persuasion Your voice is who you are. It is your trademark and your calling card. Your voice must exude energy, confidence, and conviction. We tend to judge others by their voice: Is it confident, nervous, relaxed, energized, tired, weak, or strong? If you sound unsure and timid, your ability to persuade will falter. Persuasive voices have great volume, varied emphases, good articulation, and a pleasing pitch. Master Persuaders use vocal variety and frequently vary their pace. The good news is you can change many characteristics of your voice. Tape your voice. What does it project? Your voice must be interesting and easy to listen to in order to help, rather than hinder, your ability to persuade. Does your voice work for you or against you? Emphasis Watch what happens when you place emphasis on different words in this sentence. I didn't know he stole the car. I didn't know he stole the car. I didn't know he stole the car. I didn't know he stole the car. I didn't know he stole the car. I didn't know he stole the car. The exact same words form sentences of completely different meaning every time you change the emphasis to a different word. Emphasis brings your main point to the audience's attention. You are able to highlight and stress the more important issues throughout your presentation with proper use of emphasis. Pace Pace refers to how quickly you speak. Mehrabian and Williams found that people who spoke faster, louder, and more fluently as well as those who varied their vocal frequency and intensity were perceived as more persuasive than those who did not.12 Speeches delivered at fast speeds are more persuasive than those of slow or moderate speeds, because persuaders who speak faster appear more competent and knowledgeable. At these faster rates, receivers are not able to mentally engage in counterarguing. Pace and speed are also important to keep and capture attention. We can think three times faster than we can speak. We have all had conversations and were able to listen while thinking of other things. When we speak faster, we can keep attention longer. There is less time for our audience's mind to wander. Studies show that we generally like faster speakers and find them more interesting. Most speakers average 120 to 180 words per minute. But there is no ideal speed. Franklin Roosevelt spoke 110 words per minute while John Kennedy raced along at 180 words per minute. Persuasive speakers will speak fast enough to excite and energize the mood of the audience but will be able to slow their pace down to create a mood of anticipation. To counteract boredom, use your basic pace most of the time, and vary it in one of two ways from time to time. Slow your pace down when you wish to appear thoughtful; when you want to give people the impression that you are working through a process of induction or deduction, even as you are speaking; when you have something particularly important or serious to say; or when you wish to show great respect. persuasion