Elocution – 5 Benefits Of Improving Your Communication

Communicating well with others is essential as it allows us to express ourselves and connect with others. Good communication skills all start with your voice: without clear speech that is easy to understand, your efforts to improve your communication skills may be wasted. In certain industries, clear and concise communication is essential, but we can all benefit from improving the intelligibility of our voices.

Elocution lessons may seem old-fashioned, and you may wonder if it even is possible that we change our voices/accents, however you can improve your elocution very easily without changing your unique voice. This week, we look at 5 benefits of improving your communication.

1. You will be easier to understand to others – Elocution isn’t all about losing your accent or the uniqueness of your individual voice. Much of elocution is actually about focusing on your annunciation and articulating your words better. You may also notice your pronunciation improve, which makes it easier for others to understand you.
2. It can make your words hold more power – In the most iconic speeches through history, the delivery is as important as the content. An important part of elocution is sentence stress and the use of pauses, to make your message more powerful. You will notice that there are many filler words that you can cut out, and which words to stress to get your point across. The use of a pause can also be immensely important.
3. Breathing correctly to increase the power of your voice – If people often tell you that they can’t hear you or to speak up, elocution skills could really benefit your communication. Much of this can be improved by learning when to take a breath, as this prevents mumbling or speaking too quickly.
4. It can improve your posture! – It may sound strange but your speech and breathing is a large part of having a good posture. Breathing correctly when we speak can not only improve our overall speech, but it can also have a big impact on the body. This is because the basis of breathing is posture, and standing up straight can allow your lungs to fully expand. To improve your posture, imagine a string attached to the top of your head holding you up toward the ceiling, you may notice that a better posture improves your overall communication and vice versa.
5. Confidence, confidence, confidence! – Perhaps most importantly, good communication skills can drastically improve our confidence. This is because as humans we are social creatures, and we all have the desire to express ourselves as be understood by others. If you lack confidence that you will be successfully understood by others, you may find your confidence shrinking, and fall into bad habits such as slouching when you speak, avoiding eye-contact and mumbling- all of which can lead to a viscous cycle of being misunderstood when you talk. On the other hand, speaking confidently and annunciating your words clearly will demonstrate to others that you are confident and capable.