Cultivating the Voice of Leadership

Spring 2012 semester starts on Jan. 10th. Scroll down for more info!
Your speaking voice is a critical component of your personal and professional self-identity. Your vocal demeanor is the most powerful tool you have to influence others effectively, and with integrity. While public speaking and communication training is readily available, few avenues exist for speakers to explore the more technical aspects of voice that provide tools for free, authentic and powerful self-expression. These tools reveal your Authentic Voice, some aspects of which are measureable, and which is the integrated voice of your mind, heart and body. The Authentic Voice is the voice of genuine authority, ethical influence, and natural leadership. These tools also enable you to transcend the normal and universal fear called performance anxiety or stage fright.

If you are an attorney, manager, sales person, or other business professional and unsure about speaking professionally or personally in any of the following areas, this course is designed for you:

• Speaking clearly and being understood
• Speaking effectively even when terrified
• Speaking for long periods of time without fatigue
• Speaking with an Authentic Voice, instead of a false one manufactured from a pre-conceived idea of what you sound like
• Speaking powerfully, even without a microphone, or speaking softly, yet still being heard
• Speaking at one’s correct pitch level, and correcting a habit of speaking too low or too high
• Speaking too fast or too slowly
• Speaking in a way that triggers a desired emotional response in the listener

This is a new course, and consists of seven two-hour classes with groups of eight or less. They are designed and taught by Artistic Director Linda Brice with Judi Julien or Diana Bright. Students can either bring in materials to work on, or materials will be assigned by the teacher.

Curriculum consists of the following:

Class 1: Posture and Breathing
How posture effects breathing. How to breathe correctly in order to produce voice without tension. How to use breath to manage fear.

Class 2: Onsets, Placement and Range
How to use breath to produce sound freely and correctly. How to create honest resonance unique to you.  How to determine the correct range for your unique voice.

Class 3: Power, Tone, and Diction
How to speak powerfully without a microphone. How to speak softly and still be heard. How to alter tone, and its emotional effect on the listener. How to use vowels to sustain your resonance. How to use consonants to be understood.

Class 4: Pacing
How and when to speak more slowly. How and when to speed up. How to speak faster and still be intelligible.

Class 5: Inflection
How to use pitch to express emotion. How to do so in an authentic and individual way that is authentic and not “phony.”

Class 6: Diction and Expression
How to integrate the tools and deepen one’s relationship with them in order to speak effortlessly, effectively, freely, and authentically.

Class 7: Listening; Triggering Emotional Response in Your Audience
How to use tone, pacing, inflection, diction, and breath to trigger desired emotional responses in your listeners.

This 7 week course will be offered a total of four times during our 14 week Spring 2012 semester. Spring Session #1 starts on Tues, Jan 10th, 2012.

Choose from one of these Spring 2012 Session #1 & #2 class day/times:
Thurs. noon-2pm - taught by Linda Brice and Judi Julien
Thurs. 5-7pm - taught by Linda Brice and Judi Julien

Spring Session #2 starts on Tues. Feb. 28th, 2012.

Register here for the 7 week Cultivating the Voice of Leadership class.

Location: Our Institute’s Studio, 5101 SE 17th Ave, Portland, OR 97202

Tuition: $75 per class = $525 total for 7 weeks of instruction

Unfortunately, there are no make-up classes offered for the Cultivating the Voice of Leadership course.
Click here for our refund policy.
Note: The Institute’s Holiday Schedule is here