Adding Audio to Your Content – Part Three – Perfecting the Vocal Presentation

Even an experienced and articulate business person can use help with their presentation skills and could be speaking and communicating in a way that may be hindering their professional image.

As a follow-up to my “Adding Audio to Your Content” blogs, Part One and Two, I had the privilege of offering Presentation Skills Coaching to Linda Daley of Daley Progress. We took our blog theme of producing audio content one step further to help Linda add audio to her own webpage.

What needed to happen before recording her audio was coaching on the presentation of the script she had provided. To Linda’s credit, she easefully recorded the first take of her script as a starting point. You can hear in her opening attempt, that she is reading from a page and that she doesn’t sound as passionate about her script as she probably feels. Here is the take without any voice coaching:

LINDA BEFORE COACHING>>

During the initial recording, I created notes based on where I thought Linda could use some work to elevate her presentation. We addressed her breathing style and posture, as well as, phrasing, tempo, and intonation, word emphasis, and her overall intention.

Through the coaching process, Linda learned that she needed to take a couple of deep breaths before speaking and even felt a shake – that is, physically shaking off nervousness – was helpful in preparing her to deliver her script. Further, being clear about whom she was speaking to and what she was really intending to communicate helped her focus on delivering the words naturally and with dynamics.

Working through her script together, highlighting words and phrases, and indicating pauses and timing, we took the script to the next level. Though Linda felt she could use a few more coaching sessions, she became aware of where she had already improved and how this learning opportunity would benefit her overall communicating style for the telephone, workshops, and public speeches.

Here is the recording of Linda after a 1 ½ hour coaching session:

LINDA AFTER ONE COACHING SESSION>>

This piece of audio is now something she can use on her website to further engage potential clients, as well as, a marketing element that she can share on social media. Coaching a professional like Linda is greatly rewarding as it demonstrates how someone, already skilled in their own right, can quickly improve their vocal abilities to express themselves proficiently in keeping with their professional image, sounding like themselves, but better.