“Speak so that I may see you” | Voice and your online presence
Neerja Pande
Professor, Communication and Leadership | Dean, IIM Lucknow Noida Campus ( April 2022 to June 2024)
Did Socrates the Greek philosopher some 2,500 years ago, have in mind the present day post COVID-19 online teaching/ meetings scenario where voice suddenly has taken center-stage and is immensely contributing to our online Executive Presence and effectiveness. Yes, indeed it is true “Speak so that I may see you.” Your voice has become your image like never before!
As teachers, instructors or as professionals from any field we have to take note of our vocal image. Is our voice coming across as soft, harsh, condescending, fast, slow, dull, severe, etc. and what is the impact of it on our listeners?
Albert Mehrabian and subsequent researchers have attributed about 38% of the meaning to our voice which is to say it is not only about what you say but also how you say it.
A small example shared by Kris Cole will exemplify this for you. Say the following seven words “I never said he stole our money” seven times and each time emphasize on a different word, first, second, third and so on. You will notice each time the meaning changes completely. This is the power of emphasizing!
Other aspects of voice which you must become aware of and improve are your tone, pitch and volume. Remember in a written text the meaning comes not just from the words but from the different diacritical marks like punctuation, comma, semicolon, full stop, question mark, indentation, highlight capitalization etc., remove them and you will not be able to make any sense of the written material. It is the same with speaking, the meaning doesn’t just come from the words, it comes from the style of speaking, short pauses, long pauses, stress, emphasis, intonation, intensity, emotional content, inflection, rate, frequency etc.
Appreciating that voice plays a critical role in your perception and credibility by the audience and also on the understanding of your content you must focus on making it versatile for handling different situations.
If interested in movies it will be a sheer delight to watch the transformation of Eliza Doolittle played beautifully by Audrey Hepburn from a flower girl to a sophisticated lady with the help of speech lessons from Prof Higgins in ‘My Fair Lady’ adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion.’
Another masterpiece is ‘The King’s Speech’ most nominated film of all times and winner of four Oscars where King George VI played by Colin Firth tries to overcome his speech impediments and makes himself worthy enough to lead his country through WW II.
Nice article Madam. The line, ''Voice plays a critical role in your perception and credibility by the audience'' is key take away. Cine genius Mr Bacchan is master in this trait & ruling his audience even today and so is our PM at much higher at scale, he just says Bhaiyo aur Bahano….and follows tumultuous chant of thousands...Modi Modi. These great communicators, one key traits they have, inordinate listening ability & knowing their audience very well. In our scriptures, Creation is being explained in RigVeda, how universe came into being, living beings and material nature & later expounded explicitly in Bhagvad Puran & Mahabharata too. One common take away I found, sense of hearing came 1st & later manifested speech. Our Shruti shastra & Smriti shastra actually, exploit the power of voice that is how they have varying scale of sound & picth for mantras which is controlled my meters say Anustup, tristup..etc :-) for efficacy on audience, healing etc The Vedic sages were doing, research & sharing their finding to students, publishing treatise called, Samhita, say Garga Samhita so is our modern professors doing research, sharing findings with students, their intent is welfare to benefit seekers. Keep it up this charitable work!
Very well written article, Professor. It couldn't have come at a more opportune time when both, the teachers and the learners have started to explore the digital platform. I agree with Vasanth on the video bit. You display all the qualities that you wrote about so it would be great to see you speak too !
Well said Maam...thanks
Engineering leader with business acumen and proven track record in Product & Program management
4 年Mam, another very thoughtful and thought provoking article from your side, and extremely relevant in the ongoing business times and situations too! Thanks for sharing!
M&A (Strategy & Transactions) - Financial Services (FinTech) | EY-Parthenon| ESCP Europe | IIM Lucknow
4 年Very nice article ma'm! ... 'Speak so that I may see you'. Such a powerful statement.