Public Speaking Courses

The Art of Public Speaking
Our Public Speaking training courses are designed for both the inexperienced presenter or as a refresher for more experienced members of your company or organization. Our training courses are offered in most major cities across the United States and Canada. All public speaking skills training courses are small which will give you all the face to face time you need with our training team.

Our public speaking training courses (presentation training) will eliminate your fear or inexperience in public speaking and dramatically improve your speaking skills whether you are persuading, educating, or informing. Our highly interactive courses focus on professional business communication including preparation, structure, delivery, and strategy, use of visual aids, and handling questions & answers. Contact us today by phone at 713-627-7700 or via email: service@publicspeakingtraining.net

Public Speaking Skills Training: How to Maintain a Healthy Voice - Public Speaking Course

Taking care of your public speaking voice is a practice that you might not think about in the same way as you think about overall health, but there are a lot of similarities. Choosing well-being over excess physical and emotional stress has a powerful effect on your body and your voice. If you've ever had vocal fatigue from overusing your voice or a sore throat from blocking emotions such as sadness or anger, you will know exactly what effect those stress factors have.

Although we don't always put it into practice, most of us know what to do for our physical well being. Being healthy is a matter of education and making good choices. Become aware of what you need to do for your vocal health in the same way you determine your needs for your overall health. Because of factors like extended use or allergies, your voice needs may be different from someone else's needs, so once you have found a program that works, do your best to stick with it.

Here are the top six factors for taking care of your public speaking voice in order of priority.

Good Vocal Technique

Although you may think that vocal technique is just for singers, this is an important factor for everyone - especially in public speaking. Knowing and using good vocal technique is essential to the long term health of your voice. It will help you avoid problems or ending up in a crisis situation. Watch for signs that your voice is out of balance: if you have a chronic sore throat, if your voice tires easily, if it's too nasal or too husky, you are putting stress on your vocal mechanism. Over time it can worsen if you reinforce the habit. A good voice coach can help you prevent this or even help you recover your whole voice if you feel any of these signs of vocal stress.

Warming Up Your Voice

Good vocal technique is a long term strategy. Warming up your voice before speaking or singing is an important short term strategy. Most people don't think about it but even a few minutes of warm-up may help keep your voice healthy especially if you use it a lot in public speaking. Even ten minutes in the shower in the morning or vocalizing on the way to work could make a tremendous difference to maintaining a healthy voice. Find a good vocal exercise CD or program that feels good and is easy to understand and use.

Pitch Modulation

People who don't modulate the pitch of their voices sound monotone. When speaking in the normal course of your day, modulate the pitch so that you are not feeling any strain. Remember pitch modulation is not the same as modulating the volume. Raising your voice to be heard over noise causes fatigue even though you may not feel it for a while.

Avoid Whispering

Whispering is another thing that will cause strain because it's extremely hard on the vocal folds. And if you have laryngitis, avoid talking altogether until you are well again, even if it means carrying a notepad and pen with you to communicate. If your voice is strained, take some time off from public speaking if you can.

Watch What Negatively Affects Your Voice

Anything that is not good for the body in general is not good for the voice so use common sense when it comes to the consumption of alcohol, caffeine, or cigarettes. Certain foods will affect your voice adversely as well. One common category that many people react to is dairy. Others are nuts, wheat for some people, even certain juices. If you've identified food allergies, all of your body, including your vocal apparatus will react to them. Although for a small percentage of the population, the effect of a food allergy is dramatic and involves a trip to the emergency room, for most the effect is minor. Nonetheless, it can mean your public speaking voice is less than it could be.

Give Your Voice a Break

If you can, give your voice a time-out, especially if your work involves heavy use of it, perhaps in phone sales or public speaking. Find a way to rest it for a few hours. Your voice is the same as any other part of you and it needs a break from work.

Good vocal production and vocal care mean more endurance, more resonance and a more satisfying experience with your voice.

Katherine Scott: link

Subject: Public Speaking Skills Training