Three critical speaking skills you can develop by doing simple vocal exercises. 

Let’s say you take it into your head to learn the classic American pastime of rollerblading. On the surface, you’re learning how to propel yourself around suburban sidewalks (or for the more daring, skate parks, Sonic drivethrus, or roller derbies!). But along the way, you’re also building several other useful capabilities—like balance, strength, quick thinking, cost/benefit analysis (e.g., weighing the thrills of speed against the risks of a wipeout), and occasionally, basic first aid.  

Thankfully, public speaking doesn’t entail nearly so many gravelly skrunches. But learning the ropes also unites surface-level skills with deeper, broadly useful abilities! Read on to learn three ultra-valuable public speaking skills you can cultivate just by doing basic vocal exercises. 

1. Speaking while remembering how you want to sound

Imagine that I asked you to read a couple of sentences off this page in a louder than normal voice. Seems pretty basic, right? But for about a third of my students who try it, when I ask afterwards, “hey, were you able to remember to focus on volume as you were reading?” They look surprised, a little sheepish, and admit that they forgot as soon as they started reading aloud—even though I prompted them right before they started. & this is just when reading! It’s not like I asked them to give a sudden impromptu speech on a deep, complex topic like the plight of the modern worker or the best way to cook tofu.*

What explains this speaking amnesia? I think it’s because speaking is a very high-cognitive-load activity—meaning, it takes a lot of focus! Unscientifically, let’s say around 80% of our attention. You have to come up with what to say & figure out how to phrase it, not to mention process any external stimuli, like your surroundings and any audience expressions or reactions. This is a lot!

Unfortunately, all that focus on the “what” doesn’t leave much attention for monitoring how you want to speak. (Heck, even just reading aloud—where the words are just fed to you—is often enough to overwhelm people’s self-monitoring abilities.) Which is a shame, because how are you supposed to speak better in a live setting if you can’t remember what you were aiming for until afterwards?

The good news: No matter what vocal skill you’re working on, practicing it (even in reading form) boosts your ability to remember how you want to sound. & whether you’re working on volume, enunciation, speed, inflection, or some other facet of speaking, the memory & monitoring skills you’re building carry over to all the rest. That’s what makes it an Exercise Behind the Exercise! 

2. Vocal control

This asks a simple question: “If you give your voice an assignment, will it do it?” Like, if you’re successfully focusing on slowing down, can you actually do it? Or does your delivery defy your intentions & keep its usual speed?

If you’re like most people, this will be a challenge (at first!).** Our voices have patterns ingrained over years or decades, & they aren’t necessarily quick to obey our commands. But with practice & training, vocal control grows! Until you can tweak your vocal delivery to be just how you would like.

Now, it’s normal to have more vocal control in some areas than others—e.g., someone might find volume control a breeze, but inflection control a quagmire. But no matter which area you’re working on, you’re  developing this broadly helpful skill!  

3. Seeing yourself the way the audience sees you 

So now you’re successfully focusing on volume, and you feel like, yes! I’m controlling my voice, I’m being nice & loud! Everything is going so well! But now comes the final test: Does the audience agree? Often, the answer is no(t at first)—you might think you sound a certain way, but you don’t actually. I can’t tell you how many times a quiet student has thought she’s quite loud—or a speedy speaker is surprised to learn he isn’t talking quite slowly, etc. & unfortunately, the audience’s opinion is what matters, not your own perception. 

I call this the Speaking Perception Gap: the difference between the way we think we come across to the audience, versus how we actually do. You want to narrow this gap down to nothing if possible—because then when you’re speaking in front of people, you can make better decisions about how to adjust your tone, and you’ll be able to trust that whatever you’re hearing matches what they’re hearing.  

Narrowing your perception gap requires two things: you speaking, plus an honest audience—one that gives you feedback on how you’re sounding. Maybe that’s a helpful friend, family member or colleague (though as I explain here, that may be tougher to find than it seems)—or *gasp* perhaps it’s an expert speaking coach who can tell you in detail both how you sound and how to get better! 😉

* Our nation’s brightest minds cannot resolve either dilemma.

** Of course you’ll get better with practice!