Speak Aloud: Get Your Message Across

It is better not to do the presentation than to stand before an audience and start MURMURING. For the audience to keep saying, "please speak up" is not as beautiful as you think, it is boring! Whether you like it or not, you must practice and learn to speak aloud. The fact that you are given an opportunity to share your message, the audience is waiting to HEAR from you. Speak Up!

Oftentimes, we spend so much time preparing the content of our presentation that we overlook the basic aspects of presenting which include how to speak loudly and clearly.?

You insult your audience by murmuring and they have to strain themselves to get a few sentences from you there and there just because you have decided to show up and share nothing. If you want to get your message across then speak up. Some people can still murmur using a microphone on stage. It is poor craftsmanship to stand before an audience and have to beg you to speak aloud.

Payam Bahrampoor, an instructional designer who uses neuroscience to design cognitive interventions shared a very interesting observation about speaking aloud in one of his articles:

"The key to speaking loudly is to open your mouth completely. Some people don’t even open their mouths. They speak from between their teeth. We always have the same air in our lungs. Only our voice doesn’t have enough energy. If I speak from between my teeth, the audience in the back won’t hear my voice."

See the showrunners, singers, and speakers. They open their mouths and speak loudly.

In this article, I will share with you a few tips that can help you to speak up in your next presentation so that everyone in the room can hear you clearly. Before that, here is why you should not murmur when making a presentation:

• Your audience will automatically think that you are scared to even when you are not.
• Your audience with think that you are not prepared.
• Your audience will assume you were forced to make the presentation even when you were not.
• You will bore your audience.
• You will lose your audience's attention.

You don't want to make this bad first impression with you make your presentation so it is time to practice speaking up. When you stand before an audience, you want to make a great impression, get the message across, inspire, make a call to action, and drive impact so don't let murmuring steal that from you okay?

Here are some insights to help you in your next presentation to get your message across:

• Practice How You Are Going to Say Your Message

Most of the time, people practice what they are going to say than how they are going to say it! It is very important to also work on how you will deliver that message. In this case, working on your voice projection is very important and it needs thorough practice. Speaking loudly doesn’t always come naturally and it’s oftentimes something that requires more thought. Set aside some time to practice. You can do that in front of friends, and even record yourself to make sure your voice is audible.?

• Decide In Advance To Speak Aloud

Give yourself permission to speak aloud. Many times people don't speak loudly because they are focusing on what may go wrong and they end up showing up before an audience to murmur. What a tragedy! Decide beforehand that you will project your voice to command the room with your voice and get your message across. Don't yell, speak aloud. To win the audience, they have to hear you. So open your mouth and speak loudly.

• Believe What You Are Saying

Have you seen kids before trying to lie to you? Their volume naturally goes down because they are not sure if you can pick the lie and they don't believe what they saying! As I have shared in the introduction, your audience will think that you don't know what you are talking about as an adult murmuring on stage. You look like a kid on stage when your audience cannot hear what you are saying. Imagine that on a panel interview! Represent yourself well, after practicing what you will talk about, practice how you will say it. Believe what you are talking about and say it loudly.

• Get Used To Your Presentation Voice

Your presentation voice is not your normal talking voice. It should be louder than your normal talking voice. You want to be sure that you are easily heard from all areas of the room. If possible, ask a friend or colleague to sit in the back corner of the room and give you a secret gesture if you need to speak louder.?