Virtual Accent Adjustment Program

Work in the privacy of your own home at a time that suits you.  Make an audible and lasting difference to how you sound. Learn what works best for you. Find out how to make those changes that are relevant to you.  Know how to adjust the way you come across when speaking with colleagues and clients.

Bookings for our next series opens on Monday 2 July.

Key Features
With current, relevant material at its core, this 12-week program includes weekly email feedback on your individual work-in-progress.  In addition, across the program, you will receive:

• customised practice strategies
• customised accent-reduction exercises
• relevant audio resources
• pre- and post- program assessments

Make an audible and lasting difference to the way you sound and how you come across to colleagues and clients. Be confident and clear when you speak face-to-face and over the telephone.

To receive optimum value from this program, I recommend that you:

• Create a weekly schedule for yourself to follow throughout the program
• Fulfil the weekly requirements of the program
• Determine what you will apply each week to advance your spoken word skills
• Stay in touch via email so that I can answer questions as they arise

Prepayment is required prior to your commencement of this 12-week program

The up front payment for the 12-week series is $627.00 (including GST).  Select this option

The graded payment option is  $209.00 per month (inclusive of GST) at Week 1, Week 5 and Week 9. Select this option.

Weeks 1-4 Instructions and Material

Weeks 5-8 Instructions and Material

Weeks 9-12 Instructions and Material

Welcome to the June update. At the mid-year point of 2012, this may be just the time to consolidate some themes and bundle them into the central thought that drives each of us:  ‘How to Be’.

This topic is pertinent, because it is your voice that gives expression to who you are and how you are at any moment in time.

As you read through this page and link to the TED talks within each segment, consider how your voice comes into play in relation to the concepts explored and expressed by three different speakers from diverse disciplines.

Also, consider the different styles used by the speakers in their narrative, their content and their delivery.

And listen closely to their voices and how they express intentions and emotional connections with their messages.

I have resisted my urge to comment because I’d rather you explore questions and answers in your voice, not mine.

Listen to the TED talks first, then ask yourself: ‘How else am I able to develop my vocal impact?’

Enjoy!

Sandra

Reframe

Marketing and brand innovator, Rory Sutherland deliberately shakes up his clients’ thinking.

In his recent TED talk, he challenges the realities that we bring to perception. He questions the choices we make when we see, experience and respond to the world around us. He puts forwards alternatives that open new and different doors.

This video is useful if you need to refresh your thinking on the value of choice, how you respond to events within and beyond your control and how to explore ‘hidden shallows’ to expand your thinking.

Sutherland talks about the current imbalance between emotionally- and rationally-driven ideas. He exposes what we need to do, to strengthen our responsiveness to what life throws up at us.

The presentation is quirky, thoughtful, amusing and interesting. You’ll want to make notes as you listen and watch…

Perspective is Everything

Renew

This exquisite presentation by Michael Tilson Thomas demonstrates how depth and breadth of knowledge and insight can be expertly distilled to focus attention on key points. Thomas is a master of translating unfamiliar and complex ideas into clear, simple sentences.

Notice his easy use of staging, movement and the adept demonstrations on a grand piano.

See how he wraps a history of music and his relationship with his father into one, cohesive narrative.

I particularly enjoyed his comment: ‘The big difference between human happiness and sadness? Thirty-seven freakin’ vibrations!’. It struck me because it resonates so closely with human voice and how it falls upon the ear.

Here is the link

Review

Brene Brown’s presentation on vulnerability is one of the most-watched videos on TED.

Gently and with humour, she expertly blends the personal with the professional self; story with insight; revelation with recognition, forgiveness and acceptance. Given that we are often harshly self-critical, learn from the techniques she uses to manage her critical inner voice.

About 10 minutes into her presentation, notice how there is complete silence across her audience. The quiet is audible. She has their full attention. This is the greatest compliment an audience can give.

Again, we have recurrent themes of choice, decisions and the themed questions driven by who, what and how.

Take notes as you watch it here.

Master Classes in Voice return in July and August 2012.

For more information, open the Master Class page.

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Anxiety – It’s normal and natural

Yes, this is true.  Some anxiety is expected and natural.  And there is something you can do about it.

• Know how you can help yourself as you prepare for a significant business event
• Secure improved outcomes
• Build your confidence before an event
• Diminish tendencies of self-doubt and internal questioning

Find out more

Stretch – Release body tension, secure your breath, release your voice

We all carry tension within our bodies. We become so accustomed to it, we overlook its symptoms as we go about life and work.

The stretches in this e-book will help you to identify and release tension in your body so that you are able to breathe for voice and deliver your message clearly, confidently and with style.

Find out more

Could you and your voice do with an Energy Boost?

Demanding, busy lives mean that there are times when we feel depleted, wrung out and flat. There is something that you can do about it.

By identifying your unique energy sappers, you will be able to refresh, renew and regenerate yourself during your day.

Explore more here

Virtual ‘Voice in Story’ – 12 week program

As an entrepreneur, a business owner or a franchise manager you must make an impact with your staff, your clients and your prospects.

This fully customised, confidential, one-to-one program is available across Australia and internationally.

<Download this summary, email me any questions plus a selection of your preferred starting dates and times and let’s get started right away.

Master Classes in Voice return in July and August 2012.

For more information, open the Master Class page.

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Stretch – Release body tension, secure your breath, release your voice

We all carry tension within our bodies. We become so accustomed to it, we overlook its symptoms as we go about life and work.

The stretches in this e-book will help you to identify and release tension in your body so that you are able to breathe for voice and deliver your message clearly, confidently and with style.

The e-book takes you through a range of full and part-body stretches. Use them at home, in the office and when you travel. You will feel refreshed, alert and ready to speak.

The material is useful for people who are constantly under pressure, also for leaders, heads of departments and people who travel extensively for work.

E-Book Purchase  $19.80 incl GST 

Our July 2012 Master Classes Series focuses on voice, its auditory impact and reach. After all, your voice is an influential tool in conversation and communication. The series is particularly relevant to leaders, managers and technical specialists who use their voices extensively at work.

Session 1: 6.00pm for 6.15-8.30pm Topic: ‘Voice Placement’ on Monday 23 July

Discover how to improve your vocal quality by honouring your natural pitch range and adjusting the placement of your voice in your mouth.

Session 2, 6.00pm for 6.15-8.30pm Topic: ‘Voice Projection’ on Monday 30 July

Note: If you unsure of your pitch range and your voice placement technique, I recommend that you attend both Master Classes as a series.

Discover how to gain attention, hold focus and influence people to action when you fill a room with the sound and movement of your voice.

New in August, 2012 “Your Voice in Delivery” Master Class

In this two-hour session find out exactly what you need to do to engage and hold attention throughout your spoken piece.

Note: this session is open to previous participants of Placement and Projection Master Classes.

It is also available to individuals who have previously worked on their vocal placement and projection techniques.

NOTE: Participants are expected to bring their own content to the Master Class. As an alternative, generic information will be provided. As is usual, the Master Class is limited to 6 participants.

Find Themes – Generate Conversations – Make Changes

Use past releases of ‘Take Note’ to stimulate ideas and discussions

March 2012

The 4 Stages of Learning – it takes effort

Style Tips – for speaking

Make Substance visible

February 2012

Attention and Story

Perceptions and Reality

TED Six Minutes Discipline

January 2012

Take note: Writers and Speakers have much in common

Take note: Assumptions and technology

Take note: Assumptions and attention

December 2011

Take Note: Listen – build rapport and respect

Frenzy – Can you fix it?

It seems as if ‘everyone’ is flat-out in life and at work.

Tired, depleted, ratty and demoralised people are dragging themselves into their days.  What does this do to us and our people?  What are the consequences for our states of being, our wellness and our relationships?

From my perspective, this frenzy affects our abilities to think, speak and communicate. This is what I have observed:

• Knee-jerk reactions drive our thoughts. We speak first and consider what we say in review rather than in preview. As a result, we undermine our authority, damage our credibility and kill off  any chance of  engagement

• Frenzy allows old habits to emerge. In turn, old habits undermine the qualities we have developed in our speaking. The most common example is a rapid-fire delivery that flattens the voice, robs it of life and interest and strips meaning from the words being spoken

• We fall into structure-via-stereotype and sabotage our messages

Antidotes to frenzy are attention and discernment.  In practical terms:

• Remove one thing, permanently, from your list of commitments. One less thing will free you up to pay more attention to other areas

• As an alternative, do one more thing for yourself. Make sure it is a simple action, like a 10-minute walk at lunchtime. Be sure to acknowledge that this is for you – a personal gift to yourself

• Allow yourself to say ‘no’. This frees your mind to consider choices and offer alternatives

• Stop. Breathe. Create a space of silence. Regroup. This allows your voice to relax, release and reach its potential

Focus – Can you regain this?

Several clients have confessed to backslides in vocal and verbal skills over the last few months.  It was these conversations that prompted the mini-article on ‘Frenzy’.

Let’s be realistic here.

It is normal and natural to backslide a little, particularly when you are changing habits that have entrenched themselves over many years.  It is one of the reasons why regular reviews are recommended across Voice & Word programs.

Backslides can be fixed provided you are alert to them.

What concerned some of these people was their inability to realise that the backslides had occurred. They had been picked up by peers and colleagues who had the courage to say something to them about distracting habits. In their rush to ‘get things done’ they lost themselves.

In addition, there were several interesting conversations about ignoring blindspots, picking up tendencies to self-sabotage and developing a reliance on facades to get them through.

Here is a link to the JoHari Window model which addresses these in more detail.

Forgiveness – Do you do this for yourself?

If we fall into a trap (like frenzy) and, because of that, fall back into previous and unwanted styles and habits, the key is to acknowledge that reversion, regain focus and forgive ourselves for the lapse in concentration and effort.

Do you beat yourself up for the lapses you have?

Does this beat up make you feel worse about yourself rather than better?

And, when you feel bad about yourself, how does your voice sound when you speak?

Perhaps ‘self-recrimination’ is the one thing you need to stop doing today.

And begin this:

• Forgive yourself for a lapse in attention, discernment, judgement and behaviour
• Apologise where necessary
• Regroup. Focus. Take note of what you need to do
• And let the rest go

You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what this does for your attitude, commitment and voice!

Damage

A few weeks ago, I saw ‘Coriolanus’, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes. Seldom produced, the play has been labelled Shakespeare’s darkest and most violent work.  Given a modern touch, the close-up scenes, twisted facial expressions, noise, violence, dust and bloody encounters of men at war fufilled those expectations.

Of notable interest is the portrayal of Coriolanus in combat with his political fellows and his greatest enemy. Tense, angry, reckless, defiant, pompous, distant and driven, Coriolanus is consistently manipulated by his peers, his antagonists and his family’s expectations. He does the same. Trusts no-one. And loses everything, seemingly unaware of his contribution to his personal and political demise.

The fast-paced expose of a deeply damaged person left me overloaded with information, emotionally exhausted, shocked by the brutality and tenderness of his relationships. I was overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of ideas it forced me to consider, even for a moment.

The multiple resonances with current global and local circumstances are clear. The realisation remains that any event, place, time or action can twist, without care or mercy, the mind, passion and purpose of a single person. When that person is in a public position, the ramifications are endless and can be devastating and damaging to all.

How can we recognise, with clarity, what is vested in leaders and their leadership?

As their public, peers and partners, how do we contribute to our leaders’ styles, choices and decisions?

No matter who we are, how can we sustain being mindful, aware and in the present in our thoughts and actions?

Depth

As you know, colleagues and clients often send me information that relates to my areas of work and interests. This snippet arrived from Elizabeth Winter in Toronto, Canada:

‘Deeper voices preferred’

“Voters in elections are more likely to pick candidates with a deeper voice, a new study has suggested,” BBC News reports. “Researchers at two U.S. universities made recordings of both male and female speakers and then altered the pitch of their subjects’ voices. In the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, listeners ‘voted’ more frequently for the ‘candidate’ with the lower voice. … A different study published last November also found a preference for lower voices. Rather than playing recordings of hypothetical candidates it used archive material of former U.S. presidents. Researchers say there is a chance that in the earlier work participants might have recognized the voices or based their choices on political preferences. They believe this later work also goes further because for the first time it used both male and female voices.”

Opinion, controversy and prejudice are regular companions of voice and how it is heard, judged and assumed to be representative of character, personality and ability. As humans, we constantly draw inferences about people based on the sound of their voices. Pitch and range are particularly susceptible. Yet, pitch is largely predetermined by our physiology; very briefly, the length, thickness and mass of the vocal folds themselves. Range is broadened and enriched by developing the voice within its natural pitch parameters. Few people take on that work.

So what hope do we have of making the best impact that draws postive rather than negative responses?

My answer has been to work on the voice in its entirety:

• To reduce the negative impact of distractions, disturbances and distortions
• To enable the voice to honour its place and range on the vocal register and
• To give the voice full vitality in tone, timbre, reach, clarity, delivery and expression

In addition, the quality and impact of a voice, and its role in building trust in the speaker and/or leader, is driven by 3 key factors: vocal authority, vocal credibility and vocal engagement. These contribute in unique ways to each speaker’s ACE Factor.

Because each voice is different, the ACE Factor manifests in many and diverse permutations. Each one, valuable on its own, becomes immensely powerful in unique and variable combinations. It is this potential, when released, that contributes to the way a person is heard and valued for their contribution.

What is interesting to note is this:

“This study also demonstrates that while people are free to choose their leaders, these choices cannot be understood in isolation from biological influences.   The selection of leaders is the main mechanism that the members of a society have for affecting how they will be governed, however within the context of modern democracies, most citizens are not politically engaged.  Consequently, the selection of leaders is often made based on impressionistic judgments, and our research suggests that voice perception could be one of the factors that voters take into account.”

Now that is interesting!  Here is the full article.

Discernment

All of these thoughts lead me to the elusive quality of discernment: the ability to recognise and perceive clearly; to have and apply keen perception and balanced judgment.

It includes the capacity to see past the immediate to the ramifications beyond it. To select, with sharp, enduring clarity, the actions and attitudes that are essential for this particular circumstance.

We don’t often manage it. It remains worthy of our attention and application, particularly in a frantic, fractured and fragmented world.