I can’t say I am a fan of the TV show ‘The only way is Essex’ – in fact, I’ve never watched it but it was indirectly thrown into the news headlines last week when it was announced that an Essex junior school was giving its children elocution lessons. Why, you may ask? Well, they had identified that because of the way the children were forming the words when they spoke they were spelling them incorrectly when they wrote them down. So, instead of ‘wall’ they would write ‘waw’ and ‘shut up’ was being perceived as one word ‘sherp’ The media has had a lot of fun with the idea of making them all the ‘posh’ but of course that has not happened at all.
This experiment has already been in place for some time and by teaching the children to complete words and be aware of the correct sounds when speaking them there has been a considerable improvement in the spelling abilities of the pupils. So, there’s a lesson for us all. We should try to set a good example to young people by taking care with our speech. Accents help to make us individual but they shouldn’t be an excuse to massacre our language and we should always consider the way we sound to others. Remember that you are influencing every individual subconsciously with every word, so make the result positive.
Yesterday I was taking a Voice Protection and Projection workshop for 15 swimming teachers at Nottingham and they were all highly aware of their voices because of the problems they had. They needed to understand the physical process and how to look after the mechanism so that it will allow them to keep earning in the years ahead. If you don’t use your voice all the time it is easy to take it for granted but remember how important it can be in introducing you and your business. Give it a little thought and it can pay you back handsomely.
|Trying to keep warm: Chamber of Commerce Expo
January was pretty busy with 8 speaking engagements including CIPD Leicester and the British University Deputy Finance Director’s conference in London. I was also interviewed twice on BBC Radio Leicester and ran a workshop on voice protection at Nottingham for the Amateur Swimming Association. February looks no less frantic with eight workshops and four speaking engagements.
So it’s your last chance to join me for a workshop on 28 February until late 2012. If you would like to know how to influence and persuade others come along to the Premier Inn Fosse Park, Braunston Lane East, Leicester from 9:30am to 12:30pm on the 28th February for “Voice Matters in Business’ only £40 – what a bargain! See testimonials for the course here.
I think that’s all for now. Don’t forget to link with me on Linkedin, follow me on Twitter @Voiceexpert and ‘like’ me on my Facebook page. I had a smart phone for Christmas so you can’t escape!
Thanks for your continued interest and remember:
Speak Loud & Clear!
Phone: 0800 083 4082
Published Date: 1st February 2012