing and vocal coaching for over three decades. He’s coached Academy Award winning actors like Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Bradley Cooper, Jeff Bridges and more.
In addition to Hollywood stars, Love coaches authors, public speakers, CEOs, and news anchors. He’s coached business giants like Anthony Robbins, Suze Orman, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
What should experienced and seasoned public speakers focus on next to elevate their performance? Love was again happy to share tips:
Give a jaw-dropping performance. “You should learn to drop your jaw when you speak. It sends more air into the cheek areas, and the sound comes out of your mouth with more rich, bassy, powerful tones.”
‘And’ is the new ‘um’. “You should stop using ‘and’ as the new filler. It used to be that people inserted ‘um’ and ‘uh’ and ‘like’ into sentences as place holders while they tried to figure out the next words to say. That still happens, but the word ‘and’ has become the new filler. People insert and by holding out the word, ‘aaaaaaaand…’ I say don't use any fillers. Instead, stop after commas and periods, and silently breath in while you try to figure out what actual words to say next.”
Accept compliments, and believe them! “When people compliment you on your voice, stop discounting their opinion. When someone says anything nice to you, just think, ‘I'm special, and it's so amazing that the other person sees and hears that.’ This is a great way to build self-confidence.”
Stop using so many parallel gestures when you speak. “This is when you have both hands doing exactly the same thing at the same time. It is actually unnatural and makes you look like a bad politician making a speech, or that you're trapped in a bad musical with horrible choreography. Let your hands do slightly different things when you speak. It'll make you look more physically comfortable.”
Even if you are a great speaker, consider investing in getting better. Love is offering a three-day training in Los Angeles on May 29-31, 2020 called “Roger Love’s Voice of Success.” Seats start at $997 (use promo code VOS497 to receive $500 discount). What will Love teach? Expect to learn how to identify your different voice types and which one you should be using.
