Hi Sarah

This is an area that I have not yet spent a lot of time exploring but
need to! The following link suggests books on voice projection - 
http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/conted/CPD/voice_projection.h
tm

In a workshop I focus on aspects such as:

* pitch, tone and speed of verbal delivery - suggest that students
record and listen back to their own speaking voice when giving a
presentation - it should sound deliberately slow and loud compared to
how they speak in a normal conversation.  You might also suggest that
they focus on whether the tone conveys enthusiasm and whether they use
pauses to enable the audience to think about what has been said and
re-focus those whose attention has wandered; 
* posture, positioning in relation to the audience - stand/sit up
straight, face your audience directly, avoid any body language that
involves you covering your mouth (I recently attended a presentation in
which a professor stroked with his moustache all the way through!) 
* preparing notes that don't impede your verbal delivery - avoid notes
that allow you to read word for word (full script), and, if using an A4
sheet, only use top 2/3 of the page to prevent your chin dropping
(squashing the throat) and voice being blocked behind the paper;  
* taking into account of the size and acoustics of the venue - find out
in advance if it is possible to use a microphone (some of our lecture
theatres have mics built into the console at the front), allow time to
practice several lines of your presentation in the actual venue with a
friend at the back of the room to give feedback;  
* asking the audience to check that they can all hear -  this can serve
to put the onus on them to reposition if they find that they cannot
hear. 

Stanford have a very well-developed service offering help in developing
speaking techniques for their staff and students - 
http://ctl.stanford.edu/Oralcomm/tutoring.html Unfortunately they do not
offer any resources online that we can access but you might like to
contact those responsible to see if they could recommend and texts,
approaches etc. This is on my list of contact to make for LearnHigher!

Hope this helps. It has certainly given me something else to think
about.  I look forward to any other suggestions others might pass on and
I will pass through any other information I find.

Best wishes

Kate
 
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah McCarthy
Sent: 03 July 2006 17:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Voice projection

Hi all,

I'd like to put a section on voice projection in one of my workshops on
presentations. I've trawled the usual reliable sources we all use, but
can't really find anything on how to improve on audibility, pace,
fluency, clarity etc (the kind of things that Kate mentioned in her
presentation on presentations at the conference in Liverpool). Does
anyone know of any material that has this sort of info?

Many thanks. Hope you're not all sticking to your chairs in this heat -
I am!

Sarah

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