Hamilton NJ. We are in the middle of a run of the High Impact Presentations Course. This is a two day, video capture, workshop style training, which we present one day each week over two weeks.
In one part of the training we discuss the power of communicating with greater impact. As we prepare for the delivery of a manuscript reading, we have the participants run drills in four fundamental areas:
1. Pace
2. Volume
3. Pitch
4. Energy
Pace is the rate of speech. The analogy I use for the drill is the old style vinyl records which played at 33, 45 and 78 RPMs. I have them begin reading the manuscript at 45 (their normal rate of speach) then call out numbers 33 is super slow, 78 is auctioneer speed ultra fast. They switch up several times over a minute to 90 second time period.
Volume is of course loud and soft. Again I use an analogy – this time the volume knob on an amplifier. 1 is a whisper, 5 is normal speaking level, 8 is pretty loud, and 10 is shouting. We switch back and forth and only touch 10 for a brief time. Again this drill is only a minute or so long.
Pitch is the musicality of the voice. The analogies here are your Darth Vader voice, the lowest end of your vocal range. Then we have the Frankie Valli voice, the tenor or higher end of your voice. For fun we do the Mickey Mouse voice, getting at the falsetto pitch.
Last is the energy drill. We talk about how musicians throw their energy into singing and how we as an audience feel that. The visual on this is to imagine that you have the ability to throw balls of fire with your hands. Try and create a blaze in front of you by throwing a ball of fire with every single word. Use emphasis to make the fire most powerful. This drill we only do for 30 seconds or so as it is very physical.
By conducting drills in these 4 areas prior to actually delivering the manuscripts the participants energy level and awareness is raised to a high level. The result of the heightened awareness is extra power in the delivery.
4 Elements of Presentation
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