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Translator: Kerlene Telesford
Reviewer: Sebastian Betti
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(Pre-recorded voice) In order
to get a job, convince a client,
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win over our partner,
in short, to persuade,
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the voice is a decisive factor.
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Well, I think this way of speaking
wouldn't have been credible
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or very convincing, right?
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And that's because I haven't correctly
combined the qualities of the voice.
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What a mess!
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Meaning, I haven't played
the right piano keys.
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The voice has a very powerful
influence in our day to day.
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Basically, because it's the vehicle
conveying the message.
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But what happens, since the problem arises
if we don't use it correctly,
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what can happen is what's happening here:
the goods don't get there.
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Meaning, in the end,
the message doesn't arrive.
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That's why it's important to know it,
that's why it's important to exercise it.
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And that's my goal today here.
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explaining how you need to manipulate it
in order to achieve your goal.
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That is, for the message
to arrive, to persuade.
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And I'll give you some strategies
for being credible.
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So, let's start at the beginning.
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We'll get help
from our voice box over here.
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The voice has four qualities, which are:
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the intensity, the tone,
the timbre, and the duration.
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Let's start with the first,
which is the simplest: the intensity.
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What is intensity?
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Well, it's the volume of our voice.
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Meaning whether I speak more quietly
or whether I speak more loudly.
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It's simple to understand.
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On what does the intensity depend?
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Very simply, it depends
on our breathing.
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Yes, I said that right,
it depends on our breathing.
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Breathing is the foundation of our voice.
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And intensity is nothing more
than the force
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with which we push air
towards the vocal cords.
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It's as simple as that.
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And who's responsible for pushing
that air, for creating that force?
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Well, it's an organ we have
here in the abdominal area,
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called the diaphragm.
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And what are you going to see in action
right now, in this short video?
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You are going to see,
this is an exhalation.
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And when we inhale, the lungs
fill up and the diaphragm goes down.
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Afterwards, the diaphragm is responsible
for expelling that air out of the lungs.
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So that's what exerts
the force in the end.
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For you to understand that force,
or for you to feel that force,
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let's all do an exercise together.
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First, I'll explain it to you and then
we'll see if we can all do it.
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The idea is that we're going
to put our hands on the abdominal area,
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here, where the diaphragm is.
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And we are going to take a deep breath.
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Trying to carry the air
to the lower part of the lungs.
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Let's take a breath in a moment and
I'll count to three, we'll blow out.
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Just like that.
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Okay, are you ready?
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Let's do it. It's easy.
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Let's place our hands
on the abdominal area like this, everyone.
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We're going to take a breath in a moment.
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Good, pause. I count three...
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One, two, three.
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Well done! You did it perfectly,
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without practicing.
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That force that you've felt,
is the strength of the diaphragm
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towards the vocal cords.
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So, if that force is low, it's small,
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then we are going to lower
our intensity to down here.
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What we'll have as a result
is low intensity.
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(Pre-recorded voice, low intensity)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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If we lift the circuit board
up and go to high intensity...
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(Pre-recorded voice, high intensity)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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There is a small difference, right?
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We've gone from 43 decibels to 79.
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Intensity is measured in decibels,
no more than the volume of the voice.
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With which there is
a perceptible difference.
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Here comes the question:
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If I want to appear credible,
what will I have to use?
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Low intensity, or high intensity?
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Well, if we think about the voice
reflecting our personality,
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if we think about the voice
reflecting our state of mind,
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and we think that, of course,
if I suddenly feel sad,
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very sad, I'm going to use low intensity.
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If I'm bored, too.
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And people who are introverted
use low intensity.
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So of course, if I want to seem credible,
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of course that won't be
the intensity that I have to use.
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I have to use an energetic intensity.
It has to sound loud and clear.
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I'm not saying shout.
I'm saying an energetic intensity,
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more or less this, what I'm doing now.
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Therefore, this would be the first tip:
energetic intensity.
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Let's go to the second of our qualities.
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The second quality is the tone.
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The tone of the voice
is difficult to manage,
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but it's simple to understand.
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Once the diaphragm pushes
the lungs, as you have seen,
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what it does is expel the air.
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Well, that air comes up here, to the neck.
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Inside the neck is the larynx,
and inside the larynx
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are the vocal cords,
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which vibrate to the passage of that air.
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Oh, my God! Those are vocal cords?
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If the image impresses you a little,
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I can swear to you that you all have
ones like these in your body,
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that vibrate like this.
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Alright.
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What does having a deeper tone
or a more high-pitched tone
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depend on?
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Easy to understand.
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I have two ropes here.
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If I move them with the same force,
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that is, with the same intensity,
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which one moves faster?
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This one, right?
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It moves faster because it is shorter
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and because it's thinner.
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So, what does you having an average tone
of voice or another depend?
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Well, it's simply the length and
thickness of your vocal cords.
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When they're shorter,
they will vibrate faster,
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so, you'll have a higher pitched tone.
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And for larger ones,
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men generally have a deeper tone,
they will speak more deeply.
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It's as simple as that.
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But of course, we don't speak
in just one tone.
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This is our middle tone,
let's say it's the one we use
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in our day to day, most frequently.
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But of course, we use
a range of tones when we speak.
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There are differences between them.
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We'll see what happens
if I lower the tone.
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Let's see what it sounds like.
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(Pre-recorded voice, low tone)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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On the other hand, if I raise it up...
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(Pre-recorded voice, high tone)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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There is also a perceptible difference.
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We have gone from 100 to 190 Hz.
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It's simple to understand.
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It's simply that the vocal cords vibrate
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more slowly if it's deep,
or more quickly if it's high-pitched.
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So, what do you think?
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If we want to sound credible,
what kind of tone do we have to use?
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Low, or high-pitched?
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Well, all the studies we've done
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indicate that, in order to be perceived
as attractive and credible,
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we have to use, as you see in the graph,
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a low tone rather than
a high-pitched tone.
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And because of that, many professionals
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and many politicians
train their voice specifically
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to lower their voice, to use that
lower tessitura of your voice.
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I've brought to you the case
of Margaret Thatcher,
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who trained her voice for a long time,
to achieve that goal.
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Margaret Thatcher: (high-pitched tone)
Oh, very much so. I've done a good deal,
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but speaking in the House of Commons is
quite different. It's a unique experience.
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Margaret Thatcher: (low tone) I think
we shall have to make up our minds
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about the Cabinet very quickly
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because, otherwise, the press
will discuss it all for me.
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Because of course, an Iron Lady
talking like this--
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It wouldn't make much sense.
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And this is what she did,
trained her voice for this.
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Whenever we train the voice,
we must use an expert,
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because if we don't, we can damage
the vocal cords.
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So, we have a range of tones,
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we have a piano, we have to
play them in different ways.
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When we talk, we use
that combination of tones,
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and that combination of tones
is what we know as intonation.
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Intonation is relatively
complicated to understand,
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but I'll give you two tips.
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The first is
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that you can't be monotonous
when you speak,
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because if you're monotonous,
then no one will listen to you.
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Basically.
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In order to try to modify that monotony,
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let's try to start the phrase
in a high-pitched tone
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and end in a low tone.
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As you can hear in this example.
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(Pre-recorded voice, high-pitched to low
tone) The voice has a powerful influence.
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Good. It's a way
of changing the tones.
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What we can never do
when we speak in public,
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when we have a presentation,
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is sing, because if I sing,
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I leave everything up,
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and that doesn't sound credible.
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It's simple to understand.
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And you'll see it in this example.
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(Pre-recorded voice, higher intonation)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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It's as if something is missing!
Why are you staying up there?
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We always have to lower
the message down, to be credible.
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(Pre-recorded voice, lower intonation)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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And here is where it is competent,
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it is credible, sounds sure, right?
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Let there be no doubt about this.
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So, always remember
not to be monotonous,
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let's try going up to the higher pitch
at the beginning,
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going down to the low pitch at the end.
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And of course, the idea is not to sing.
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Well, when it comes to tone,
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what happens is
many people say,
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"Having a low tone, I'm already
perceived as credible."
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And I'm not sure that's true.
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(Low pitch, closed timbre)
It must have been making you sleepy.
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I believe that this
is not an attractive voice.
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But it is a voice in a low tone.
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And that's because Marge Simpson
lacks our third quality:
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timbre.
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The timbre of the voice
is very easy to understand.
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It is the combination of the sound
that comes out of the vocal cords,
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plus the one that comes out
from our sound box.
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What is this sound box?
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The face, for hearing
ourselves, this face we have.
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Having a bigger nose,
a smaller mouth, etc.
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That, in the end, gives a specific
result in your voice.
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And that's why your voice is unique.
The sound of your voice is unique.
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It's like your fingerprint, in a way.
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So, if my voice is unique,
I'm not going to change my nose,
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so this is the way my voice is.
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And no, obviously not.
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Because if I modify
the resonance organs,
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meaning my lips,
my mouth, my tongue, etc.
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I'm going to get
a completely different sound.
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Let's focus on that. Let's do
a closed timbre, meaning
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that the speaker closes his mouth a lot.
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(Low pitch, closed timbre)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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And we're just going to open it later.
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(Pre-recorded voice, open timbre)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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Only the width of the mouth
has been modified.
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And that already influences the sound.
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What do we need to have to be credible?
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Obviously, open our mouths enough,
so that our voice resonates well.
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So, what can we do?
Well, we can do some exercises.
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Let's see. First, let's
inflate the cheeks...
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Right.
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Left.
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Very good.
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Now, let's make another!
More fun, more optimistic.
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Let's make a big smile, pulling
the corners of or mouths backwards.
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Let's smile.
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And let's close.
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You're very handsome.
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Just like that, perfect.
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We can also pull on
the corners directly.
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Like this.
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And this is how we stretch.
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It's important to warm up these
facial muscles for speaking.
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They're the ones
that have to move in the end.
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So think about it.
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And the last and most complicated,
please do this at home, alone,
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so that no one sees you.
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I'm going to put four fingers
in my mouth.
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Yes, I'm sorry,
the fingers, in the mouth.
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Vertically, like this.
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And we are going count from 1 to 10.
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Count with me:
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One, two, three, four,
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five, six, seven,
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eight, nine, ten.
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Very good. Perfect.
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You're all lovely, really, but
don't do it with anybody around.
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Do it at home.
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Try it before and after.
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You'll see, really, I promise,
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that, just before, the voice
is very muffled,
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very closed.
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And then suddenly,
you hear everything great.
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So, quite simply, do this
before placing yourself
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in front of an audience,
making a presentation,
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or speaking publicly, in general.
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Perfect!
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Let's go with our last quality,
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which is the duration.
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Duration is not an acoustic quality,
but an expressive one.
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It's important that I speak
slowly or that I speak fast.
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And if not, let's test it.
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I'll lower the terminal
here to the slow one.
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(Pre-recorded voice, slow duration)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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And we'll raise it to the fast one.
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(Pre-recorded voice, fast duration)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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What do you think?
To be credible, what do we need?
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Well, we think that
a person talks slowly
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when they're bored.
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On the other hand, if I'm
super excited, I speak quickly.
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Okay, you get the idea.
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The studies we've done,
and many others worldwide,
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indicate that a person,
in order to be perceived as credible,
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has to use a speed
tending toward fast.
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People who speak
a little faster than usual
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are perceived as more
intelligent, more dynamic,
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more extroverted.
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And note that I said a little
faster than usual.
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I didn't say very fast.
If you talk very fast,
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I don't understand you,
you make me nervous.
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I didn't say very fast.
I said tending to fast,
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or a little bit faster,
which is what I am doing now.
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Maybe the best advice I can give you,
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in this context, is that you alter
your speed when you speak.
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The most important thing is said slowly.
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What is unimportant is said fast.
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That contrast is what makes listeners
pay more attention
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and also helps them understand.
So that is important.
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Okay, we now have our four qualities.
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Let's assume now, and this is
an important point,
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because the voice is not just one,
as I've been saying,
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it's a set, it's a combination.
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Let's suppose that we
we would like to express joy.
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Actually, you see here that
we have the perfect combination.
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We have a high intensity,
we have a sharp tone,
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we have an open timbre,
meaning we smiled.
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The smile is very perceptible,
and a quick duration.
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And this would be the result.
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(Pre-recorded voice) The voice
has a powerful influence.
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Let's suppose now, that
we would like to express sadness,
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which is the complete opposite.
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In this case what we would do to begin
with, would be to lower the intensity.
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We had to lower the tone to deep.
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We'd have to close our mouths.
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And moreover,
we would have to talk slowly.
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And this would be the result.
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(Pre-recorded voice)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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You're already wondering,
this is the crux of the issue:
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What do I have to do to be credible?
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We have already seen it.
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We must have an energetic intensity,
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like we said.
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We must have a rather serious tone
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with modulated intonation.
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We need an open timbre,
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and also a speed tending toward fast.
00:15:52
The result could be more or less this.
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(Pre-recorded voice)
The voice has a powerful influence.
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Once we've already established
00:15:59
that we have the credibility combination,
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let's see if we can fix that
bad start we had
00:16:05
in this presentation.
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(Pre-recorded voice) In order
to get a job, convince a client,
00:16:10
win over our partner,
in short, to persuade,
00:16:14
the voice is a decisive factor.
00:16:16
I hope we've achieved it.
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The voice is the most important instrument
that you have for communicating.
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It's the one that has the most influence
on your being perceived as competent
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and credible.
00:16:30
Today, I hope that you know
how to do that a little bit better.
00:16:34
Thanks so much for your time.
00:16:35
(Applause)
