Verbal communication is one of the vital soft skills, especially for public speakers, life coaches and corporate trainers. Besides having good technical skills, mastering the basics of soft skills not only make any presentation impressive and appealing but also bring life, energy and excitement among the audience. VPRACTIS is a simple easy-to-recall mnemonic to remember some of the basics of Verbal communication skills such as pitch, tone, rate of speech etc..

Choosing Ideal Volume of Voice is a Vital Skill

Choosing the right volume makes a big impact during the presentation. Depending on the size of the audience's crowd, corporate trainers must appropriately decide whether a loud volume or a low volume is required. One rule of thumb is, the more the audience, the higher the volume.

Pitch brings life to verbal communication

Pitch is the shrillness of the voice. Generally, it is known that ladies have high pitch than men. Variation in the pitch can bring life to any speech. Singing high pitched songs is one the easiest ways to improve the pitch of the voice.

Pace Choice is a Trick

Pace is the rate of speech. Some corporate trainers speak faster than the others. Though a trainer's rate of speech depends on the audience and the topic, it is believed that a little higher rate of speech can keep the audience attention during business Presentations.

Pauses Talk Louder than Verbal Skills

Pauses are the number of breaks taken by the presenter during a presentation. Good pauses not only allow the trainer to take short breaks but also let the audience to reflect on the topic of discussion. It also encourages participation and interaction between the trainer and the participants. Adding right pauses during a presentation is one of the vital soft skills.

Rhythm is the Song Behind Voice

Rhythm is the song behind the language. The song is the reflection of mother tongue, slang or dialect. To know the rhythm, one can record his/her own speech to see whether there is mother tongue influence in the language.

Articulation of Language

Here, articulation hints pronunciation. Every corporate trainer must work to ensure that the words are properly pronounced and articulated correctly. Slurring of words, swallowing sentences or incomplete phrases should be avoided while giving a corporate presentation.

Cluttered Verbal Fillers should be Avoided

Some of the most common verbal fillers include umm,ahn..uuuh..etc. sometimes, intervention of words from other languages can also fill the language with verbal fillers. Or, repetitive words such as "kind of", "you know", "ok" are other cluttered verbal fillers that needs to be removed as they might distract the participants during the presentation. Eliminating these verbal fillers can drastically improve corporate trainers' verbal communication skills.

Tone of Voice Reflects Feelings behind Verbal Communication

Tone is the emotion behind the voice. Various human emotions include happy, sad, fatherly or rude to name a few. Ideally, corporate presenters should develop their soft skills by maintaining a polite, friendly, courteous and kind tone of voice during the corporate meetings and business presentations.

Inflection Enhances the Modulation of Voice

Inflection is the variation or modulation of the voice. One can inflect the volume, tone, pitch and pace of the voice. Right inflection of voice can grab the interest of the audience to keep their attention even until the end of the presentation.

Stress is Vital for Comprehension

Sometimes, stressing the right words, phrases or sentences during communication requires conscious effort. Audiences comprehend better when a speaker uses appropriate stress pattern during the presentation. In fact, the entire meaning could change if the stress is applied to different words. Here is an example:

-I didn't say he STOLE the money
-I didn't say HE stole the money gives two different meanings depending on the word stress.

So, whether it is an office meeting or a business seminar, a sales training or a team building workshop, this simple mnemonic, VPRACTIS, can come handy whenever a corporate trainer thinks of improving his/her verbal communication skills.