What “How to Own the Room” Can Teach You about Using Your Voice

We all have a voice. Use it correctly, it can be the most powerful vessel you have. There is a lot of pressure that comes with using your own voice. Are we saying the correct thing? Should we have spoken up earlier? From an agency perspective, we have to remember that we are the doctors and our clients are patients. Therefore, using our voice and being vocal and honest with our clients is paramount. 

To learn more about how to amplify my voice and how to use it effectively, I picked up the book, How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking by Viv Groskop, and thought I would share some of the key takeaways I took from it. 

Focus on your breathing

If you are delivering a new pitch or about to make a business call monitoring your breathing will help you stay calm and collected. Breathe through the adrenaline you are feeling, look around the room and smile. It will help you remain calm and get your points across effectively. 

Be Happy High Status 

The term happy high status refers to feeling good and content within yourself. You don’t mind being generous and kind to others. Viv talks about different ways of honing your voice by studying different women. Michelle Obama is one of them. Viv explains that regardless of the fact she is Michelle Obama she treats everyone with the same respect, kindness and compassion they deserve. She isn’t above getting x person a drink from the bar and she channels this in her voice. Happy High Status is a state of being that translates into how you carry yourself so the next time you are entering a boardroom, think about your physical self. Are you walking in with a smile on your face and your head held high or are your nerves coming through in the walk you walk through the room. 

Watch your pace 

How many times do we get told not to speak too fast when delivering a pitch or speaking during a meeting when we’re feeling nervous? An exercise Viv talks about is to examine the people you are speaking to and see how engaged they are. Does this change if you slow down your speech? Maybe you pick up the pace and find you get more excitement and people listening to what you are saying if you speak a little faster. 

Fix your tone and volume 

We all show excitement in different ways. It may not come naturally for you to show excitement in the middle of your speech or more accurately, you may be too focused on just delivering your spiel (we have all been there). Remember you need to sell what you are saying. Time your tone and volume to match what you are saying. Emphasise the important points you are trying to get across using your tone and volume. This is something as a content writer I also think about in my writing. 

Using your voice is a fundamental aspect of self-development regardless of what career you are in. At Embryo we are always encouraged to voice our opinions and innovate using fresh ideas. If you fancy giving it a go, check out our careers page and see the benefits of honing your voice.