Getting started: Understanding and supporting your voice.
Often times when people get up to give a speech they get nervous and their voices gets very low and soft. Even with a microphone, people have a hard time hearing them. How can that be fixed? Rest assured, it can be fixed.
Technically, your voice is supported by your diaphram. A thin layer of muscle that separates your stomach from your lungs (Chest cavity from your abdomen) It moves up and down as you breath. What is more important for a public speaker to know is that there is something else that supports your voice: Thoughts and feelings. You're point of view and how strongly you feel about what you're saying will directly affect the strength of your voice. When you listen to someone speaking about their passion, it's never hard to hear them. When you listen to someone telling an amazing story, it's never hard to hear them or when you hear a parent reprimanding their child, it's never hard to hear them. They all have very strong and definite feelings about what they saying.
When preparing your speech ask yourself:
How do I feel about this message? (Make sure you have strong answers.)
How do I want my audience to feel? (Is it different from how you feel?)
How can I connect with what I am saying? Keep asking yourself "how do I feel about this?" (In order to bring out your point of view.)
Once you figure out the answers, (I can coach you through them) we can begin to vocally shape your speech to match how your feel about the message you want to convey to your listeners.