I recently spent a fascinating half hour chatting with a circuit judge who kindly shared his experience of listening to barristers’ arguments during the course of his days and what he considered to be important about how voices are used in the courtroom.
You won’t be surprised to learn that clarity is regarded as all important. The barristers’ effective speech to the judge in the courtroom is rooted in clear communication so not only the judge can hear and understand each word, but equally, each side in the dispute can hear and, if it is in the criminal courts, the jury is also fully informed.
Clarity is also all important in your presentation, whether it’s in front of just a few people or in a huge auditorium.
Here’s a good tip. When you come into a room, or the space where you’re going to be speaking, take a moment to check it out. Assess how your voice is going to travel to your listeners’ ears. Is the ceiling high? Are there hard surfaces which will make your voice ‘bounce’ and echo? Are there a lot of soft furnishings which will absorb the sound of your voice more? The environment will help you to make decisions about the way you use your voice in your speech.
Clarity is about how fast you speak – your pace – and it’s also about how well your words are articulated. Finally, it’s about volume, can you be heard – are you speaking loudly enough?
Many of us have spoken too quickly at one time or another, it’s easy to do when we’re carried away with a great idea that we want to convey to a colleague or a manager. The words merrily spill out, faster and faster with our enthusiasm building as the idea takes shape. Suddenly, we’re at the end of the ‘pitch’ and eagerly await praise and agreement with our great thoughts. Nothing but a blank look is returned.
Speaking too quickly can be a real barrier to communication. To help alleviate this, remember to breathe before you speak, to pause for effect and give important words their moment of time. This will to enable them to be understood and processed by your audience.
We take speech so much for granted that our words are often spoken on ‘auto pilot’ without much thought about what they mean. Our drive to communicate an idea can leave meaning behind. But English is a fabulous language for enabling us to use sounds to convey an emotional meaning as well as the literal meaning.
Going back to the courtroom, the judge also mentioned the importance of keeping the rest of the body ‘quiet’ when the barrister speaks. Any undue fidgeting, touching hair, adjusting clothing is really distracting and interrupts the communication flow.
Clear speech is taken for granted very often, but it is less common than it should be. We work with courtroom barristers, lawyers and academic staff to make their speech outstanding.
If you want to stand out from the crowd, get in touch for a free consultation about how one-to-one coaching can help make your speech more effective, convincing and compelling.