Widespread masking is something many of us are needing to deal with for the first time, and that piece of cloth really affects how we speak and communicate. Whether you are in an area that has mandatory masking or you are voluntarily masking for people’s health and safety, figuring out how to speak and present clearly despite wearing a mask is important.
Glen has just such a presentation coming up, and he sent me the following question:
Hi Lauren – I’m going to an in-person meeting for the first time in months and will be presenting a report and taking questions. We’re required to wear masks, and I want to make sure people can understand me clearly. Do you have any tips for presenting while wearing a mask?
Thanks,
Glen
Watch the video (or read the transcript) below for my answer to Glen – strategies for choosing a mask for presentations or speaking situations, along with speech and expressiveness techniques to improve the clarity and intelligibility of your message.
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TRANSCRIPT
Hello everyone, welcome to communication Q&A – today we have a hot topic question from Glen on speaking while wearing masks. Glen asks…
Hi Lauren – I’m going to an in-person meeting for the first time in months and will be presenting a report and taking questions. We’re required to wear masks, and I want to make sure people can understand me clearly. Do you have any tips for presenting while wearing a mask?
Thanks,
Glen
Glen, this is a very timely question. We’re going to be living with mask mandates for some time, and it’s important to adjust how you speak so that piece of fabric doesn’t stop you from being clear and easily understood.
Masks present a few difficulties – they can slide around and be distracting for both the speaker and the audience, they can muffle your speech and make it harder to enunciate, and they visibly obstruct your face and therefore your facial expressions. But right now they’re a necessary evil, so it’s up to us to work with them whenever we’re speaking. Here are a few ways you can speak and presenter better while wearing a mask.
Now in this video, we’re talking specifically about non-medical cloth masks. You could opt to wear a clear plastic face shield, but their effectiveness for COVID transmission isn’t as well understood as cloth masks, and many places don’t accept face shields as an alternative to other face coverings. So today, we’re sticking with the cloth-style mask.
The first thing I want you to do is find a mask that stays put while you’re talking. Some masks are really prone to moving around while you speak. This one, for example, slides all over the place when I speak. You don’t want to be always tugging or adjusting your mask, of course, as that will make it Masks that are really well fitted to your face or have a good flexible nose bridge usually stay in place better than looser masks. I also like the style that has over-the-head elastics rather than ear loops, as I find it keeps everything in place even with all the facial movement that happens when talking. Overall, I find that either this style – fitted with head straps – or the lightweight accordion-style non-medical masks with flexible nose bridges to be the best for staying in place.
Next up, you want to make sure that your words are as clear and crisp as you can make them. Whether you have a lightweight disposable mask or a thicker cloth one, your words will be slightly muffled. To overcome this muffling, slow, clear enunciation is much more important than volume. Don’t yell, enunciate. Exaggerate how you pronounce your words – really use those mouth muscles to fully shape and sharpen each sound. Summon your inner John Malkovitch or your best theatre actor. Speak firmly and slowly – slower than you’re used to speaking – so you have time to properly shape those sounds.
Finally, you’ll need to work around your obscured expressions. Non-verbal expression is important because it adds feeling, nuance, and subtext to what we say – all of which can influence your message. So instead of worrying about what people can’t see, think about what expressions people can pick up. They might not be able to see your mouth or jaw, but they can still see your eyes, eyebrows, and hands. Turn up the dial on those – really use your eye & eyebrow area to create expression, and enhance your hand gestures slightly. You don’t need to flap around wildly or go full Jim Carrey on people, but do amp up the eyebrow and hand expressiveness slightly. People can also still hear your voice, so being a little more colorful with your vocal pitch and expressiveness will go a long way for overcoming the lack of facial expression.
There you go, Glen, three ways you can improve your presentation when you need to speak with a mask on.
It may very well be that you don’t often need to present with a mask on, because so many of your presentations and meetings are being done virtually. If you want to boost the quality of your virtual communication, head over to laurensergy.com/videoconferenceskills and check out my new program “Making The Most of Video Conferencing.” It’s a high impact self-paced course that will help you bring more polish and presence to your virtual meetings and presentations.
Now it’s over to you: are masks required or recommended in your area? What have you noticed about communicating with people while wearing masks? Share your thoughts with me in the comments down below.
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Thanks for joining me today – mask up, wash your hands, stay healthy and keep on communicating!