© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Human Action Table of Contents
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We mentioned earlier in this chapter how the use of the rising, questioning intonation can be counter productive. We all are unconsciously judged on our voices, just as we unconsciously judge others. If your face and eyes are holding you back, you can spend some money and get cosmetic surgery. If your voice is holding you back, you can begin to change it (absent a true speech impediment) without spending a cent, as long as you recognize that you might have a problem or that you could use improvement. Remember, you will speak aloud to many different and varied people, but each time, without fail, the primary hearer will be yourself.

How you say something is often more important than what you say. People more readily hear the qualities voice than they hear the actual words being mouthed by the speaker. The combination of well-chosen words with good intonation, effective vocal cadences and pauses and good vocal variety is particularly effective.

Speaking is essentially a kinetic process, and you want to eradicate every obstacle that makes it less kinetic. Vocalized pauses—your ahhs, errs, “you knows” and such—are habitual static crutches many people use to escape from their creative responsibility to express themselves. Maximizing your voice involves honoring your voice, thinking highly of yourself, knowing you have something to say, knowing it is worth the trouble to say it right, injecting kinesis, challenge and importance into every word. Speech is a key activity that is distinctly human. It should always be an art and a joy, even if you're talking to a telephone operator or asking the gasoline attendant to fill your tank.

Speaking in public is an instant Shock that supports and maximizes you even when you do it wrong. Few human activities are more kinetic, because when you speak in public you get real-time human feedback. It's as if you were in a laboratory of life where you had the chance to fine-tune and adjust your interaction with the world. Public Speaking puts both your brain and your heart on high RPM. Yes, it takes courage, but so does life itself.

Exercise: Using Your Own Voice

Your own voice resonates in your skull, so what you hear inside doesn't indicate what other people truly hear.

• To really know what you sound like, tape yourself, then play the tape back behind closed doors. Is that really me? Do I really have that accent? It doesn't matter, since once you recognize you can improve your speaking you can do something about it.

• By the way, the same is true for how you look; a video tape is a much better indicator of your visual appearance than a look in the mirror. Try it, since either you will learn how to correct some posture defects you didn't even know you had, or you might discover you look better to others than you thought.