How Vocal Variety Can Influence Structure

Public speaking is a holistic discipline. Over time, a practitioner will see how all the parts connect together seamlessly. What's nice about the learning process is that so much of public speaking can be broken into discrete components, for instance, body motion and vocal variety as two separate areas of practice.

Vocal variety and body movement have a pretty intuitive connection to each other; they are easy to align and deliver to the audience. But what about structure? Does it play a part in vocal variety?

Absolutely. When writing a speech, consider vocal variety as a way to solidify a point. In isolation, the change in tone or pitch may not make sense, but if it is well-placed in the context of the rest of the speech, then the vocal expression takes on more significance.

One idea when writing out the speech is to think of how it will be said out loud. Is it consistent with the last expression? The next expression? Vocal variety can also be used to signal the speaker that a new phrase is coming up, aiding in memorization of the speech as well.

There's more to be said! And say it again in upcoming speaking symposiums we will. See you at the next one.