Lights! Camera! Action!
Wouldn’t it be great if you had a crew of people to get you prepared for whatever role you were about to be? Makeup, hair, just the right lighting so you would be absolutely perfect!
While I can’t promise you perfection, I can assure you that by following the process and working diligently at it, just a step at a time, you will be ready for any situation.
The best thing you can do is work on one small aspect of one of these at a time. Let’s start with voice. A simple exercise that you can do to see the power and variations of your voice. This is a straightforward one and is working with just your tone of voice.
Take a single word – the word “great” – and say it in several different ways. Say it, so it sounds good. Say it sarcastically, angrily, playfully, with surprise, with boredom, with excitement, and as a question. Try it and see the differences.
Just think of it – one word – and the tone of your voice can change the meaning incredibly!
Another vocal exercise has to do with emphasis and how that too can change the meaning. Look at this sentence: I never said he stole all my money.
Take turns emphasizing a different word each time you read the sentence and notice the change in meaning.
Are you surprised? Do you see how easily miscommunication can happen by a change in the tone of voice or the emphasis on a particular word?
And speaking of a particular word, let’s see how adding one word into different places in a sentence can change the meaning. Take this sentence: She never told him that she loved him.
Now add the word “only” before each word in the sentence and see how it changes the meaning. Again, notice how easily miscommunication can occur because of the placement of a single word.
Have some fun with these simple exercises and start to notice how your voice and the words you use contribute to your communications!
To Being Heard,
Linda