Blogtrek

Clue to speaking success?

I haven't blogged in some time. This is because of several trips, including SUUSI and an astronomy convention in Nashville. In that last trip, however, I think I may have found a clue to a frustration in my life - not being able to win speech contests. In evaluations in Toastmasters, I keep getting things like "mumbled", "too unclear", "could not understand", and so forth. I looked up in Toastmaster manuals to find out more about this. The Speechcraft manual touches on it some. It says that I should keep my mouth open, so that the words can come out clearly. It may say the same in the manual "Your Speaking Voice". But other than that, few if any Toastmasters manuals and almost no evaluations explain why I mumble.

But I found out how at SUUSI, in a workshop entitled "Empowering your Voice" by Amy Carol Webb. Yes, she is a folk singer, and one of the most popular at SUUSI. She told me that the reason why my voice was not coming out is that I don't open my mouth enough. She said to stick three fingers in my mouth. That is how open it should be. I tried it for the rest of the week, and my voice does seem to come out clearer, although not necessarily louder - I find I can do this and speak softly, but it will sound breathy. This is good in some occasions. But will this advice help my public speaking? Hard to say. I will have to try it out on Toastmasters clubs and in the upcoming humorous speech contests.

Of course there are other factors - being prepared, not saying "ah" and the like, and whether the audience considers what I say funny. Further I don't know if this will slow down my talking - evaluators say I talk too fast. I will have to try it out - of course this causes a Hawthorne effect so that I may improve in the other areas too. But I would like to find out if this is the cause of my not winning speech contests. I will have to await what happens.