You don’t want your voice to be monotone when you speak to a room, so you have to look for ways to bring in voice variation.

Often people start a sentence with a low tone, and let their voice raise up to a higher note to end the sentence.  Or they’ll start on a high tone and drift lower.  These patterns result in a loss of impact.

Here are the tricks to having voice variation:

Use Volume

From a whisper to a yell, use your voice range in a talk. Don’t be afraid to get big and loud, and don’t be afraid to get small.

Use Pace

If you speak too slowly all the time, you’ll get interrupted or cause your audience to lose focus. Try speaking quickly for some segments, and slow down from time to time to make a point.

Don’t Say Um or Er

If you stumble through your speech and say Um a lot (or like, or you know) it’s time to break that habit.  Just shut your mouth. An Um can’t come out if your mouth is closed. When you’re thinking about the next thing you’re going to say, close your mouth to think.

Use Stories

Your experience, client or team experiences, successes and failures – stories resonate with an audience and make you memorable. If you can tell your story like you really feel it, with voice variation, it makes the audience feel something too. Stories can change the mood and change your outcomes, even when it comes to revenue.