Toastmasters offer timely talking tips

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001 | 8:20 a.m.

According to Toastmasters International, there are two major concerns when speaking to an audience: voice and body movement, which includes gestures, posture, facial expressions and eye contact.

Tips on improving your voice:

Learn to relax your voice through voice exercises: yawn, hum, exaggerate your lip and jaw movements, knead the throat muscles with your fingers.

Perform breathing exercises to learn to control your diaphragm. Exhale all air from your lungs and hold for 15 seconds, then inhale deeply (gradually increase your holding time until you reach 45 seconds). Laugh aloud; close your lips and laugh through your nose; lie on your back and place a book on your diaphragm. Relax each part of your body and then concentrate on the movement of your diaphragm.

Learn to lower the pitch of your voice by first singing the sound "ah" at normal volume, then alternating higher and lower. High-pitched voices lack authority, so the pitch should be lowered.

Project your voice.

Articulate.

Vary the speed at which you speak.

Thoroughly rehearse your speech.

Tips on improving body movement:

Eliminate distracting mannerisms.

Stand straight.

Every gesture of your hands and arms should be part of the communication and not a random movement. Gestures must be smooth and well-timed.

When you move your body it must be in a controlled manner that enhances the speech.

Be conscious of facial expressions and make them part of the speech rather than random movements.

Maintain eye contact with your audience.