Voiceover

When making a business presentation, a confident and clear delivery is the objective. But despite good intentions, the reality for many is a sudden attack of the dreaded nerves. Perhaps a dose of voice coaching is the answer, suggests Catherine Chetwynd

The ultimate voice makeover was Margaret Thatcher's, morphing from strident and grating to a lower, near-symphonic range, covering every tone from smoothly persuasive to strong and authoritative. Problems with voices are a peculiarly female issue and, although there are men who have trouble making themselves heard, there are more women who resort to shouting to get their point across or succumb to the vagaries of adrenaline induced by nerves, resulting in their voice shooting up several octaves.

There are, however, coaches who will help solve these problems - often people with an acting background - who are completely at ease with their voice and body, the two being inseparable. Speaker coach and ex-actor Jim Lawless says that women often feel they do not have power in their voice. 'But this is often a hang-up,' he says. 'They have no problem in a boardroom with up to 20 people and then decide they need to go to Mrs Thatcher's voice coach to sound more authoritative, just like a man. But there are lots of ways of achieving an impact with a feminine voice.'

Lawless adds his name to the many who criticise PowerPoint presentations. 'The way to make a solid impact is to construct a presentation so that it is meant to be listened to and enjoyed, rather than reading bullet points off PowerPoint. A women who stands in the middle of the presentation room, not by her computer with her back to the audience, looks and sounds confident - and confidence is infectious. A great speaker can get under the skin of an audience and that will have an impact way above anyone who speaks like this,' he says, lowering his voice and sounding gruff.

Dress is also an issue and Lawless advises against power dressing. 'It is about being a woman, not a man,' he says. 'Have an outfit that is stylish and expensive - something you feel great in.'

And regarding the voice? According to Lawless, the key tricks are consonants, dynamics and pauses. 'If a speaker hits the consonants, they sound a lot clearer and more confident,' he says. 'For example, because there is a class-riddled society in the UK, people who emphasise their consonants send out certain messages about intelligence - it is not fair but it is a fact.'

Pauses also make people think. 'Think about what this would mean to your teams [long pause]' It is incredible, people start thinking about it. It requires practice but people will wait for infinity while you pause if you look relaxed,' says Lawless. And if it is any reassurance, even the pros forget their words. 'I dried up in front of 1,000 people and gave an incredibly long pause - they were impressed.'

Presenting connects hugely to psychological make-up, so people end up portraying how they feel about themselves. It is important to consider what you want to achieve, who is in the audience, why you are scared and what you are scared of. 'Rationalise it,' says Lawless. 'What's the big deal? I'm only presenting an idea for increasing revenue, not proposing marriage.'

Stillness is also an essential ingredient and he advises: 'Do not think about your hands but about your feet and hips. Stillness conveys great gravitas.'

Head of editorial development for BT, Amanda Craib, attended one of Jim Lawless' courses and was impressed. 'It gave me the confidence to represent my views as me rather than trying to fit into a category of person, a presenter,' she says. 'When you show people you are passionate about what you are presenting, they will be more interested straightaway, it grabs their attention.'

Craib says people often concentrate on getting the words and overheads right and the message gets lost in the details. 'I found I was happier without slides because I like to have eye contact with the audience.'

Craib speaks quietly but she says this is not a drawback. 'It is not a hindrance to have a quiet voice. If you give your message with passion you command the room by your very presence and people will listen. It is the way you speak - altering your intonation and using consonants - speaking poetically, with emphasis.'

She says the course has also influenced her approach to doing business. 'It has affected everything. I always felt I had to try a bit harder being a female but my success so far is down to hard work and why should I fit a mould? It is about believing in myself and wanting to get things done.'

Also a former actor and now a teacher of performance is Yvonne Gilan, and both she and Jim Lawless emphasise the need to breathe from the gut, not the chest. 'Women change their voices to be heard and take them into a higher register,' says Gilan. 'Men do it less, their voices are seated in the gut. Men go through an incredibly public change when their voice breaks, whereas ours lowers slightly around the age of nine but it is not noticeable. Girls, instead of working with their new voice, take it higher and go back to their child's voice. Most women do not speak with their natural voices.'

Catching breath

'Think Italian!' says Gilan. 'They have a great oral tradition and let the sound out, they use gestures. The body is how we feel the world, through our senses.' And regarding breathing: 'When we are under stress, we hang on to our breath but it is the oil for the voice.'

The first exercise she does is to ask people to shut their eyes and breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth slowly, so that they begin to access their diaphragm. As Jim Lawless puts it: 'Breathe into your tummy and push it out - it goes against the grain but there is no room for vanity here.'

Yvonne Gilan says nerves and tension tend to make people talk quickly and in a higher voice because they do not want to be there. But she points out: 'You are always ahead of your audience. Deal with yourself first and deliver your story, paint a picture. The more we can see the pictures ourselves, the more easily the voice will inflect. It is an instrument.'

Women are not alone in having problems making themselves heard. Andrew Perolls is client management director of travel management company BTI UK and, with his team, makes regular presentations to win new business. 'Sometimes we are one of several companies a client sees in a day, so we have to engage our audience and try to be different,' he says. To that end, he engaged management trainer and former theatre director David Milne. 'He taught us how to project better and he recorded our presentations - a lot of us were surprised at how quickly we speak.

'I have a light voice but have learned to breathe from my diaphragm and project better when presenting. The biggest change is that I do not use a microphone and I slow myself down.'

The last word goes to Yvonne Gilan: 'My skills and techniques come from the theatre and we all spoke clearly because there were no microphones. Now people put their performance on to slides. But the best speaker support is not another slide, it is another breath.' Breathing life into presenter and presentations.

Catherine Chetwynd is a freelance journalist specialising in business travel, conference, incentive and exhibition writing. She also writes for The Times and the Financial Times.