How to Turn up Your Vocal Volume - tips from a professional voice actor

Do you want to have a loud and confident voice?

My voice actor pal, Debbie Bridge, shared her vocal wisdom with me….

Now take a deep breath…

Here's how to have a louder & more confident voice...

As children, we are often told to be quiet.

So that's what most of us did.

We became REALLY GOOD at sitting quietly in the corner.

These early childhood lessons often manifest themselves in our bodies.

When you try to speak loudly, you can still hear a small voice in the back of your head whispering...

"Pssst... Just be quiet!"

Within seconds, the words you had just intended to say become stuck in your tightened-up throat.

If you want to have a louder voice, you have to understand where this is coming from before letting go of it.

Tip 1: Your voice is like a stream of water. If you block its flow, pressure will build up, and you won't be able to speak freely. This often happens in our throats, almost as if you're choking up to suppress your inner loudness from flowing out. The solution? You have to relax your body and especially your throat. Try to visualize a ball of glowing energy that is slowly moving up from your diaphragm, through your throat, and out of your mouth, and then repeat with every breath until you can feel how your throat is relaxing and your voice becomes louder with every breath.

Tip 2: Divert your attention to something in front of you. Instead of focusing on how you feel, on how your throat feels too tight, on how this makes you anxious, become present in the moment and become aware of what is happening around and in front of you. You're on stage, in a room, what do you see? Are there chairs in front of you, or maybe an interesting painting or banner on the wall? Oh look, this person is smiling at me! :) By diverting your focus outside of your body, you allow yourself to distract yourself from your feelings, and you'll naturally raise your voice while doing it.

Tip 3: Get excited. Another way to speak a lot louder is by pumping up your adrenaline. Before your next talk:

For maximum energy, hype yourself up

- Jump up and down.

- Take a deep breath and flood your brain with oxygen.

- Practice your power pose and shake out all the tension in your body.

You will notice that you'll naturally relax and pump yourself up to the point of having too much energy that even a tight throat would never be able to contain.

Want more tips on how to improve your confidence when you speak?

Take my "How Virtually Confident & Competent Are You?" quiz for weekly confidence-boosting tips: https://s.surveyanyplace.com/virtuallyconfident

#PublicSpeaking #InnerConfidence #SpeakingTips #Impact #Oomph #Presence