Diction tips for reporters

Are you a reporter who wants to improve your pronunciation? Better speech can help your career growth, whether you are thinking of moving out of smaller markets into larger ones, or want to work on an especially important project in your current position. Your listeners today can be in some very noisy settings, whether in cars with their windows down, in shopping malls, sporting events, or noisy offices. Some may have hearing losses, too. Clear speech is critical for them to have the best chance of understanding you. Listen to yourself reporting on a taped story. What errors do you notice? Are the ends of sentences easy to understand, or are they mumbled? Are the ends of words, such as "ing", "s" and "ed" pronounced consistently? Set a goal of one change you want to make in your speech. When you practice reading your story, highlight the indicated words. This will remind you to say that sound extra clearly. You should also evaluate your rate of speech and your pauses. Are they appropriate for your story and your audience? Remember, speaking too quickly can mean people in noisy settings may miss words here and there. Sweeps Week is coming up! Business Speech Improvement offers small group coaching on an intensive basis for reporters who want to work on their speech skills! E-books and audio files are available on many other aspects of verbal communication. Check us out!

Laryngitis and worse: Why you must care for your voice

As I write this, I know a decision I made yesterday was the wrong one. After having a worsening cold for several days, I took a day off work. Yesterday, I went back to work for some important meetings. By the end of the day, my voice was sounding bad. By this morning, it was barely there at all. A visit to my doctor gave an official diagnosis of laryngitis - and a prescription for 6 days of vocal rest (not talking - at all), overall rest and lots of fluids.

Why is such a long period of vocal rest needed? The vocal cords are easily injured. A cold causes edema (swelling) of the cords, and time is needed for this to return to normal.
Talking forces the cords together at a fast pace, and can cause injury, called vocal nodules. (You can probably find some great pictures of vocal nodules online.) If they are ignored, they can become hardened, and can cause more severe problems.

Easy ways to care for your voice are to lubricate your vocal cords by drinking lots of water (not caffeinated beverages or soda), pay attention to changes in the sound of your voice and have them checked by an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist if they last for 2 weeks or more, and avoid abusing your voice with lots of yelling or making weird noises.


Business Speech Improvement produces intensive training in verbal communication skills.