Presentation Tone: How to Stop Sounding Flat on Camera
May 09, 2022
Tone is pitch, quality and strength, and it is the first thing to collapse when you read a script off a teleprompter. The words stay right and the delivery goes flat. The fix is not another rewrite. It is using the top and the bottom of your range instead of sitting in the middle of it.
In this episode of Video Made Simple, now the Video Confidence Collective, Chris Schwager works through what tone is actually doing for the person listening, reads the same line twice so you can hear the gap, and gives you the checks to run before you record. Chris is the Founder and CEO of Ridge Films and coaches business owners on camera every week. It runs about six minutes.
Why your tone goes flat the moment there is a script in front of you
You already use tone all day without thinking about it. Put a script on a prompter and the thinking starts, the reading takes over, and the range disappears. Chris describes what that sounds like from the other side.
"It's like if you're playing a keyboard, it'd be you playing in the middle of the keyboard with one finger. And repeating the same note over and over and over again, it's very boring and not very melodic at all."
One finger, one note, one volume. Nobody plays a keyboard that way, and nobody listens to it for long either. The script is not the problem. The reading of it is.
Hear the same line read two ways
The useful part of this episode is that Chris does not describe the difference, he performs it. At 2:08 he reads the show's own opening line with no tone. At 2:21 he reads the identical words again with it. Same script, same person, one straight after the other.
What changes is not volume. It is light and shade: commas that lift the line, full stops that let it land, and a starting pitch a little higher than his speaking voice. His test for that is a hotel concierge, who greets you higher than they would talk to you.
Why you need your lows as much as your highs
Pitching everything up has its own failure mode, and Chris names the Australian version of it on air. He then demonstrates the mids on their own and the highs on their own, and says both sound a bit ridiculous. The lows are what stop that, and the mix is the point.
"if you mix it up, and you use a combination of low, mid, high tones, and use that as a way to be more conversational, then you will win every single time."
Tone is the shape of the whole delivery. Which single word inside a sentence carries the weight is a separate skill, and a separate episode: add inflection on the words that matter.
How to set the right tone before you record
Chris gives three checks, and they cost nothing.
"Read the script, read it out loud, rehearse it, and perhaps even get a couple of people to listen to what you're saying and give their opinion as well."
Reading silently tells you whether the script is correct. Reading it out loud tells you whether it is speakable, which is a different question and the one that decides how the recording sounds. Both of those have their own write-ups: read your script out loud, and writing a script that sounds conversational in the first place.
The third check is the one people skip. Ask someone to listen and tell you the truth, or get a coach who does it for a living. Chris is blunt that direct feedback is the fastest route here, because you cannot hear your own read the way an audience hears it.
The moment an audience decides to switch off
"Most people who read for the first time read like they're tone deaf"
His point is not that people are bad presenters. It is that a first read is a first read, and it sounds like one. What he watches for after that is the drop: the moment your energy falls away is the moment a viewer reads it as a signal that this part no longer matters, and leaves.
So tone is not decoration bolted onto a good message. It is what tells someone the message is still worth their time. Delivery is the lever there, not another rewrite, and our guide on how to get confident on camera covers the rest of it.
Key moments
- 0:34 What tone actually is, and why a first read off a teleprompter goes flat
- 1:34 Using the whole keyboard, and what tone does for the person listening
- 2:08 The same line read with no tone
- 2:21 The same line read with tone
- 2:32 Commas, full stops, and why presenting a little higher lifts the energy
- 3:11 Why you need your lows as much as your highs
- 3:50 Setting the right tone starts with how they hear you, not how you sound
- 4:08 Read it out loud, rehearse it, and get someone to tell you the truth
- 4:41 The red flag that tells an audience it is fine to switch off
- 5:20 Keeping the message sharp so the tone has something to carry
Links and resources
- The pillar this episode sits under: get confident on camera
- Chris Schwager on LinkedIn
Common questions about presentation tone
What is presentation tone?
Tone is a vocal sound described by its pitch, quality and strength. It is how you say a line rather than what the line says, and it carries the meaning your words alone cannot. You already use it unconsciously all day. It only disappears when a script goes in front of you and reading takes over.
Why does my tone go flat when I read from a script?
Because reading and speaking are different jobs. Once the words are on a prompter you concentrate on getting them right, and your range collapses to the middle. Chris compares it to playing a keyboard in the middle with one finger, hitting the same note over and over. The script is not the problem, the reading of it is.
How do I set the right tone before a meeting or presentation?
Read the script silently to check it is correct, then read it out loud to hear whether it is speakable. Rehearse it. Then ask a couple of people to listen and tell you honestly how it lands, or work with a coach, because you cannot hear your own delivery the way an audience hears it.
Full transcript
Episode 106 of Video Made Simple, recorded May 2022. The show is now the Video Confidence Collective.
Read the full transcript
Chris Schwager 0:03
Welcome to the Video Made Simple podcast where we help take the mystery out of video and break through the monotony of day to day communication. I'm your host, Chris Schwager. And if you're worried that your presentation could induce a snooze fest, perhaps you don't feel as confidently as you'd like, maybe a topic is complex or dry, or you think you're just boring, we all kind of maybe think we're a little bit boring from time to time, then stick around, because here's a wonderful video presentation tip to assist you. And it's called Tone. Tone. Tone.
Chris Schwager 0:34
Tone is a vocal sound with reference to its pitch, pitch, quality and strength. You don't want people to fall asleep when you're trying to relay a scientific discovery or a medical breakthrough. For example, obviously, not. When someone is speaking, we receive information through body language, energy and tone. And tone clarifies and conveys the meaning. And we do it unconsciously, all day every day, we just don't recognize that we use high tones all the time. And unfortunately, when people read for the first time, they have video script, for instance, from their teleprompter, that tone is the biggest thing that suffers. It's boring and monotonous. It's like if you're playing a keyboard, it'd be you playing in the middle of the keyboard with one finger. And repeating the same note over and over and over again, it's very boring and not very melodic at all.
Chris Schwager 1:34
So we've got to use the whole range of that keyboard. Tone helps you better relate to your audience's emotions, needs, wants and interests, you're giving the information to them in a way that they're accustomed to their brains, their ears are very smart at deciphering the code of information. And therefore you need to be able to give them the information in a way that they used to. The better you can relate and understand them through using the right tone, the more likely they'll connect and engage with what you're saying.
Chris Schwager 2:08
So here's an example, with no tone. Welcome to the video made simple podcast where we help take the mystery out of video and break through the monotony of day to day communication. Obviously pretty boring, right.
Chris Schwager 2:21
But here is a version with tone. Welcome to the video made simple podcast where we help take the mystery out of video and break through the monotony of day to day communication.
Chris Schwager 2:32
Obviously, there's two distinct differences. One's obviously a lot more energy than the other. But also I'm utilizing all the tools, I have to just keep it alive and keep it energetic. Obviously, I'm using light and shade and commas and full stops to my advantage. But the tone, everything's a little bit higher. And sometimes when you're presenting in video, it's a real great tip for you to be able to do that just present a little bit higher, because when you present higher, a little bit more urgency, a bit more energy going on. It's kind of like, you know, if you're a concierge at a hotel, you wouldn't be introducing people as they walk through the door. Hi, I'm Chris, you would be like, Hi, I'm Chris, how can I help you? Right, it'd be higher, generally in tone.
Chris Schwager 3:11
Now, obviously, you if you play higher, and Aussies have a sort of a way of sometimes going a bit high from time to time and always keeping up. Then you want to also use your lows to your advantage as well and putting those in intimate, intermittently, to give the thing a little bit of light and shade. Alright, so if you play in the mids "Hello, I am Chris." Or if you're playing the highs, "Hello, I'm Chris." It's all gonna sound a bit ridiculous. But if you mix it up, and you use a combination of low, mid, high tones, and use that as a way to be more conversational, then you will win every single time.
Chris Schwager 3:50
How do you set the right tone? Well, understanding what your people are saying. Understanding how people would respond to what you're saying, from the introduction to the end is part of the trick. It's not just about you talking all the time. It's about you understanding well, how are they hearing you?
Chris Schwager 4:08
Read the script, read it out loud, rehearse it, and perhaps even get a couple of people to listen to what you're saying and give their opinion as well. And that can't help or that can hurt I should say. They will give you some feedback, some pretty direct feedback, feedback. And it of course, if there's nothing better than getting a business coach, a video coach, video strategist, somebody that's in the game to be able to help you decipher, is your thing sounding real. And they'll tell you pretty straight up that it either is or it isn't or need some improvement.
Chris Schwager 4:41
Most people who read for the first time read like they're tone deaf, but if you use a combination of all these high and low tones, you'd be pleasing the audience because that's the way they like it, and they'll stay engaged while your tone and message is still relevant. Right? So what I getting at is it still got to be a relevant message, it's still got to deliver the right tone. But at any point that it isn't relevant, that you do fall in your energy and your tone drops a little bit. Well, there you know red flags for an audience member to say, well, this is not quite relevant anymore. I'm switching off.
Chris Schwager 5:20
So the trick is to keep your message sharp, keep your tone, relevant, interesting, engaging, and then you will have the best chance possible at holding their attention.
Chris Schwager 5:31
If you want more personalized coaching around this then be sure to like, share and leave a comment. And don't forget to subscribe to this channel where you'll get regular Video Made Simple ideas to present your videos like a pro. That's all for this episode. Thanks for listening and see you next week.
The quickest way to find out where your tone is dropping is to have someone listen to a real recording of yours and point at it. Book a call and we will do exactly that.
