They say variety is the spice of life and as usual, “they” know what they are talking about. When it comes to giving talks or lectures, vocal variety is an essential secret ingredient for a compelling presentation.
What is vocal variety?
Someone using vocal variety sounds dynamic, the opposite of someone who might be described as monotone, dull, or droning. Elements of the delivery change. While there are many components that can be adjusted, the most salient ones are pitch, loudness, and rate.
Pitch
Pitch refers to how high or low a tone sounds. Johnny Cash usually sounds low-pitched, and Mickey Mouse sounds high-pitched. When we speak normally, there are little fluctuations in pitch throughout every phrase. Sometimes we even change pitch within a word (if you say “hell-OOO?!” – the second syllable is often higher than the first).
Compelling speakers use pitch variety to their advantage. Not only does it keep the interest of the audience, it helps clearly impart the information by highlighting the key words.
If you go up on pitch to emphasize the most important words of a sentence and then come back down, it is like using a vocal highlighter for your audience to amplify the message.
Rate
Rate has to do with the speed of speech. It is related to rhythm and pacing. If you have ever heard a monotonous lecture, chances are that speaker was using a consistent, even rate throughout. So change it up!
If there is a very important sentence, slow it down for emphasis. Sometimes we might slow down around a key word in a sentence, like a little vocal warning light.
An important distinction is that between rate and pauses. People often think they are slowing down, when they are actually still speaking quickly but they are adding pauses between the words. That usually isn’t the goal.
If you pause for effect, that’s great. But a ton of pauses doesn’t make you easier to understand, and in fact can make the through line of a thought harder to follow. Practice slowing down the actual words instead of pausing, liiiiike youuu aaare taaaalkiiiing iiin sloooow mooootioooon.
Loudness
Many people default to using loudness to emphasize important words in a sentence. While this is useful to a point, it can also end up feeling monotonous. If this is your go-to, consider throwing in some pitch and rate variety too.
Another tool is to shift between louder and quieter speech to draw in your listener. Many a classroom teacher knows the secret to getting a loud room to listen isn’t necessarily to be louder than them, but to be very quiet so they have to lean in. Then you can return to normal loudness with some strong parts sprinkled in. This can be an effective seasoning in a talk, but of course you don’t want to be so quiet that it is hard for people to hear you overall.
If you would like some individually tailored work on dynamic presentation, reach out for a session!
