How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure

Many people have the experience that people don't listen to them when they speak.

This is because we often fall into bad speaking habits. However, with some practice, we can learn to create sound consciously and speak powerfully. 

1. Gossiping. Speaking ill of somebody who is not present
2. Judging. It's hard to listen to somebody if you know you're being judged and found wanting.
3. Negativity.
4. Complaining. We complain about sport, politics, the weather.
5. Excuses. Some people will blame everybody else and won't take any responsibility for their actions.
6. Exaggeration. Exaggeration becomes lying. No one wants to listen to people who are lying.
7. Dogmatism, which is confusing facts with opinions. It isn't easy to listen when someone is bombarding you with their views as if they were true.

• H - Honesty. Being true and clear in what you say
• A - Authenticity, which is just being yourself.
• I - Integrity, which is actually doing what you say and being somebody people can trust.
• L - Love. If you wish somebody well, it's very difficult to judge them.

• Register. If you want weight, locate your voice down to the chest.
• Timbre. We prefer rich, smooth, warm voices. A voice coach can help with breathing, posture, and exercises.
• Prosody is the sing-song meta-language we use to impart meaning. People who speak on one note are really hard to listen to.
• Pace. We speak faster when we get excited or slow down to emphasise. Silence instead of "ums" can be very powerful.
• Pitch. Speaking with a higher pitch impart a different meaning than a lower pitch.
• Volume. You can sound very excited by using volume, or you have to pay attention by getting very quiet.

Whenever you’re going to talk to anybody important, do these six vocal warm-up exercises.

1. Arms up, deep breath in, and sigh out. Repeat.
2. Warm up your lips by saying Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba.
3. Then say brrrrrrrr, like a kid.
4. Say la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
5. Roll an R. Rrrrrrrrr.
6. Say “we” high and “aw” low. Weeeaawww, weeeaawww.