Real Talking Tips with Elaine A. Clark

A Parenthetical statement is a way of expressing additional information. It could be a year, number, point of view, quote, clarification, personal insight, or legal disclaimer. Sometimes the parenthetical is an opportunity to show personality and opinion. Other times, it's spoken quicker to hide the small print, legal information, or incidental or explanatory thought. It's easy for us to see and acknowledge parentheses when it's written. But how do you take that typed curved set of brackets ( ), dash -, ellipses... , or off-set commas, and translate the written information into speech and conversation? Practice adding parenthetical speech and movements in this 6th of 11 Word Emphasis lessons. Each element of the Word Emphasis Chart [introduced in Episode 27] adds variety and attitude to words and phrases! In the last four episodes, we added a Dot (·), Arrow Up (), Caret Up (^), Arrow Down (), Caret Down (v), Wiggle (˜), and Stretch ( ___ ). Practice along with the Real Talking Tips vidcast, podcast, and blog, my Elaine Clark app - Adding Melody To Your Voice, and my best selling books, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs for Podcasting. For even more info, visit ElaineClarkVO.com/podcast.

Time to S-T-R-E-T-C-H O-U-T key words! Business Names, Brands, and Titles require special focus and attention. Slowing down when you say these important Proper Nouns aids audience retention. This 5th of 11 Word Emphasis - Real Talking Tips micro-learning lessons, demonstrates how to use the body to Billboard and Lengthen the client's name, title, brand, or product. To integrate this slow billboard focus on Proper Nouns, you need to practice this technique… and all the Word Emphasis and Real Talking Tips techniques. Muscle memory doesn't happen overnight. You're learning a new speech "dance step." Start slowly with each new technique until your body becomes wired for sound and uses these movements and techniques instinctively… without thought or control. It's part of the progression to unconscious competence. • Take a moment to click Subscribe, Download, or Share. • Read the blog at ElaineClarkVO.com/Podcast.

Ready to sprinkle in a wiggle, sizzle, jazz hands, and voice shimmer when you say keywords? The 4th of 11 Word Emphasis - Real Talking Tips speech communication mini-series lessons - gets your hands, head, shoulders, toes, and derriere ready to move! Listen and practice along. Create a specific sound, pitch, and attitude. Add more variety to your speaking voice. Each element of the Word Emphasis Chart [introduced in Real Talking Tips Episode 27] adds speech variation and attitude to spoken words and phrases! Wiggling different parts of your body is also a fun warm-up that can put a twinkle in your eye before talking, recording, or meeting someone. In the last three Real Talking Tips - Word Emphasis episodes, we added a Dot (·), Arrow Up, and Caret Up (^), and Arrow Down, and Caret Down (v) to key words and phrases. So, practice along with this Real Talking Tips podcast, my Elaine Clark app - Adding Melody To Your Voice, and my best selling books, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs for Podcasting.

Caret It Down - Arrow It Down, is the 3rd Word Emphasis speech variety lesson in this 11-episode Real Talking Tips mini-series. The up-down-up caret (v) adds emphasis to an individual word where the musicality of that word starts and ends on the same high or medium pitched note and lowers in the middle. Arrowing a sentence or phrase down, lands a thought or message as the pitch of the speaking voice progresses from a higher to lower voice. Remember, the importance of utilizing the Word Emphasis Chart is for variety! So, practice along with this Real Talking Tips podcast, the Adding Melody To Your Voice app, and my books, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs for Podcasting. It's not practice makes perfect. It's PERFECT practice makes perfect! #realtalkingtips #elaineclarkvo

Real Talking Tips Episode 28 is the second in the min-series of 11 ways to add Word Emphasis to speech, presentations, and voiceover recordings. This time, we'll practice two types of upward inflection: arrowing a phrase up and adding an up-and-down-caret (^) to a word. Arrowing up sets up a statement for the response that follows. An Upward Caret slows down an individual word and provides additional musicality and focus to that key word within a sentence. As before, we'll use the Word Emphasis chart found on Episode 27 of my ElaineClarkVO.com/Podcast page, discussed in my books, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs for Podcasting, and explored further in the video and interactive practice-record-and-listen areas of my app, Adding Melody To Your Voice. Now, I'll show you additional ways to achieve those speech variations using a variety of movements and gestures. If you're enjoying this series, please subscribe, download, and share this episode with friends, colleagues, and business associates. #RealTalkingTips #ElaineClarkVO

Congratulations! Episode 27 marks the halfway point in this Real Talking Tips podcast and Elaine Clark's top 52 public speaking lessons and voice-over tips. This episode begins a new speech communication mini-series: 11 ways to focus the voice and body to create Word Emphasis. The Word Emphasis chart uses a symbol to describe movements and gestures that draw unique focus to a word or phrase. These include a dot, caret up, caret down, wiggle, stretch, parenthetical, dip down, singsong, hook, arrow up, arrow down, shifts, and transitions. We'll start with the dot: a firm, crisply stated word spoken in a short, staccato manner. Additional information, video, and activities about how to use the Word Emphasis chart are found in the Elaine Clark app: Adding Melody To Your Voice. The Word Emphasis chart is also written about in the Elaine A. Clark books: There's Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs For Podcasting.

Being a Speech Choir Director means that the voice, body movements, and gestures work in tandem with the speaker's feelings and message dynamics. Establishing the power box shape and size helps defines the voice range and musical tune. When practicing this concept, use slower and larger gestures and movements to allow time for the brain to accept the reprogramming effort and the body to trust and spontaneously incorporate the speech clarifying movements. Don't expect it to happen overnight. It takes practice for a speaker to become dynamically 'wired for sound.' Practice along with the 5 Speech Melody Practice Lessons.

The voice needs variety for the listener to stay engaged. When a speaker gestures with the same hand, the musicality and tempo of the voice tends to repeat and the audience tends to tune out. The Right-Left-Together Power Box method incorporates 3 different voice placements. Alternating movements inside the various size and shape Power Boxes adds additional variation and clarity to the speaking voice. Listen and practice these speech movements and combinations to create muscle memory so your body knows what to do when making a presentation, speaking in front of a group, recording a voice-over script, or recording a podcast.

The Large and Small Power Box is the 2nd of 4 episodes that explore the use of a speaker's Power Box in this Real Talking Tips speech communication micro-learning series. This time, rather than the speaker's "stage area" being vertical, the big vs. small power box is horizontal or square. The width and size of the horizontal power box is dependent on the message. When the message is intimate and subdued, the smaller the speaker's gestures and movements are within that confined area. Dynamic and inclusive messages require the speaker to use a wider and broader area to expand their gestures and the power of their voice. Once again, defining the appropriate size and shape of the power box focuses the speaker's message, voice, and intended audience response.

If you're wondering what a speaker's Power Box is, think of it as a small stage area where the speaker's hands and gestures stay inside. The power box may be tall and narrow, wide or small, v-shaped, thrust forward, rectangular, circular, or square. When the speaker's movements stay inside this specified power box area, the message is more focused and impactful. Otherwise, the audience can easily become distracted with the 'in and out' sound of the speaker's diffused voice as the gestures go beyond the imaginary power box walls. Real Talking Tips Episodes 23-26 explores the speaker's various power box sizes, shapes, movements, and voice placements. The vertical high vs. low power box is the first of this 4-part micro-learning power box speech communication mini-series.