31: Stretch Out and Billboard Businesses, Names, Brands, and Titles.
S-T-R-E-T-C-H O-U-T key words! Business Names, Brands, and Titles require special focus and attention. Slowing down when you say these Proper Nouns aids audience retention. This 5th of 11 Word Emphasis – Real Talking Tips – micro-learning lessons, demonstrates how to use the body to Billboard, Lengthen, and Add Focus to the client’s name, title, brand, and product.
To integrate this slow billboard focus on Proper Nouns, you need to practice this and all the Word Emphasis and Real Talking Tips techniques. Muscle memory doesn’t happen overnight. You’re learning a new speech “dance step.” Start slowly with each new technique until your body becomes wired for sound and uses these movements and techniques instinctively… without thought or mind control. It’s part of the progression to unconscious competence.
Each element of the Word Emphasis Chart introduced in Episode 27 adds variety and attitude to words and phrases! In the last four episodes, we added a • dot , Arrow Up 
and Caret Up 
, Arrow Down 
, Caret Down 
, and Wiggle 
. to key words and phrases. Practice along with this Real Talking Tips vidcast, podcast, and blog, my Elaine Clark app, Adding Melody To Your Voice, and my best selling books, There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is and Voice-Overs for Podcasting.
Click the video to watch or select the audio podcast by clicking start or selecting the audio player in the icon below.
STRETCH OUT TITLES, NAMES, and BRANDS.
Now, it’s time to stretch out a word.
= stretch out a key word
Slowing down the speaking pace and stretching out key information is the 5th episode in this 11-part Real Talking Tips Word Emphasis Chart micro-learning series. In Real Talking Tips episodes 27-30, we added a • dot , Arrow Up and Caret Up , Arrow Down , Caret Down , and Wiggle .
Business names, brands, and titles require special focus and attention. Stretching out these important Proper Nouns is necessary for the listener. The alternating slow tempo, from the slightly faster pace around it, draws focus and time for the listener to think about the company, remember that title or name, and store it in their memory bank for future reference.
To be effective, the slower tempo should only land on the Focus Word… the all important Proper Noun. The other words and phrases around it have other things to do like wiggles, squiggles, dots, arrows, and carets. Stretching out the Name, Title, or Brand is an auditory way of shining a spotlight on the star of the show.
Here’s the rub. Most people don’t do it! They don’t change their tempo! So the Star of the Message gets lost in the Word Salad.
Word Emphasis #5: Word S-T-R-E-T-C-H.
In previous episodes, I discussed the importance of alternating gestures between the right and left hands and using different movements and body placements to add variety to the voice, speech, and the overall message.
I reserve the use of BOTH hands for the most important information – the Proper Noun.
Like any repetitive action, if you consistently gesture with Both Hands… nothing is important. It gets tossed in the Word Salad where only the most focused and attentive listeners stays alert enough to process the information and take the appropriate suggested action. An effective speaker needs to spoon-feed the listener the information so they can half-listen and still get it! That’s why all the other Real Talking Tips we’ve practiced so far… like tempo changes, attitude, storytelling, opinion, power box locations, sing-talking, diction, balance, location, and a few word emphasis choices… are so important for adding variety and interest to the message. It’s so the listener doesn’t have to work too hard to get the point.
Follow along. Put your hands at waist level. Gesture with the right hand and leave it in place. Gesture with the left hand and leave that hand in place. Now, gesture out with both hands. So, you’re making these movements: Right Hand – Left Hand – Both Hands together on the PROPER NAME Stretch.
Billboard Proper Nouns.
Use both hands to slow down and draw focus to Proper Nouns. Reserving the two-handed gesture for Proper Nouns is a way to Billboard that information. The best way to practice this billboard style of word emphasis is to read aloud newspapers, magazines, and even junk mail. Train your eyes to look for Upper and lower case words. Every time you see an Upper Case letter in the middle or end of a sentence, slowly stretch and extend both hands out. Unfortunately, if the proper noun is at the beginning of the sentence, it is a bit harder to recognize. And if someone writes in ALL CAPS… forgetaboutit! This system of Upper and lower case recognition flies out the window.
Get your hands ready to stretch out and billboard the proper noun in the various locations: beginning, middle, and end. Remember to gesture with alternating hands on the other phrases around it. The proper noun that we’re going to use is ‘Real Talking Tips.’
1. PROPER NOUN AT THE BEGINNING:
2. PROPER NOUN IN THE MIDDLE:
3. PROPER NOUN AT THE END:
When a Proper Noun has a subtitle, the billboard technique becomes a little more advanced. That’s when you need to add ‘paddles.’ Well, that’s what I call it. With the two hands separated to stretch out the Proper Noun, keep the wrists in the same location and open up the hands so they gesture to the sides of the body and away from the center. So, if I add a subtitle after the Real Talking Tips podcast title, the additional paddle movement and sound would be like this:
Real Talking Tips Word Emphasis Chart -or- Real Talking Tips Episode 31.
4. ADDING PADDLES TO LONG PROPER NOUNS:
To integrate this slow billboard focus on key Proper Nouns, you need to practice this technique… and all the other Word Emphasis and Real Talking Tips techniques daily. Muscle memory doesn’t happen overnight. You’re learning a new speech “dance step.” Start slowly with each new technique until your body becomes wired for sound and uses these movements and techniques instinctively… without thought or control. It’s part of the progression to unconscious competence.
Join me next time in Real Talking Tips Episode 32 as we add (parenthetical) Word Emphasis to keywords. Thanks for joining me on this voice and speech improvement journey.
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