Sound Advice I
With Effective Advocacy? poised to launch in a matter of weeks I have long promised myself I would write something about a subject that is very dear to my heart - sound. This is to be the first of three brief articles looking at how you might improve (for want of a better expression) your audio footprint.
How you sound matters, whatever you are doing, but particularly I would suggest if you are attempting to advocate - whether that be for yourself (in say a pupillage/TC interview) for another party (in the case of trial advocacy) or if you are representing a group within our society (in the event that you are trying to effect broader based change/s). And I would suggest that has never been truer than today.
When Keith Evans wrote his established classic The Golden Rules of Advocacy, and suggested as his second dimension THE HUMAN ANIMAL IS FAR MORE VIDEO THAN AUDIO (his choice of upper case - not mine) his was a distinctly different era from ours. It was a pre-Covid era - a time where Zoom and its counterparts had little place; and he was no doubt correct to suggest that 60% of any communication is mediated via body language.
But I would humbly suggest THINGS HAVE CHANGED.
Since March 23rd 2020 practically all face-to-face interactions have been replaced by some form of Skype/Zoom based interaction; and this I would suggest has fundamentally shifted the audio v visual balance - in audio’s favour. You may well be 6’ 4” and/or have a physical presence that would earn you a place in the Rambert Dance Company, but at the end of the day you are (at least for the time being) reduced to a postage stamp sized avatar on my desktop.
But that is not true of your audio-presence - which in many instances pops and squeaks its way into my ever expectant auditory canals. And I have to say, having sat through far too many webinars in recent months - it is very often a very underwhelming (and that is being very polite) experience.
What do we do - well in this case Keith Evans was not wrong - we simply disengage; suddenly checking our Inbox and/or how many likes our recent LinkedIn article has attracted becomes irresistible - a long neglected itch that just has to be scratched. But this is far from true when audio is done well. Listen to a well recorded audiobook and/or podcast - it will hold your attention - just as if you were a child listening to mum or dad’s comforting tones over a late night bedtime story.
Between now and Sound Advice II (around 10 days but don’t hold me to it) just pay attention to any webinars you attend and you will start to notice what you in fact already knew - a lot of the participants sound down right terrible - terrible to a degree that if it related to their visual appearance in a courtroom they may well be asked to leave.
Having run a recording studio (dbstudios? - Shanghai) for the best part of a decade, and provided live sound set-ups at a host of venues over an even longer period I think I know something about sound. In the next two articles I hope to share some very simple tips that will drastically improve how you sound in whatever environment you are wishing to be listened to.
Wishing you Effective Advocacy?.
References:
i. ONLY NY Honors Jazz Legend Miles Davis With a Limited Edition Collection - https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/lifestyle/8038425/miles-davis-only-ny-collection-details
ii. Keith Evans - The Golden Rules of Advocacy - Oxford Higher Education; UK ed. edition (28 Feb. 2002)