A great deal of communication is carried in the words we use (beware of the 7% rubbish!). Without understanding what you’re saying no one can get to any other part of your presentation - your meaning, your intent, your content all go by the wayside…. so it’s important to get your diction and articulation sorted out.
I’ll not go into the ‘why’ of it here, but there’s a strong argument to suggest that, as adults, we don’t articulate as well as we could/should and so our lips “get out of condition”. A few simple exercises will sort that all out for you and - despite yourself, I promise - you might find yourself enjoying them!
- Over-articulate the street signs as you drive around making sure you fully open your mouth. Make sure you say the whole word with the last syllable pronounced. Or read number plates clearly and projecting your voice.
- Stretch your mouth into different shapes.
- Practise reading/presenting your speech and really over-articulate each word.
- Make sure you build pauses into your speech.
- Learn a few tongue twisters, like these:
- A monk’s monkey mounted a monastery wall and munched melon and macaroni.
- A pale pink proud peacock pompously preened its pretty plumage.
- A bloke’s back brake block broke.
- A big beadle placed a body in a big black bag.
Post a Comment