“The Human Voice. It’s The Instrument We All Play.” Here Are Three Wrong Notes.

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and in 2013 maybe I don’t know 10 years
after TED talks began there was a TED
talk that was amazing
and it was amazing for a number of
different reasons not the least of which
is it had real bearing on what you and I
do for a living this TED talk was given
by Julian treasurer who is a vocal
consultant in the UK and the talk was
all about how to speak so that people
will listen let’s listen to julian talk
just a real brief moment the human voice
it’s the instrument we all play it’s the
most powerful sound in the world
probably it’s the only one that can
start a war or say I love you and yet
many people have the experience that
when they speak people don’t listen to
them why is that how can we speak
powerfully to make change in the world
so he’s got a lovely voice
British accent people here love British
accents everywhere people love British
accents right especially when they’re
delivered in a way that he delivers it
and the cool thing is this is a very
meta kind of video because all the
things that he talks about in the video
he engages in and displays when he talks
and we’ll look at these across the next
few videos because not only are they
useful for you in everyday conversation
we’ve been doing a lot of videos
recently about networking and using your
voice when presenting using your voice
when coaching using your voice when
performing and although this talk was
meant mostly for civilians mostly for
the muggles the the talk also has very
serious applications for us as
professional voice talent so the first
things that he talks about in the video
and I urge you to go watch the entire
video it’s I think
it’s nine minutes long or something like
that it’s it’s so and it’s compact it’s
very well-written it’s one of the best
it’s been seen 30 million times or more
who knows how many times it’s been seen
by the time you see this video and I
don’t want you to watch these videos in
lieu of watching the TED talk I want you
to watch the TED talk but I want you to
pay attention to what he has to say and
what I want to do is kind of amplify and
put a spotlight on the different things
that he talks about in the video that
have application to us as pros so the
first thing he talks about are the seven
deadly sins and I want to talk about the
first three in this video the seven
deadly sins of conversation
the first one is gossip and we’re all
guilty of it we all get a tiny little
you know charge out of being able to put
somebody else down from time to time I
mean it’s not useful it’s certainly not
useful as a professional because you
never know when you’re going to have to
work with that person as many people who
I’ve worked with have found out either
I’ve said something negative about them
in the past thing you know remember what
you said about me or they’ve said
something about me and it’s always an
exercise in grace and not to not bring
that up so if you don’t want to have any
of that as an issue don’t gossip
it doesn’t help it makes you feel kind
of icky when you’re all done and you
wonder whether or not the person you’ve
got suped about is going to do the same
in return or if the person that you’re
gossiping with is gonna do that about
you anyway Julian will tell you all
about that the other one it’s kind of
related but it’s different in a in a in
a small way and that’s judging certainly
when you gossip you’re judging somebody
but judging in general when you’re
providing information can be a real hold
back in terms of people using that
information now I’m not talking about
when somebody says hey what do you think
of this I’m talking about when somebody
says yeah I saw that mic and your
instant reaction is that mic is horrible
unless it is horrible I’m looking at you
most of the USB microphones on the mark
place the ones that are used for for
gaming and stuff but I’m talking about
the judging that instantly puts the
person that you’re having a conversation
with or the pier or casting person in
our business kind of on edge because
they instantly regard you in a different
way that you are judgmental you know
again if people ask me what microphone
should I avoid I’m gonna be very
judgmental and tell you don’t buy a
snowball not for our business right but
judging in general is something to be
avoided the third one is negativity in
general nobody wants to be around a
Debbie Downer nobody wants to hear you
bitch and moan about how you’re not
getting any auditions
you’re never getting booked you’re never
gonna get booked again and I’m not
talking about people who use that as
kind of a tool like my friend Carol does
oh I’ll never get booked again and then
she does um but I’m talking about
complaining I’m talking about being
negative in general it’s tough sometimes
because this is a business filled with
rejection and negativity and problems
and challenges how do you do that right
and part of it is simply noticing when
it happens getting used to how that
feels when you’re done complaining when
you’re done being negative and just
simply committing to yourself that you
can do better that you’ll do better next
time and that you won’t do that next
time
and it’s amazing what opportunities
occur for you when you aren’t being
negative so those are the first three
I’m gonna deal with the 7 the rest of
the 7 in the next video that I do but
those three again we’re gossip judging
and negativity I’m sure you never do
those things so I’m just preaching to
the choir here right but I’ve given you
a link to Julian’s TED talk go ahead and
and check it out because it’s great and
we’ll do further analysis on this
because I think it’s really important
that we understand what he’s talking
about
as it pertains to our business let me
know if any of this resonates with you
let me know in the comments below let me
know what you think if you watch the
talk and I’ll deal with more coming
if you want to be on my list and get
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that says get on the list and you’ll be
on it I’m David H Lawrence xvii I thank
you so much for watching and I will talk
to you tomorrow