I currently do high volume training. I am training 8 hours in a day pretty much 5 days a week. I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on ideas on how to save the voice.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

It's amazing how much talking strains the voice. Here are the things I know I should do, even if I often don't:

1. Drink lots of water
2. Rest your voice whenever possible
3. Use a mic if the room has one
4. Practice projecting from your diaphragm
5. Drink more water

I also sing a bit, and these are exactly the same ideas for singing, too. You might want to take a few lessons with a singing teacher for help with using your diaphragm. There is no magic cure once you lose your voice, so you need to stop before it's gone.

Maybe you can use this as a good excuse for taking a day off every now and again.

quote:

any thoughts on ideas on how to save the voice.

You may laugh, but the vocal cords are just like any other muscle. You should take the time to stretch them before and after training sessions. Google for "voice exercises" or talk with a singer or two if you have one in the family or near by.

Oh, and I don't personally own the product, but have heard that a wireless mic and surround sound speakers works wonders. You might look like Nsync, or Madonna on stage...but without the accessories. :-)

Hi Amanda

Those are pretty good ideas from Steven and TRNG. How about also aiming at not getting to talk so much. It is difficult for a trainer not to spend time in explaining and so on, but perhaps a change in training design would let participants carry on most of the conversation that takes place and leaves you with less to contribute in terms of actual speech.

This may help in cutting down the strain on vocal chords by a substantial amount.

I'm with IQ... a facilitator's job is to get the learning started and then step out of the way.

In addition to all the very sound vocal chord care advice, how about taking measures that put the responsibility for talking back on the learners?...

redirect questions to the rest of the group or back to the learner.. "great question - what do you think?"

Provide written directions for an activity and walk around to observe.

Every time you find yourself talking for more than 5 minutes, make yourself stop and hand the conversation back to the learners. Give them a problem to solve, a sample scenario to work through, something that requires them to be the ones involved.

Whenever a trainer asks me about voice and burn-out, the first place I look is at the design and facilitation of the learning -- is it "sage on stage" or are the learners truly involved in the learning?