Hey Reader,
Happy Tuesday!
Hope your Labor Day weekend was filled with rest, relaxation, and
ribs you’re still digesting.
I hate to say it, but…
Your voice may be putting people to sleep.
Most people talk like a metronome set to medium.
Same speed. Same volume. From hello to goodbye.
Steady as a ceiling fan on ‘low’.
And then they wonder why eyes glaze over halfway through their story.
Here’s the thing. Your brain notices “change”. Not sameness.
Change.
So when your voice runs at one flat speed the whole time, people’s brains basically clock out and start thinking about lunch.
(And not even a good lunch. Like, sad desk lunch. That’s how checked out they get.)
“Pacing” is the fix.
Speeding up. Slowing down. Knowing which is which.
Easy stuff that people already understand? You can move through it fast. They’re with you, just keep going.
But the point you actually care about? The one that matters?
You slow WAY down for that. Like, almost uncomfortably slow.
Give it room to land.
The reason this is so hard is something vocal coaches call the,
“curse of knowledge.”
You know what you’re about to say. You’ve said it a hundred times.
So the way you say it never changes because it stopped feeling “new” to you a long time ago.
The problem is, it’s “new” to the person listening.
They’re hearing it for the first time while you’re on autopilot.
That gap is exactly where you lose people.
Watch yourself back on video and look specifically for your “pacing”.
Are you speeding up anywhere?
Slowing down?
Or just rolling along at the same steady hum from start to finish?
If it’s the last one, that’s your homework.
It’ll feel like you just got more interesting.
Really, you just stopped being a ceiling fan.
The “Big Three” to be more “engaging”…
Volume = Cure for introverts
The “Pause” = Eliminates “filler words”
Pacing = Keeping people’s interest
🛑Remember, work on ONE thing at a time.
If you want to actually dig into this stuff with someone who’s spent 30+ years on Major Market Radio, I do a free 15-minute one-on-one call.
You tell me what’s not working. I’ll give you something real you can use that same day. (Link below)
Stellar Quotes
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.”
Gail Sheehy
“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
George Bernard Shaw
Bob Newhart had no idea
The crowd was ready. Thousands of people. Salt Lake City. Outdoor stage.
Bob’s a legend. Old school. The kind of guy who could say nothing for ten seconds and still get a laugh.
My job was to get the crowd loose before he came out. So I cooked up a little plan.
Me, standing in front of all of them with one job: warm them up before one of the greatest comedians alive walked out.
Now here’s the thing. This was Utah. The crowd was mostly LDS. Mormons. People who don’t drink.
So naturally, I decided to teach a crowd of Mormons a “drinking game”!
Here’s what I did. I explained that on the old Bob Newhart Show, it was a college tradition to take a drink every time someone said: “Hi Bob.”
And if you’ve ever seen that show, everybody said it.
His wife Emily. His office staff. Random people.
Constantly. “Hi Bob.” “Hi Bob.” “Hi Bob.”
The crowd loved it. They got it immediately.
So when Bob walked out and before he said a single word, thousands of people turned toward the stage and screamed “Hi Bob!” at the top of their lungs.
He stopped. Looked out at the crowd. You could see it on his face.
Total confusion. The good kind, Reader!
Then he said, “How do Mormons know about Hi Bob?”
The place lost it.
That’s the thing about a crowd. They want to be ‘in’ on something.
Give them a shared moment, something a little unexpected, and they’ll follow you anywhere.
That’s true whether you’re warming up a stadium or talking one-on-one with a client across a conference table.
The voice is what gets people to lean in.
The words are what keep them there.
I’m sure there’s probably hundreds of people who’ve spent time backstage with Bob Newhart and got some great pictures.
I count myself lucky to be one of them!
Diversions
Your Thoughts
After decades behind a microphone, I know what I think people struggle with. But I want to hear from you…
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Free Coaching Call!
You know your stuff. Let’s make sure you sound like it.
Grab a free call and discover how you can build more vocal confidence, presence, and impact… without becoming someone you’re not.
Zoom or phone. No pressure. No awkward sales ambush.
Book your free call
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