Make each sentence about one topic, and one topic only. Brains can only understand one thing at a time. If you have more than one topic in your sentence, your audience will not know what they are supposed to remember. The result? They probably won’t remember anything. You will have overloaded their brains. So keep it simple.

The most important thing you can do to signal the end of your sentence is to lower your pitch to indicate a period or full-stop. This is the signal your audience is waiting for. Until they know the sentence is over, they will stay in ‘listening’ mode. Once they know you have finished, they will switch to ‘processing’ mode. This is when they will review what you said and commit it to memory. If you have given them one topic, it will be easy for them to remember it. This ease will translate into a positive feeling about listening to you. Sort of like, “Hey, I can follow what this person is saying. I could listen to MORE of this!” And isn’t that what we want people to think when we speak?

Next time, we will talk about how The Three Ones works with your brain. After all, you can only think about one thing at a time, too!

Last week I promised to help you learn how to guide your audience successfully to your point. Since I live in the great Northwest, I am going to use some mountain climbing imagery to describe this, just for fun!

Imagine yourself as a mountain guide. Your audience is on a tour with you. They need you to take them from the bottom of the mountain to the top. They are going to follow you every step of the way. Without you, they will get lost in the forest. That means that you need to clearly show them where to step each time.

It really is the same when you speak. Your audience is relying on you to tell them what you what them to know. They can only understand you one step at a time (I call these steps, ’sentences’). If you speak to them in unclear sentences, they will surely get lost. They will not understand your point.

Does this make sense so far? Remember, you are the guide. Your patient, clear directions will help your audience reach the mountaintop happily. I think I will will close before I start mixing my metaphors!

Next week I will describe an easy way to make your sentences clear and succinct. With this technique, you will be the most popular guide on your local mountain!

… it’s for the benefit of the listener. That’s right, it’s not about you, it’s about them!

Think about it this way: you can talk to yourself in your head. When you begin speaking out loud, your goal is to communicate information to other people. The people who can’t hear you talking to yourself in your head!

When speaking is about the listener, it suddenly becomes clear that the listener deserves the best style of communciation you can deliver. That is what I will cover in the months ahead.

Next week: how to guide the listener through the maze of your thoughts.

I decided I needed something more concrete to teach my own students. I began by studying my experience when I sang. After observing the transition from deciding to sing a pitch, to breathing, and then to singing that pitch, it became clear to me that my brain was guiding my voice. I deduced that if singing is really a brain function, I should be able to teach students that. I tried it, and it worked for everyone. I removed the uncertainty of knowing what to do when, and asked them all to trust their brain to create what they wanted. Of course, they supported that ability with technique, but as long as they trusted their brains, they were much better singers.

About this time scientists began scanning brains with fluorescent magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines to determine what was going on internally while people performed various actions. These included singing and speaking. The research that came out of these tests confirmed what I had deduced about the brain connecting with the voice. I still read all the research I can in the area of language, voice and the brain, and so far, everything I have read confirms my approach.

After teaching singing for several years, I wanted to create a business that would work with corporate America. While I was struggling to decide what that would be – I didn’t see a niche for singing groups at IBM! – I got a call that changed my life. A businessman on Wall Street saw my ad in Backstage magazine (a weekly for actor’s audition notices) to teach singing.

He said that he was desperate. He got talked over in meetings, and he was concerned that his chances for a promotion were being limited. Could I help him? He had searched all the media that supported business professionals, but he could not find anyone who focused on voice, so he turned to a singing coach.

I immediately realized that I could help him. I knew that the same parts of the brain were involved in singing and speaking; after all, we only have one voice. After that phone call, my business as a voice expert for business professionals was born.

I started teaching corporate executives and staff who wanted to be corporate executives to sound like leaders.