14.5 Vocal Delivery

People say that a good actor can create an effective performance even when “reading out of the phone book”^[1] — meaning that their delivery is so compelling that they can convey meaning even without meaningful text. This phrase illustrates how your job when giving a speech is not just to get the words out there, but to bring them to life, and your voice is well-suited to that task.

Keep in mind: many of these points are context specific and culturally specific; what works in a courtroom won’t work at a protest rally, and what works in Mexico might not work in Denmark or Japan.

If you ask people in any audience what makes a speaker difficult to listen to, they tend to identify the same problems over and over: monotony, mumbling, consistent mispronunciation, and hesitation. Of these, monotony is the easiest to overcome, but it takes practice. Monotony is simply another term for lack of variation, so the solution is obvious: increase the variation of your voice. The most basic things you can vary are pitch, volume, and speed.

Pitch: Some speakers have a naturally narrower pitch range than others, but novice speakers tend to keep their voice within an unnecessarily narrow range. Why don’t they widen the range, saying some words in a high pitch and others down low? Unless it’s a neurological issue, the answer seems to be simple fear that you will sound ridiculous if you raise your voice too high or drop it too low (and yes, some comedians do that on purpose). If that’s the case, you can start by giving yourself permission to “go wider” than normal. Pay attention to people who use their voice for a living, such as politicians, voice-over actors, and newscasters: if you listen closely, you’ll realize that their pitch variation is very wide, going extremely high on some words and dropping down into the lower depths for others. You may even start to think that their pitch is overexaggerated, but remember that you didn’t think that before you paid attention to it. In other words, your fear that you’ll sound “silly” if you have too much variation may be just as unfounded as your fear that the audience can tell that your stomach is in knots — and the possibility that people might have a reaction to a wide pitch range is overshadowed by the probability that they’ll react negatively to monotonous tone.

Pitch does two things. First, it tells the listener what is important, distinguishing key information from supporting ideas, and if there is no variation in pitch it sends the message that “None of this information is important.” It also engages the ear, since ears, like most sense organs, depend on variation and get numb when variation is lacking. Notice that both high and low pitch can add emphasis, but since high pitch is intrinsically easier to hear, make sure you don’t also drop volume when you hit the low notes.

There’s a simple exercise to expand your pitch range: read a paragraph of text out loud, deciding which words to say in your highest register, and which to say as deeply as you can. Then read it again, going even higher and lower the next time. For more ideas, watch this video on “How to Fix a Monotone Voice” by speech coach Elisa James: https://elisajames.com/how-to-fix-a-monotone-voice/#

Volume works similarly, and serves the same two functions: giving the ear the kind of variation it needs, and adding emphasis to the most important words. Just remember that there’s a volume level you shouldn’t drop below, and it’s probably louder than you think. Speaking louder than normal will be doing a favor to audience members with imperfect hearing, and probably won’t bother the rest.

To work on this, do something similar to the pitch exercise: before reading a paragraph out loud, circle a few words per sentence that you will “hammer.” Once again, “hammer” can mean pitch and volume, but however you want to do it, hit those words hard.

Speed is a little more complex. Let’s begin with the basics: most people speak at an average rate of 125–150 words per minute. This is useful for timing a written speech: just divide the word count by 150 to estimate how many minutes the speech should take.

Like many people, however, I speed up when I get nervous. When I took public speaking as a college student, the teacher said there would be penalties for going over 7 minutes or under 5, and every time I practiced my first speech, it was almost exactly 6 minutes long. When I actually gave the speech in front of a live audience, however, I found myself saying the words “in conclusion” before the timekeeper even held up the “4 Minutes” sign. After that, I learned to write reminders to “SLOW DOWN” all over my speech notes.

It’s also good to take nice long pauses periodically. These might feel to you like “dead air” you need to fill, but they’re another chance for your audience to process what you’re saying — and perhaps a chance for you to sip some water or think about what you’re going to say next.

Listeners can keep up with speech faster than 150 words per minute: many audio and video players allow you to speed up to twice or 3x speed, which might work well for you. If you’re giving a speech live, though, remember that that’s too fast for some people, especially non-native speakers of the language. Familiarity with your subject matter is a factor as well: if the topic is brand new to your audience, they’ll probably need to absorb the content more slowly than you think, and if you’re going too fast or don’t pause, you might lose them without realizing it.

Pauses do one more thing as well: they add emotional impact. A “dramatic pause” can have as much effect as shouting, and sends the underlying message: “You should really pay attention to what I just said.” On the other extreme, even though people’s brains could keep up if you spoke twice as fast, speed sends the underlying message “Don’t stop to think about what I’m saying.” This is one reason the phrase “fast-talking lawyer” has negative connotations, and the word “hustle” is a synonym for a scam or con: audiences are naturally suspicious if the speaker doesn’t give them a second to think about what they’re hearing.

Finally, slowing down is a good clue to your audience that you’re approaching the conclusion, just as an airplane must slow down when it comes in for the landing. Inexperienced speakers often hurtle along at full speed until they get to the last word, which can be jarring to their audience. Even the word “in conclusion” is not necessary if they can hear from your voice that you’re approaching the end.