How Can I Help My Trainees Speak Louder and with More Energy? Seeking Tips and Exercises

Dear All,

I need to help my trainees to be loud enough and also help them bring up their energy level while speaking/talking. Could anyone suggest ways and methods or some exercises/activities that would aid them? Would be great if I could get any PPT pertaining to the same.

Thanks for the time taken to go through this!

Chow

Kavita Kaur

Hi,

You can select a few words that require modulation and are also lengthy. These words can be in any language, but ensure they are pronounced correctly in English. By doing this, individuals will overcome their initial fear. Subsequently, you can gradually increase the pitch.

Regards,
Vijay

Thank you, Vijay!

It was really nice of you to take the time to share your thoughts on my concern. I tried following your suggestions, but unfortunately, it did not yield the expected results. When they return to their usual conversations or addressing the audience, they revert to their initial state, back to square one. Their behavior is quite inconsistent.

Please provide any further recommendations.

Take care,
Kavita

Dear Kavita,

Please clarify the following:

1. What does your organization do?
2. What is the nature of your trainees?
3. What do you want them to express exactly? Do you want them to contribute new ideas, or do you want them to respond to you?

With this information, we can give you our suggestions.

Priya Maran G

Dear Priya,

I work in a KPO, and my employees have to interact with clients over the phone (web-conference/teleconference). The clients complain that they are very soft-spoken and not loud enough to be heard. Therefore, I would like my employees to meet the above-mentioned client needs. Please suggest.

Hi,

This is a kind of team-building game that surely helps lift up the spirits. You can break the group into a number of teams, ask them to decide on a name for their team, and write a slogan for themselves. Then, every day during the training, if you feel that the session is getting too dull, you can call up the name of one of the teams randomly. The team would be expected to instantly stand up, no matter where each individual team member is sitting, and literally shout out their slogan. They would all need to be attentive, and it would surely make the session more interesting and enjoyable. You can score them based on the energy level of the team, etc. However, this kind of activity would only be possible in a proper training room so that the shouts do not disturb others.

This exercise would help them learn to work as a team, get comfortable with each other, and hopefully, speak up a bit more.

Thank you.

Hi,

If your team members are too soft on the phone, it might be due to a lack of confidence or clarity on the subject. To address this issue, you can conduct some mock calls where they intentionally speak softly and then ask for feedback on the impact it could have. Additionally, you can ask them to read a paragraph aloud to assess if their communication style is consistently soft, or if there are other factors at play such as confidence or accent.

An engaging activity you could try is role-playing scenarios where they have to propose to a girl or a boy. Have different role-play situations demonstrating someone speaking too loudly, too softly, and moderately. Then, ask them to determine which approach is the most appropriate.

I hope these suggestions add value to your training efforts.

Cheers,
Sufian

Dear Kavita,

It's merely related to their confidence. Some may have a soft voice, but if you can clearly explain what you are supposed to, then it is fine. They may not be sure of the accent or may not be good in their communication level. So please try to improve their confidence level by finding out the exact weakness. This can be done by continuous practice. You can do one thing. Make a call quite often like a client and listen to how they speak on the phone to you when you are a client. Similarly, observe how they talk to you generally. By doing this, you can analyze their confidence level and also identify where they lack. Once you know the problem, you can easily find the solution.

Priya Maran

Hello again Kavita,

As I understand your problem, you want them to be able to increase speech volume at will. In addition to the games and confidence-building sessions mentioned by others, I would also recommend that you connect with a Speech Therapist. Also, if you have someone in your organization who has done vocal training (Western or Indian classical doesn't matter) or has sung professionally, sit with them and create an exercise where the participants learn how to modulate their voice.

This (voice modulation) is a very important technique because in the long run, it will reduce stress and strain on vocal cords. Also, read up on "The Alexander Technique". You can google this. This, again, is a vocalist training tool. Extremely effective for public speaking, and definitely will help in your situation.

Voice modulation is a gradual process, and constant practice is the key. Don't expect results overnight. Hope you find this useful.

Regards,

Ryan