The Source for Communicators

Melcrums Source for Communicators - A Free Weekly E-Zine for Corporate Communicators

May 16th, 2007 How to speak properly

With the launch of Internal Comms Hub Australia this week, we're now covering the latest communications news from Down Under.

One of the stories we've covered for the launch is about how people communicate during a shareholder's annual general meeting. Talking to a large audience can be a daunting experience, so we've found some tips to help with your verbal communication skills.

Taken from Interpersonal Communication Tips: Let's Start With Some Basics, an article by Marjorie Brody, president of Brody Communications, they'll give you some ideas on how not to get tongue tied:

Have an appropriate expression. Sound enthusiastic, or, when appropriate, alter your tone to fit the conversation.
Speak slowly enough that people understand you easily, yet not so slowly that you are taking too long to complete a thought.
Pause. By pausing, you give people enough time to take in what you are saying. When you finish a thought, think of adding a period (.) by counting to three in your mind.
Eliminate fillers — "uh," "um," "OK" and "you know."
Speak loud enough to be easily heard. Speaking in a whisper is non-assertive and annoying.
Speak soft enough to avoid shouting and screaming. If people are asking you to "shh" or lower your tone, you're being too loud.
Watch your diction. Completing words makes you sound smarter. Things like saying the "ing" ending can make a difference ("going" not "gonna", "doing" not "doin'").
Control your breathing when you get nervous or excited. It helps to lower your pitch, making you sound more credible.

Enjoy practicing your diction. See you next week.

Mandy Thatcher,
Editor
mandy.thatcher@melcrum.com

P.S. The latest edition of the Melcrum podcast is now ready for download.

It features interviews with Microsoft UK Partner Group CTO, Steve Clayton, who talks about blogging's ROI, and Brent Charland, a senior HR consultant for Innovapost, who tell us about his work merging different corporate cultures.

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Further reading
Are you guilty of spreading corporate jargon?
Five ways to use intranet podcasts
Basic blogging etiquette