This article makes comments on the technical side of a recent speech contest and presents comments given by presiding judges in the contest.
A commanding voice – volume, speed, and articulation
Knowing HOW one’s voice resonates, or travels, through the lecture hall and reaches audience’s ear is a crucial part that all good orators should pay attention to. Speaking to your interlocutor in a person to person manner requires less volume and a quicker speed. However, it would take a different perspective if you are speaking in a big lecture hall, to a large audience. A good speaker controls speed and pauses now and then to ensure that one’s point is well-taken, no puzzling look on your audience’s faces. This is the necessary step to make sure that the audience follows your story so that you may have a chance to win their heart.
Stereotypes and leverage:
Just as birds have been assigned with different names according to the way they chirp, people’s voice and appearance have a defining quality in the audience’s heart and mind. Call it prejudice or stereotype. Few can change it, but a good speaker knows how to use it to their advantage. A good speaker knows what effect his/her voice may convey, and they control it in a meticulous manner accordingly.
Take Susan Boyle, a Scottish singer, for example. When she got on the stage of Britain’s Got Talent, she definitely knew what were up against her – stereotypes against a middle-aged woman with plain appearance – and she used it to make a stunning contrast with her utterly beautiful voice. The effect? Boyle's debut album, I Dreamed a Dream (2009) is still the UK best-selling debut album of all time. She knows herself and world well. Good orators know themselves, and the world well, too.