Volume

You want to be loud enough so that everyone in the room can hear you over any background noise, but no louder. In a large room, you may need to use a microphone - if this is the case, it’s important to practice with the microphone as it takes a while to get used to. I sat through countless speeches during school where the speaker had no idea how to use the microphone, and either had their mouth waaaaay too close or too far away. Or even worse, they were constantly varying the distance, so one moment you’d barely be able to hear them, and the next you’d be covering your ears because they were too loud.

One trick you can play is to lower your volume slightly. This will (hopefully) draw the audience towards you as they strain a tiny bit to hear what you’re saying. Then, to emphasise an important point, raise your volume a little bit, now that you’ve got them paying that extra little bit more attention.

Click here to move on to the next topic: Clarity