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Triple Take #15: Monotones, active listening, visualisation to counter anxiety

Voice Confident's Triple Take - your fortnightly trio of tips!


Voice: avoid monotone

The human brain is sifting sound all the time (even when we are asleep!) and naturally tunes out monotones or repeated sounds - this is why we stop noticing background noises like traffic or ocean waves or the washing machine. In the same way a speaker with a monotone voice will find their audience's attention drifts to other more exciting things, however good their content is. And we don't want that!


To avoid monotone delivery, you can:

  • Use vocal variety including changes in pace, volume, pitch, and emphasis to highlight key points and maintain engagement.

  • Vary the length of your sentences and use different types eg. questions, asides.

  • Maintain your natural speech patterns while incorporating strategic pauses between sentences and sometimes phrases too - this helps you still sound like yourself while giving your audience time to absorb your message. Just 'speaking slowly' tends to make people sound a bit robotic and monotone.


In addition to avoiding the monotone that your listeners' brains will tune out of, remember that vocal variety isn't just about style - it's essential, because the non-verbal signals in your voice are processed at a deeper level in listeners' brains than the actual words. A monotone indicates you aren't interested in your words, and if you aren't, they won't be!


Presence: active listening

Active listening is about helping the other person feel truly heard and understood. It involves both verbal and non-verbal elements:


Non-verbal signs of active listening include:

- Smiling

- Nodding

- Head tilting

- Maintaining appropriate eye contact

- Using facial expressions that match the conversation

- Making acknowledging sounds (like "mm-hmm")


Active listening can also involve you speaking, if you:

- Acknowledge and encourage the speaker

- Help them express themselves by reflecting back what you've heard (e.g., "I'm hearing that you found it really difficult...")

- Ask questions to help them clarify their thinking

- Focus on helping them be heard rather than offering your own views or judgments


This approach validates the person's feelings and strengthens the connection between you. For a big conversation - eg. a disciplinary, appraisal, client meeting - plan how you will listen as well as how you will talk.

A graphic illustrating active listening
Can you listen actively?

Confidence: visualisation to calm anxiety

One of the key reasons we panic when speaking in front of a large group of people is that our evolutionary brain doesn’t like uncertainty - and in the absence of a firm outcome, will assume a negative one.


A great way of preparing our brains for public speaking, to take some of the uncertainty out of the experience, is VISUALISATION.


Visualisation is a powerful tool that works because it stimulates the same parts of the brain as real experiences. When we vividly imagine a scenario, our brain processes it similarly to actually experiencing it, making visualisation particularly effective for building confidence and reducing anxiety.


There are two key approaches to visualisation for public speaking:

  • External visualisation: Watching yourself from the audience perspective, seeing yourself confidently walking on stage, delivering your message effectively, and receiving positive audience response

  • Internal visualisation: Experiencing the presentation from your own viewpoint – walking on feeling calm, looking out at expectant faces, feeling confident in your delivery


Try to visualise as much detail as you can, and include your senses; what can you see, hear, touch, taste, smell?


The power of visualisation lies in creating familiarity. When you actually give your talk, if you've visualised the room and the audience and your notes and the screen and your outift and your confident tone and clear articulation and everything going brilliantly, the situation will feel less uncertain, because you've kind of done it before. This familiarity helps reduce the stress response.


For best results, visualisation should be practised regularly in the weeks leading up to a speaking engagement, ideally combining both internal and external perspectives.

 
 
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