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We all make our words “pop” in casual conversations
It’s natural, when we’re speaking to friends, to emphasize some of our words, so that they stand out from the overall sound of our speech.
This often happens when we’re expressing strong emotions—excitement, anger, surprise, etc.—with phrases like:
You won’t believe what just happened!
I hate how they changed the app.
Are you sure that’s correct?
The emphasis we give these kinds of words comes naturally. Whether the stress we put on a word is subtle or over-the-top, we don’t need to think about it. We just say what we mean, and some of our words naturally pop out.
But when we’re communicating for work, it’s easy for that emphasis to disappear—along with the emotions that we’ve been told don’t belong in the workplace.
People sound drab if they don’t emphasize some words
When someone is detached from what they’re saying—when they have no passion for their message, or just want their speaking experience to be over—you can often hear it in their delivery.
Every sentence sounds the same.
Nothing pops, so nothing stands out.
Nothing catches your attention, and everything the speaker is saying starts to drift into one long, undifferentiated string of words.
Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix.
Lots of public speaking issues are easily resolved by reverting to how you speak in casual conversations, and emphasis is a case in point:
The best way to pop your words, if you haven’t been doing that, is to imagine that you’re talking to people you like about a subject that interests you.
In other words, speak casually, the way you do to friends.
This will help you pop some words. But don’t think about which words to emphasize. You don’t do that in casual conversation, and planning in advance to emphasize certain words can make you sound awkward.
Instead, think about what you’re SAYING, and pretend that you’re telling a friend about something you REALLY want them to understand.