I have been constantly thinking recently: Your voice impacts a lot in your presentation, and it’s one of those things that people generally take for granted. And it’s not just your speak pattern and filler words that I’m referring to, but also intonation, fluency and so on. I would maybe risk saying that it can be as important as your appearance, or even more. (If you stumble every five or ten words, you can’t really convey your ideas, can you?)
In this vein, is there a viable alternative for someone who wants to improve his own voice? I already thought about a voice acting tutor, but I generally prefer ways in which I could improve without having to pay a tutor.
You could practice by yourself by reading out loud. I really should do that again myself, too—I have the tendency to speak too fast, and not pause enough for breath, which leads to me *gasp*ing for air a lot. Try to relax and pay attention to your breath. It’s a bit weird speaking aloud by yourself, but I think it helps. If you’re braver than me, you could even record yourself and listen back, to hear how you’d sound to others.
I have wanted to do some sort of speech training for a few years, but can’t seem to find an appropriate avenue to investigate. The closest I’ve found is media training, but it tends to only cater towards corporate clients.
I have been constantly thinking recently: Your voice impacts a lot in your presentation, and it’s one of those things that people generally take for granted. And it’s not just your speak pattern and filler words that I’m referring to, but also intonation, fluency and so on. I would maybe risk saying that it can be as important as your appearance, or even more. (If you stumble every five or ten words, you can’t really convey your ideas, can you?)
In this vein, is there a viable alternative for someone who wants to improve his own voice? I already thought about a voice acting tutor, but I generally prefer ways in which I could improve without having to pay a tutor.
I suggest practice in groups. Does Toastmasters charge money, and do they have any meetings near you?
Sadly, no. I’m from Brazil, there are a few Toastmasters in my country, but all of them are a plane travelling distance away.
Advice from the Less Wrong archives.
You could practice by yourself by reading out loud. I really should do that again myself, too—I have the tendency to speak too fast, and not pause enough for breath, which leads to me *gasp*ing for air a lot. Try to relax and pay attention to your breath. It’s a bit weird speaking aloud by yourself, but I think it helps. If you’re braver than me, you could even record yourself and listen back, to hear how you’d sound to others.
I have wanted to do some sort of speech training for a few years, but can’t seem to find an appropriate avenue to investigate. The closest I’ve found is media training, but it tends to only cater towards corporate clients.