Acting is doing.  It cannot be automated.  There is no app for it.  You have to actually show up and do it!  This might scare some people.  Bad actors “phone it in.”  This means they are just going through the motions.  They do not put effort into making it feel as though they are saying their words for the first time.  This is called being present.  Good actors are fully aware of what is happening in the moment.  Since each moment is new, it should not be too difficult to bring that element of the first time.  Both good acting and bad acting are learnt behaviors.  Unfortunately, good acting can be difficult to teach.  It’s usually something we discover along the way.  I will do my best to explain good acting in this post!

I understand most of the people reading this are not actually actors.  Some of you are teachers.  Others are sales professionals.  Others may be entertainers.  I will do my best to keep these explanations succint.  There is a lot of acting jargon that simply does not apply to anyone who is not an actor.  Though, I feel actors can benefit from this post as well.

We are going to discuss 3 fundamentals of acting: Goals, Others, and Tactics.  Goals are what you want.  Others are for whom you want those goals.  And, tactics are how you intend to achieve your goals.  Of the 3, the other is most important.

Step One: Know Your Other

In the world of acting, the “Other” refers to other characters in a scene.  But, if you are not an actor, your others can be your audience.  In the same way actor needs to know who are the other characters, a presenter or vlogger needs to know who is their audience.  For this, I would suggest filling out a simple character sheet.  This is something all actors are trained to do.  A character sheet is simply a list of questions.  Instead of filling out the sheet for yourself or a character, you would fill it out for your target audience.  This is actually nothing new in business.  Marketing 101 says you should create your “ideal client” and then sell directly to “them.”  You want to be as specific as possible.  I took the time to create a character sheet for you, which can be downloaded by clicking HERE.

Here is an example of my own character sheet which I created for my ideal client.

“Meet Susan.  She is 37 years old.  She has two children, a boy and a girl.  One of them is going in the high school and the other one is still in elementary school.  In Susan’s spare time, she likes to take trips with her family, go to the gym, and blog about parenting.  Susan is a go-getter.  She is taking business classes online because she wants to be an entrepreneur.  Susan wants to turn her blog into a business.  She wants to have the flexibility and freedom that comes with entrepreneurship.  In the meantime, she is an executive assistant at a large Insurance firm in Southern California.  Knowing she’s a go-getter, her boss gives her the task of finding entertainment for the company’s client appreciation event.  This is when the company throws a big party for their biggest clients.  The stakes are high.  She knows if she fails in this task, her employer may never trust her with a responsibility of this magnitude ever again. ” 

Hi Susan, I am Richard the magician.  Let’s talk about how we can create an experience that your clients will never forget!

Though I made her up, in my career, I have met many Susans.  When I speak or perform, I am doing it just for her.

Step Two: Know You Goals

Goals are something everyone has.  The difference between a normal, everyday goal and an acting goal, is it needs to be something that you can achieve right now, in this present moment.  And, needs directed at your Other.

There are 3 primary goals and actor seeks: to make your Other  do something, think something, and feel something.  In the world of business, the first goal, do something, is easy.  In fact, that is usually the only question an online market will ask.  Whether it’s to get someone to follow a Facebook page, click a call-to-action button, or opt-in to an email list, every decision a marketer makes centers around getting a prospective client to do something.  Since the “do” is mostly taken care of, I will focus more on the “think” and “feel.”

Asking what you want your audience to think will help prepare them for what you want them to feel.  Let’s use Susan as an example.  My goals for Susan are as follows: I want her to call me, trust me, then hire me.  The calling part is easy.  She is looking for a magician.  I did the work to make my website look presentable.  I know she is calling at least three other magicians.  The question is, why is she really calling me?  Obviously she wants a magician and probably needs a quote.  But there is another reason why she is calling me.  In her bio, I wrote she fears losing favor with her boss if the event doesn’t go well.  That means, I need to make her feel safe.  She needs to know I am not some weirdo with a deck of cards.  I also want her to feel relieved.  Susan thought she was going to have to make more phone calls.  But, I just put her mind at easy.  No need to make more calls.  This makes her feel great about herself!  I want Susan to think this is best decision she can make for her company.  If she thinks I am reliable, professional, and kind, she will feel that I am trustworthy and hire me.

It all comes down to understanding what you are really selling.  If you are an insurance salesperson, you are not selling insurance!  You are selling piece-of-mind.

Step Three: Achieving Your Goals

When talking about tactics, it’s easy to think of things like chess strategic.  If I do this, then they will do that.  But, something like chess is based on logic.  As you’ve just read, buying decisions are based on emotion, which is anything but logical.  The way to get an emotional response is to give one.  This goes far beyond anything physical.  I have read many sales books that talk about mirroring.  Mirroring is when you copy what the prospect is doing in order to make them feel a kinship with you.  Though it is a proven tactic, physical action can not compare to empathy.  Empathy is when you feel what someone else is feeling.  You need to have empathy for your clients.  Empathy is how you get people to trust you.

Let’s take a look at Susan one  more time.  Helping Susan find the right entertainer needs to be as important to me as it is to her, even if it is not me!  And, it needs to be important for the same reason.  I need to legitimately care whether or not she keeps her job.  That is something I cannot teach you.  You can’t learn empathy.  But, you can learn how to access it.

• Tactic Number One: Listening
  • We must listen in order to help.  If you are only listening to respond, then you are doing it wrong!
  • Listen beyond words.  What is her tone?  What do her non-verbal cues tell you?
• Tactic Number Two: Sympathy
  • Try to understand where they are coming from.  Give them the benefit of the doubt.
  • Don’t try to correct them.  Help understand what is the best way to achieve their goals.  After all, you are the expert and they are coming to you!
• Tactic Number Three: Subtext
  • Subtext is the meaning behind the words.  They say one thing, but another another.  Try to understand what they are thinking during the silent moments.
  • Be aware of your own subtext.  There are no secrets on stage.  The audience can tell if you are lying to them!

Number three deserves a further explanation.  I can probably write a whole chapter just on subtext.  Simply put, the thoughts behind your words are far more important than the words themselves.  Subtext can either be your best ally or your worst enemy.  Just assume that you are a terrible liar.  You are not going to get away with it.  So don’t do it.  Say what you mean and mean what you say.  There is a very practical way to do this.  Think of action verbs while speaking.  For example, if I am acting in a scene with other actor, and all I have are words, I can use the words as a tactic for achieve my goals.  Maybe, my goals to shame my Other.  My line is, “You’re home late.”  If I wanted to shame them, how do you think that line would sound when spoken?  Or, perhaps, I know they just came from a very important meeting.  Being late means the meeting went long.  This could be a good or bad thing.  Assuming the worst, my goal could be to comfort them with my words.  That same line, “Your home late,” would carry a completely different meaning.

What is your subtext when you answer the phone?  What are you thinking when the camera turns on and it’s time to start filming your vlog?  What are you thinking when you walk out on stage?  Don’t know?  Don’t worry!  Because your audience will.

Conclusion:

I know this was a long post.  Thank you for baring with me.  Acting can be a complicated subject.  If you ever get stuck, always go back to the 3 goals.  What do you want your audience to do, think, and feel.  Everything else will come out of that.

Vocal Warm Ups for Vloggers and Speakers

Vocal warm ups will help you speak more effectively and maintain good vocal health.

Before you go on a run, you stretch your leg muscles to avoid cramping.  Your voice is no different.  For the purpose of simplicity, we are only going to focus on breathing and articulation.  Articulation is having good diction.  Every sound in every word should be crystal clear.  We will not cover resonator warm ups or body warm ups.  I will save those for a later post.  Breathing and articulation are more important because everything is controlled breath.  Controlled breathing helps you relax and feel more confident.  Breath control also helps create better articulation.  If you don’t articulate, you will not be understood.  

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How The Voice Works

The human voice is created when air from the lungs passes over the vocal cords, causing them to them to vibrate.  The vibration from the vocal cords generates sounds which echo through a series of resonating chambers located around the nose and forehead.  The sound is controlled by the diaphragm (a muscle just under lungs which controls how much air is accepted and expelled), and by various muscles in your face, mouth, and throat.  These muscles are what the sound into words.  

Warming Up The Lungs

Vocal warm ups are best done either stand or sit up straight.  Slouching constricts your diaphragm.  Start by relaxing your neck, shoulders and back.

Place your hand on your stomach, just above your belly button.  Breathe normally for a minute.  If you don’t feel your stomach pushing your hand out and back, then you are breathing in correctly.  You might notice your shoulders rising when you take in air.  Your shoulders should remain still.  Try relaxing your ab muscles and allow each breath you take in to push out your hand.

Now, take in air for 8 counts, filling them to capacity.  Then, release the air for 8 counts on an open AH sound (like a sigh), completely emptying your lungs.  You want to take the whole 8 counts to fill up and release.  It may take you a couple of times to get the timing down.

Once you have the timing, repeat this three more times.  Remember: Your lungs should be completely depleted of air at the end of each release count.  If you feel light headed, sit down!  Also, coughing is normal if you’ve never breathed this deeply before.

Next, you are going to vary up the counts:  

• Take in air for 8 counts – release for 12 counts
• Take in for 4, release for 16
• Take in for 2, release for 20 (or as long as you can before completely depleted of air)

Now, the reverse:

• Take in for 8, release for 8
• Take in for 8, release for 4
• Take in for 8, release for 2

Warming Up Your Articulators

Speaking tongue twisters during vocal warm ups helps to work out your articulators.   Articulators are what shapes sound into words.  Your primary articulators are the lips, teeth and tongue.  The shape of your lips and position of the tongue create the vowel sounds.  The tip of your tongue and front teeth create most consonants.  Some consonants are created just with the teeth and lips.

Here is a fun little tongue twister:

“Diction is done with the lips, the teeth, and the tongue.”

I like this tongue twister because you are actually saying the parts of the mouth that makes for good diction.  

Here are some more fun tongue twisters.  They start out easy and get increasingly more difficult.  

1. The big black bug bit the big black bear and the big black bear bled blood.
2. Willy’s real rear wheel.
3. The tutor who tooted the toot, tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
4. Irish wristwatch.  

Each of the these twisters present their own challenges. The challenge in number 1 is making sure to pronounce the last letter of every word.  In number 2, it’s jumping back and forth between R and L sounds.  Number 3, the challenge is differentiating between tooter and tutor.  And, number 4, going back and forth between the R and Sh/Ch sounds.  

One trick is to say these tongue twisters while holding a wine cork between your front top and bottom teeth.  Doing this will force you to over-pronounce every consonant and every syllable.  When you remove the cork, you’ll notice more clarity in your speech.

Remember, when saying these tongue twister, it’s not about speed!  It doesn’t matter how fast you them.  What matters is how clearly you say them.

Conclusion:

There are many other types of vocal warm ups.  One good book on the subject is Freeing The Natural Voice by Kristin Linklater.  You don’t want to over do it.  Again, with vocal warm ups, like with athletic warm ups, it is very possible to over exert yourself when warming up vocally.  

Did this article help you?  Did you notice a difference after the warm-ups?  

BONUS VIDEO

Below are four simple vocal tools and tricks to help you come across more authentic and personable in your vlogs or presentations.  Everybody is going live these days.  But, most vloggers never studied acting, let alone for the camera.  The tools below offer a scientific approach to acting and voice training.  It is all about the having control over your voice!

The four tips below are tools that will help you convey your message.  What do you want your audience to do, think, or feel?  Do you want then to click the subscribe button?  Do you want them to visit your website?  Or do you simply want them buy or learn something?  The goals you choose will determine how you use the tools below.

Don’t forget to subscribe for more tips on how to make your vlogs and presentations more dynamic!

One: Play with how the vowels sound

I mean that literally.  Emotion lives in a word’s vowels.  The audience will be able to tell your emotional state by the way you stress them.  In the theater, we say, “kick the consonants and make love to the vowels.”  In other words, you can give your words more meaning by over-pronouncing the consonants, giving them an extra kick.  This also helps to create better diction.  “Making love to the vowels” means adding a bit of musicality to the way they sound.

Let’s take the statement “Oh, that’s right.”  This statement can have totally different meanings depending on how you stress the vowels.  For example, if you were to stress the open O sound in the word “oh” by holding it out a little longer than you usually would, the statement may come off more sarcastic.  Subsequently, it could also sound more like a discovery, like you just figured something out.  Alternatively, if you were to add extra emphasis to the I sound in “right,” (think of Tony the Tiger from the Frosted Snowflakes cereal commercials) then you may come off as more agreeable and enthusiastic.

Listen to the way he says “arouse.”  You can hear the subtle excitement.  And when he says, “I’ve got nooooo defence for it,” you can tell he doesn’t really want a defence for it.  He is happy to give in to that wicked witchcraft!

TWO: Playing with inflection

Inflection is what happens to the pitch at the end of a word or phrase.  Typically, we Americans favor downward inflections.  The pitch goes down, as does the volume.  Downward inflections typically indicate the end of a sentence or thought.  When we ask a question, there is an upward inflection.

Let’s go back to our sentence, “Oh, that’s right.”  First, say it as a statement, with a downward inflection, and then say it again as if you were asking a question, with an upward inflection.  

Phrasing a statement as a question is a great way to make people think you do not know what you are talk about.  Tell me if you’ve ever witnessed this scenario: You are sitting a college class, philosophy for example, and the professor asks “How did Socratés die?”  You raise your hand and answer, “hemlock,” but, you used and upward inflection.  The professor then says, “Are you asking me or telling me?”   

Another example of upward inflection is the way children speak.  Everything they say has an upward inflection.  They will tell you a story and at the end of each sentence they will go up as if all punctuation were a comma.

Here is a video to illustrate this point:

THREE: Playing with intonation

Unlike inflection, which only refers to the changing of pitch at the end of a thought, intonation is changing pitch levels mid-thought.  When giving a speech, it will be far more interesting for your listeners to hear different pitch levels while you are speaking.  Try this:

Speak the phrase below in a monotone voice (monotone is speaking every word at the same pitch level).  You should sound like a robot.

“Really, I did not know that”

Now, speak it again, but this time, say the words “really” and “know” at a higher pitch level and everything else at a lower pitch level.

Did that feel weird?  If so, then you are doing it right!  Sometimes, we have to do what feels unnatural with our voices in order to find what feels natural.  Now, try speaking the same phrase using different pitch levels for different words.  It may sound as though you are singing.  In fact, one very helpful acting exercise is to sing your entire speech.  After a while, the changing of pitch levels will commit to muscle memory.  When you go to deliver the speech, the musicality of it will come more naturally.  

FOUR: Play with volume

Volume is a great way of stressing a point.  Some people, like myself, are just loud.  Lowering your volume in certain spots will make those moments sound more important.  People tend to listen more when you get quiet.  They know it’s serious.  Or, just the opposite, you could sound more excited!  Think of it like telling a friend some very exciting news in the middle of a library.

Conclusion:

There are many other tools and tips pertaining to a performer’s voice.  These four will help get you started with making your videos and presentations more dynamic.  Remember, first determine what you want your audience to do, think or feel.  What is the core of your message?  Then, decide how these vocal tools will help you to better communicate that message.

If you found this post helpful, please shoot me an email or leave a comment. I would love to hear your questions!

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