Speaking with color: you don’t want too much or too little

Color refers to the various effects in speech that bring your speech to life. Another way to describe color is the emotion and animation that is heard in your voice and seen in your body language and facial expression when you speak.

The interesting thing about color is that you don’t want too much or too little. Similar to the fairy tale, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, you want the right amount of color when you speak to keep your audience’s attention on your words.

If you are too expressive, it will appear that you are acting or talking to children. One of my clients was a former preschool teacher. When making his presentations, he used exaggerated body language as if he was speaking to a group of 4-year-olds. Another client was a law professor, and when making his presentations, he sounded like he was acting because he exaggerated the vocal variety in his voice.

On the other hand, if you speak with very little color, then your delivery will be boring, a surefire method to put your audience to sleep or lose it to their iPhones. The interesting thing about some people who speak with very little color is that, in a normal conversation, they do not lack emotion or life in their delivery. On the podium, however, their nervousness inhibits their ability to speak as they normally would in conversation.

So how do you know if your color is too small, too much, or just right? Recording yourself, preferably via video, and studying the playback. How is the vocal variety of your voice? What do you do with your hands? Is he perfectly still or does he move when he speaks? These are questions you need to answer honestly about your delivery skills.

The next step is to practice your presentation as if you were chatting with your friends. This will be much easier if you know your material well. (By the way, the only way to get to know your material well is to practice it out loud many, many times.)

If you speak with very little color, both in conversation and at the lectern, your first step is to give yourself permission to allow emotion into your speech. Until you can accept the fact that talking to color is normal and preferable, you will not be able to make the change.

Public speaking is simply a conversation with a wider audience. With the right amount of color, not too much, not too little, your message will be that much more interesting to your listeners.