Straightforward

Part 2
Read the two short blogs below. Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
(6) The breathing exercise the blogger suggests will draw attention to you, but is effective.
(7) Focusing on your breathing will help take your mind off the problem.
(8) The position of your body can have an effect on your voice.
(9) Your voice is higher when you aren’t stressed.
(10) Saying ‘uh-huh’ will help relieve any stress.

Breathe away the fear

One of the biggest reasons people book themselves onto our presentation skills courses is their fear of presenting. There are lots of techniques we cover on these days, but some of them need a build-up.
However, here’s a stand-alone, specific tip for anyone suffering from an attack of performance nerves – be it in relation to a presentation, a wedding speech, a job interview or even just being introduced to your new partner’s parents! It has the added advantage of being very simple and being something you can do unobtrusively, while you’re waiting to speak, for example.
Breathe in slowly, for a count of four.
Hold it for four beats.
Breathe out slowly, for a count of eight.
Hold it for four beats once more before you breathe in again.
How does it work? Well, there are two things going on here. The first is that your blood chemistry is being altered by the way you breathe, causing your body to release a rush of hormones to do with calmness and relaxation. The second is the somewhat more esoteric point that while you’re doing this you’re concentrating on yourself and not on the problem!
For best results, you should do it while you’re standing up, or at least sitting upright with your stomach not folded at all – no slouching. You should also make sure you don’t let your shoulders rise up as you do this; that just adds to the tension.
I hope that’s useful for you (and not just the two people who asked for it this week!)

Uh? Uh-huh!

We live in a high stress society. To prove it, drop your shoulders; if you can drop them, you’ve probably got a bit of a tension issue – unless you’re in a situation that justifies stress, of course. One of the things that goes wrong when you’re stressed is that your voice shifts up in pitch. In short, it gets higher than it should be. What’s worse, we get so used to this that we think this is our normal voice!
Stuart Pearce is a voice coach of considerable reputation, and he suggests that one way to find your true voice’s pitch is to say ‘uh-huh’. If you say it as though you’re confirming something, you probably go down on the second syllable, and if you’re using it to ask a question you probably go up on the second.
Either way, he says, the higher of the two is typically the pitch you usually use – and