We all know speaking too fast<\/a> during our high stakes moments<\/a> is not good, for us or our listeners.\u00a0 It makes us sound nervous, disorganized and hard to understand.<\/p>\n

So what can we do in private to teach ourselves to slow down?<\/p>\n

Here’s a presentation tip,\u00a0 practice the following voice and speech training techniques every day:<\/p>\n

Break your speech into breath-groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

A breath-group \/ is basically a phrase. \/\u00a0 For instance, \/ if I were to recite \/ the Gettysburg Address, \/ I would take a breath \/ at each of the following marks.\/<\/p>\n

Four score and seven years ago \/ our fathers \/ brought forth \/ on this continent \/ a new nation, \/ conceived in liberty \/ and dedicated to the proposition \/ that all men \/ are created equal.\/<\/em><\/p>\n

Start by whispering each phrase, and use up all your air on each phrase.\u00a0 Take your time, (count at least to 3) when breathing in at the breath marks.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t grab with the muscles of your throat when whispering.\u00a0 Keep an open, relaxed throat so the air can stream out without any tension.<\/p>\n

Honor every consonant<\/strong><\/p>\n

When whispering in short phrases, pronounce every syllable (every letter!) with care and love.\u00a0 Lavish your attention on each little letter.\u00a0\u00a0 Hold the \u201cn\u201d<\/em>s and the \u201cm\u201ds <\/em>longer than you normally would.\u00a0 If you whisper the word, \u201clavish,\u201d you can stretch out the \u201cL\u201d the \u201cV\u201d and the \u201cSH.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paying attention to each of the building blocks of speech will help you slow down, and will teach your tongue and lips to shape each and every element of the words you speak.<\/p>\n

There are other voice and speech training techniques, but this is a good place to start.\u00a0 Ten minutes a day is a good regimen and the beginning of your own public speaking course<\/a> boot camp.\u00a0\u00a0 Mark a newspaper or magazine article into short phrases and whisper it, breathing at all the breath marks.<\/p>\n

Let me know when you make progress, share the results of your next high stakes presentation, or call if you have any questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know speaking too fast during our high stakes moments is not good, for us or our listeners.\u00a0 It makes us sound nervous, disorganized and hard to understand. So what can we do in private to teach ourselves to slow down? Here’s a presentation tip,\u00a0 practice the following voice and speech training techniques every… Read More »How to stop speaking too fast during your high stakes presentation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[615],"tags":[291,58,906],"yoast_head":"\n