Everyone is called upon sometimes to speak in situations that are far from ideal. This may be part of your job, your life outside work, or both. The situation may involve a large space, a poor acoustic, many listeners, background noise, or a mixture of these.

As your Better Voice develops, its brighter and more focused tone will both carry your words more clearly and give you more volume to use safely when necessary. In the meantime, here are some things worth bearing in mind when you have to speak in any challenging environment:

Look after yourself and your voice

The only person who really cares about your voice is you. Don’t rely on anyone else reminding you not to use it unwisely: stay aware and be the one who decides. Ask yourself: Is what I’m doing worth the damage it might cause? The negative impact of damaging your voice will last much longer than, for example, your heroic efforts over-enthusiastically encouraging your child’s football team.

In any challenging environment

• Some situations may be so much a part of your everyday life that you haven’t noticed they are challenging. As always, awareness is the first step.
• Don’t start speaking until you’re sure all your listeners can see you and you have their attention.
• If you need to gain their initial attention don’t shout: use another sound such as a clap.
• Look at the spot you want to reach with your voice, and direct and project it there.
• Make good eye contact with those you are speaking to, so as to keep their attention.
• Use positive body language to act with confidence. That will also help keep your listeners’ attention and reduce the need to raise your voice.
• Consider using a microphone to amplify your voice (but remember the caveats about microphones in Section 3.5).

In large indoor spaces

• The larger the space and the greater the echo, the more slowly you need to speak.
• Articulate all consonants super-clearly so that you can be heard and understood easily.
• In a swimming pool, not only is the noise fearsome but the chlorinated atmosphere is very drying to the voice. Speak only when those you are addressing are close to you. Use pre-arranged hand signals or whistles the rest of the time.

When outside

• Say as much as you can while inside, in a helpful acoustic, before moving outside where there’s no acoustic to help you.
• Speak slowly and with clear consonants, as you would in a large indoor space.
• Whenever possible, gather those to whom you are speaking into a small semi-circle around you.
• If there is background noise, such as traffic, position those you are addressing between yourself and the noise, with their ears facing towards you and the noise behind them.
• If you need to give instructions to those at a distance, supplement vocal instructions with pre-arranged non-verbal ones.
• If talking while running, always speak on the out-breath.

On the telephone

The challenge of telephone calls is the lack of visual feedback about the effects of our voice and words that we get from those we speak to in person: no little smiles and encouraging nods indicating engagement, or glazed eyes indicating its absence. Are we talking too fast, too monotonously, too loud?

Here are some ways to help the person you’re calling feel you are really communicating with them:

• Have an image of who you’re talking to. If you don’t know them, visualise them as someone you do know and like, and enjoy speaking to.
• Visualise the person you’re talking to in a chair next to you, as though you were having a ‘real’ conversation. That will help you to put the right amount of energy into your voice.
• Even if you have to read a pre-prepared script, put interest into the words and keep a smile in your voice.

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