How to Sound Intelligent, Powerful, Polished, Articulate & Confident

When you deliver a presentation, have a conversation with senior management, or network in your professional community do you sound intelligent, powerful, polished, articulate, and confident?

To sound more intelligent:
Pace your words, speaking just a bit more slowly to allow yourself time to select the most appropriate vocabulary and to give the impression of thoughtfulness.

To sound more powerful:

Use short, simple declarative sentences. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Cut out any useless conjunctions, adverbs, and adjectives – especially superlatives.

Avoid vague and unspecific language. Do not refer to products, strategies, concepts, etc. as “things.” Always use the correct word for what you are talking about. Specificity builds credibility.

To sound more polished:

Never answer a question with a blunt ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Append a short phrase of clarification. For example, “No, I did not see it.” “Yes, I know Mary.”

To sound more articulate:

Make a special effort to pronounce the final sound in a word and use its energy to carry over to the following word. Pay special attention to final ‘t’ and ‘ng.’

To sound more confident:

Take control of your message by making sure that your gestures and facial expressions support your words. Maintain an upright posture. Hold your head as if you are wearing a crown. Do not allow your arms and legs to move carelessly from side to side. Keep your elbows and knees close to the midline of your body.

Use these strategies to improve the quality of your speech in conversation, company meetings, and presentations.

Nothing will help your career more than developing the ability to speak well with confidence. 

FrippVT is a state-of-the-art, web-based training platform that emulates live training and coaching. It is almost as if Presentation Expert and Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp were sitting in front of you. FrippVT is designed to be immediately engaging and makes it fun to learn. If you are a novice presenter or a seasoned professional, you will find the content both practical and relevant.  Sign up for your complimentary trial and discover how FrippVT can transform you and your team.

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“We consider the investment in Patricia a ‘must-have’. She is part of the team. I’m honestly a bit reluctant to recommend Patricia publicly. We’d very much like to have her work exclusively with Nutanix. She is now coaching speakers for our high-visibility Executive Briefing Center. Not surprisingly, we’re receiving the same outstanding feedback from these presenters, too.”
– Greg Smith, Vice President, Product Marketing at Nutanix

Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp works with individuals and companies who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.