Coaching

Ever feel jealous when watching people speak on screen? Ever wondered how they got perfect? Well, there’s a small number of rules that you can follow, and if you do, well, you won’t become a pro immediately, but you will sound a whole lot better and that, in turn, will make you feel more at ease in front of a camera. You see, it’s a virtuous circle: the better you feel, the better you look, and so on.

First: speak slowly and distinctly. Under stress, most of us tend to rush and mumble. To prevent that, use the consonant brake. Pronounce each and every consonant fully and carefully. Turn your speech into a celebration of the consonant. See? Do that, and it becomes virtually impossible to speak too fast. But perhaps you’re also not speaking loudly enough? In that case, use the vowel gate. Concentrate on the vowels in your speech and open your mouth so the sound can go out. And presto, you’re speaking up! Now, pause for effect. And do it again soon. And make those pauses long. Use pauses especially when you introduce an important term. Before actually referring to the term, slow down and lower your voice, insert a pause, then put great emphasis on the big word, pause once more, than resume normal speech. You can be sure that the audience got that one. So use the consonant brake, the vowel gate and pause for effect. You’ll be surprised how good you’ll sound!