The Vocally Savvy Communicator
Voice & Presentation Skills
Oral communication is a vital part of our everyday lives, from expressing opinions to passing on knowledge, from presenting data to counselling others, from sharing a joke to giving instructions. Yet are you using your voice and speech effectively to communicate your intent?
For instance, do you speak the whole day and find that you are hoarse by sundown? Do you scream in a hostile environment or at your clients to the detriment of your voice? Can you be heard a metre beyond you? Can you be understood when you open your mouth to speak? Do you drone on such that your clients fall asleep?
If so, then The Vocally Savvy Communicator will provide you with key principles of effective voice and speech production as well as presentation skills that will enable you to become a more successful speaker.
Areas Covered
- Understand basic vocal anatomy and how voice and speech are produced
- Experience how relaxation, alignment and breath support are vital for effective voice production
- Learn effective methods of voice production and release
- Learn how to improve your articulation
- Learn tips on to achieve and maintain vocal health
- Learn to connect intention and voice and gesture to produce more lively and interesting-sounding speech
- Learn how to present and interact effectively with an audience
- Apply the principles learnt from above in a presentation skills context
Pre-Workshop Preparation
For Participants
- Participants who are able to communicate fluently in English are welcome.
- Please come dressed in loose, comfortable clothing so that you will not feel constricted while doing the various breathing and vocal exercises.
For Organisers
- Please make available a fair-sized room that can easily accommodate all the workshop participants and the facilitator (seated in a circular formation).
- Please make sure that any other tables and chairs are stored against the wall or outside the room so that the participants have space to move freely about the space when they do the various exercises.
- Please make sure that the room has been vacuumed thoroughly before the workshop. The participants will be doing deep breathing exercises; thus a dusty environment would not be conducive at all.
- Please provide a large whiteboard and pens as well as access to computer/computer projection to show PowerPoint slides.
- Please make copies of handouts that will be emailed to prior to the workshop.
Feedback
Participants’ Feedback
What aspects of this workshop benefitted you most?
“1. Voice Exercises. 2. Feedback. 3. Relaxation Exercises. The presentation covers all aspects from anatomy to presentation to application to a real-life scenario. So it is quite good as it is.”
Santosh S. Nair
“Vocal warm-ups — yawning, humming, swinging side-to-side => helped me to improve my voice quality and project myself better. Loved it. ☺ Excellent coaching & constructive tips after each exercise.”
Jensen Lee
“1. Tips on warming up the body, including the vocal cords, it certainly facilitates vocal projection at ease. 2. Articulation & practice sessions on presentation of speech/instructions. 3. Wonderful illustrations and correction of posture.”
Maggie Lim
“Be aware of my mistakes and bad habits when speaking in front of a crowd.”
Fida Amran
“Learn the various warm-up techniques. Facilitator has been willing to impart all the various voices skills/postures.”
Jeffrey Mooi
“Awareness. Repetition of exercises to see the difference. Engagement: the power to engage the audience instead of just presenting.”
Melvin Tan
“Voice projection. I feel more comfortable & relaxed while presenting. Understanding the tactics helped to improve the way I speak. I feel less nervous now.”
Sim Zong Yan
“The ideal posture for presentation and speech warm-up exercises. The feedbacks on the individual presentation is also very helpful in highlighting mistakes or habits that we are totally unaware of. That helps me to improve my speech and presentation. Overall, I am very pleased with the workshop.”
Vivian Lin
“The end of each session where we each presented and you taught us how to present better. It’s just the start of presentation skills. The workshop is excellent. There could be subsequent modules where we learn to polish up our skills further. I wish I had an opportunity to learn this earlier in my life but better late than never.”
Janice Wee
“Adjusting the optimal posture every time in presentation. Practical approaches to improve presentations skills!”
Lam Wynn Li
“The posture (tail bone in, straight spine, chin down, spotting ahead), the tongue exercises but most of all, how to project our voice forward and clearly.”
Kristine Teng
"I gained self-awareness in the way that I present to an audience. I also know how I can improve in public speaking and have a greater appreciation of being vocally savvy."
Stephen Chong
"Projecting the voice: I came across a voice that I had never discovered till now. Quite resourceful. Committed teaching."
Kiran Bhairannavar
"Feedback on the posture. Exercises on articulators. Coaching on giving the speech."
Lim Hui Zhen
"The exercises & Verena trying her best to address some of my more pressing issues. Verena is helpful & tries to help to her best ability. Thank you!"
Yvonne Sng
About the Facilitator
A Singaporean writer, editor, storyteller and theatre practitioner, Verena Tay has published a short story collection, Spectre: Stories from Dark to Light (2012), and three play collections, and edited various fiction anthologies, including the bestselling Balik Kampung series of short stories published by Math Paper Press. She possesses three Masters: English Literature (National University of Singapore, 1993); Voice Studies (Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 2005); and Creative Writing (City University of Hong Kong, 2015). Since 2005, she has been helping people to improve their communication skills and has taught voice, speech and presentation skills, storytelling and creative writing.