What are the best exercises to improve vocal projection for presentations?

2 How to assess your vocal projection

Before you start working on improving your vocal projection, you need to know where you stand. To assess your vocal abilities, record yourself giving a short presentation and then listen to it critically. Consider the volume of your voice; is it loud enough to be heard clearly by everyone in the room, without straining or hurting your throat? Also, examine the clarity of your voice; is it crisp and articulate, or is it muffled, slurred, or distorted by filler words, pauses, or ums and ahs? Additionally, pay attention to the expression of your voice; is it varied and dynamic, or is it monotone, flat, or boring? Lastly, consider the resonance of your voice; is it rich and warm, or is it thin and nasal?

3 How to warm up your voice

Before you do any vocal exercises, it’s important to warm up your voice. This can help prevent vocal fatigue, injury, or strain, and improve your vocal quality and range. A good warm-up should involve breathing exercises to relax your body and activate your diaphragm, stretching exercises to loosen up your jaw, tongue, lips, and facial muscles, and vocal exercises to warm up your vocal cords. Examples of breathing exercises include deep breaths through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, or making a hissing sound as you exhale. Stretching exercises can involve opening and closing your mouth, rolling your tongue, puckering and smiling your lips, or massaging your cheeks and jaw. Vocal exercises can involve humming, buzzing, singing scales, repeating vowel sounds or tongue twisters.

4 How to improve your vocal volume

One of the most common challenges in vocal projection is to speak loud enough without shouting or straining. To improve your vocal volume, you need to use your breath, your posture, and your mouth effectively. To start, you should breathe from your diaphragm. Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach, and feel how your stomach expands and contracts as you breathe. Then, try to speak or sing from your stomach. Additionally, stand or sit upright to align your spine, neck, and head while opening up your chest and throat for more air flow. Lastly, open your mouth to create more space in your mouth and throat. This will make your voice more audible and intelligible. You can practice these exercises by checking posture in a mirror or exaggerating mouth movements as you speak.

5 How to improve your vocal clarity

To improve vocal clarity and avoid mumbling, stuttering, or lisping, you need to work on your articulation, pronunciation, and enunciation. To practice these skills, you can emphasize the consonants at the beginning and end of words; elongate vowels in words; and break down words into syllables. For example, try repeating words with hard consonants such as ‘cat’ or ‘dog’; words with different vowel sounds such as ‘hat’ or ‘heat’; and words with multiple syllables such as ‘banana’ or ‘camera’. Doing so will help you make your words more distinct, resonant, expressive, rhythmic, and fluent.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?