Set Your Voice Free: How to Get the Singing or Speaking Voice You Want

by Roger Love

4. Let Them Know You’re Confident Confidence is currency for a presenter. When it flows through your voice, listeners experience your belief in yourself and your message, and give credibility to you and what you’re saying. At the same time, they experience your belief that they can take your message and put it into action, your confidence in them. Confidence is built on the bedrock of your hard work and expertise, and it doesn’t jump up and down begging for attention or respect. It walks into the room assuming both are there, and it returns both to the audience. So to sound Confident, you can have solid volume but never feel like you’re raising your voice. Confident doesn’t go loud like anger or soft like timidity. It functions like the lead violin in the orchestra, happy and vibrant alone, but ready to play with others when the occasion arises. You should extend the syllables of your words to their longest possible lengths for a Confident sound. To create the sound of Grateful, you sustained syllables a small amount. As you hold out the vowels in Confident mode, you are saying: “Listen to me. Every word counts. Every thought matters. Each word is crafted to share a long-lasting bond that we are creating together.” The Confident sound profile tells your audience: “My words are long and strong, and I am confident that you will be stronger by listening to and communicating with me.”