We’re excited to share a guest blog post with you this week from Jennie Moreau – an Executive Speaking / Communications Consultant based in Chicago. As a consultant with an acting background, Jennie brings a unique perspective to the world of presentations and is quick to remind her clients “It’s not about you…it’s about your audience!” We’ve been privileged to collaborate with Jennie on previous projects and highly recommend working with her to help you find your voice. For more on Jennie, check out her bio at the end of this article!

As part of my coaching I help people “find their voice.” And I am often asked “what exactly does that mean”?

Years ago, as a performer, I injured my vocal cords. I thought I knew the proper way to breathe and articulate, but I got lazy. I was in a long running show in New York, multitasking in all areas of my life, thought I didn’t need to pay attention to good vocal hygiene or self care…I could handle it. Nope. My vocal cords were damaged. My voice failed.  In order to avoid surgery, I had to go on complete vocal rest for a week; I carried a pad and paper and wrote out my requests at the bagel shop, pharmacy, with friends. Phone calls were out, texts weren’t around yet. No easy feat. Fascinatingly, because I couldn’t speak, I was often talked down to, shouted at, or ignored. Not having a voice somehow made others think I didn’t have a brain, and made me feel pretty helpless. I had to learn a new way to communicate, and a new way to receive information, to observe, listen, and connect.  I went back to square one, what the yogis call “beginner’s mind”, to unlearn, and relearn, and re-find my voice.

But it goes deeper than that. By “finding your voice” I also mean the ability to discover an individual’s message and deliver it in a way that sounds, well, like them. Not jargon. Not corporate speak. Not acronymsoup. How does that message get delivered in a way that is speakable? And hearable? In a way that a human would really say something? More importantly, in a way that others can receive? How can a speaker drop all the trappings and bring forth the best version of themselves? It starts from the inside out.

It’s a paradigm shift. It’s not about us, it’s about our relationship with the audience. Not what the audience thinks of us, but, what we are doing for them, to them, with them. Who are they? What matters to them? What keeps them up at night? What dreams do we share? When a relationship is created with an audience based on those explorations the impact is profound, for all.

It’s a point of view shift. Imagine giving the same presentation–no change in content–to kindergarten students, or world class experts, or people who speak a different language; or, try delivering the  message as if it’s a ghost story, a standup routine, or a fairy tale. Everything changes depending on who our audience is, and how they will receive what we have to offer. Speakers start moving naturally, smiling, changing their pace and inflections, truly engaging with their receivers. Best of all, it’s still the speaker’s authentic voice.

Listen to the Southwest airlines flight attendants give their mandatory, repetitive, safety speeches. An attendant giving the speech on a flight from Chicago to Disney World, with a plane full of families, is up-beat, playful, humorous. The same attendant on a Monday morning flight from Chicago to New York, full of business travelers, will deliver that information differently, likely in a quieter, deeper, more serious voice. In each case they are impacted by, and act upon, their audience. And that’s unconscious. And powerful. And engaging.  We all do a version of this every day.

The voice is there, finding it simply means allowing it, and ourselves, to connect with others and to speak.

Jennie Moreau enables her clients to bring their best selves to every communication. Leveraging decades of experience as a professional actor and teacher, she has created a process for developing and delivering powerful presentations. She coaches keynote and conference speakers virtually and in face-to- face sessions to craft effective message delivery, ensure interactivity, and “humanize data” through storytelling. She also creates and facilitates customized communications workshops such as: team building, public speaking, story telling and networking. Her ability to make participants feel safe, deeply listen to their responses and guide them to full expression of their ideas is a hallmark of her work.

For more on Jennie and her services, visit her website. 

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