There are so many aspects to public speaking…we really could go on forever. But today we talk about one of my (Emily) personal favorites: vocal inflection! I love kids. I love to read to kids, play with kids, and interact with kids…especially the little ones. The younger the child you talk to, the more they rely upon your facial expressions, body language, and tonal inflections to decide if they like you or will trust you or not. When you’re stiff and tall and offer to shake their hand they get intimidated and shy. When you squat down, offer a smile and a hug, and animatedly tell them about a ladybug you just found they are much more warm and receptive.
Body language and image are one thing, but a third revealing factor that helps a person determine if they want to trust you or not is your tone of voice. It’s the same way in a speech. Is that person boring to listen to? Are they genuine and passionate about their topic of speech? Do they want me to listen to them or are they trying to get over this as fast as possible? When you stop a minute and become aware of your vocal inflections, you can observe a lot about how you come across to other people. Now different situations call for different tonality – you wouldn’t speak to the King of Belgium the same way you would speak to a 3-year-old – so adjust accordingly in a wedding speech, but remember this: vary your tone of voice and be aware of how you sound toward others. Ask yourself: would I want to listen to me talk?
Richie & Sydnee had some wonderful toasters at their wedding wishing them happiness and joy. Listen carefully to each speaker as their voice “goes up and down” and you can see for yourself how when a person is aware of how they speak and they incorporate (whether on purpose or on accident) vocal inflections they are more interesting to listen to and help a video be more pleasant to watch!