Month: November 2017

If you use your voice professionally, for example, as a singer, actor, teacher, lecturer, presenter, or a journalist, you should perfectly understand the needs of your speech organ. Below you will find some tips that will help you introduce healthy changes and habits into your life and will positively affect you voice.

Your body, your soul, your mind are one. They are like communicating vessels. Your voice should also be in perfect harmony with your body. Everything that concerns you, concerns also your voice. Remember that your entire body is an instrument, which is unique in its kind. What determines its uniqueness is the realm of your mind, the sphere of your spirit and your emotions. Be in harmony with your voice. Listen to your body, contemplate your thoughts, emotions, and analyze your experiences. This will provide you with the knowledge about how to take care of your voice and how to protect it. This contemplation will let you know the real potential of your speech instrument and unlock its real sound.

Each day allow yourself to relax. You can use one of many relaxation techniques, for example, practice yoga, tai chi, or martial arts. You might as well go for a walk, read, listen to music, meditate in silence, or dance. Even a few moments of relaxation can bring your voice unbelievable effects. Try to stop for a moment and focus your attention on your breath. Think about something pleasurable, about some delightful moments and experiences that happened to you. This detachment from reality will help you calm your thoughts, relax your muscles, make you feel at ease. This, in turn, will allow you to produce sounds with the lightness of a butterfly. Find a relaxation technique that works best for you and use it whenever your voice refuses to obey you. This will also help you deal with the stress, stage fright and all the negative emotions that have a negative effect on your voice.

Healthy body and mind are also linked with a better voice. Exercising regularly and being in shape helps your mind stay healthy. Physical activity is an excellent form of eliminating stress and physical tension. Through exercising you supply your body with strength, vitality, and appropriate dose of positive energy. Find a type of exercise that suits you best, do it regularly, and soon you will notice the differences in the level of your energy. Your voice will also start to sound more energetic.

To make most out of your speech organ, you need to learn about its structure first. You need to know a little bit of theory which will give you some knowledge about the functioning of your voice in different situations. Look for any information you can find about different speech and vocal techniques. Find some books for actors and singers, consult with experts, attend voice classes, courses and exercise regularly.

Here are simple steps you can take today to improve the quality of your voice:

Speak more slowly. The slower pace will help you produce calm, healthy and more accurate sounds.

When you speak or sing, try to open your mouth wider. This will help you avoid any tensions of the muscles responsible for the formation of sound.

Think about something pleasurable when you speak or sing. This will make your voice sound more gentle.

Regardless of what profession you use your voice for, remember to properly warm it up first. To avoid straining your voice, do some simple physical exercises, like squats or jumping. Relax your body and calm your mind. Take a few deep breaths. You can also yawn, stick out your tongue, make silly faces or snort like a horse. After you finish using your voice, it is also important to let it cool down. Do some voice exercises like you did before. Relax your articulation muscles and stretch your body.

Protect your voice against sudden temperature changes. It causes changes in your blood flow and makes your voice sound unnaturally. Try to maintain a constant temperature that is convenient for you and ventilate the room where you work as often as it is possible. If you work in a room with air conditioning on, drink more water to keep your mucous membranes hydrated. Avoid talking, singing, or shouting outdoors, especially at low temperatures or strong winds.

What you eat can also affect the quality of your voice. It is important to maintain a balanced and healthy diet that will have a positive impact on your body, as well as you speech organ. Poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits (except citrus) and herbal teas are recommended for a better sounding voice.

Drink lots of water. Water hydrates your whole body, which also positively affects your mucous membranes and vocal folds. How much water you should drink depends on your lifestyle and also on your health. If you suffer from any disease, especially kidney problems, you should consult your doctor first. Drink water, not only before using your voice, but also during and after your work. Remember not to drink water which is too cold.

Coffee, strong tea and alcohol are bad for your voice. You should drink no more that one cup of coffee a day. If you have to drink more, drink decaffeinated coffee instead. You should also limit to a minimum consumption of any other beverages containing caffeine. Avoid drinking strong black tea brewed for a long time as it may dehydrate your mucous membranes. Do not drink larger quantities of alcohol directly before or after using your voice. Alcohol dries up your mucous membranes, slows down your muscles and lowers your level of energy needed to produce good quality sounds.

Cigarette smoking is your throat’s greatest enemy. Smoking not only damages your overall health but also dries your vocal folds and bombards them with chemicals contained in cigarette smoke. This also applies to passive smoking. As a result your voice may sound flat and your breath may become shallow.

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III, Scene 1, in an argument about how to divide a piece of land, one character says that he’ll “cavil on the ninth part of a hair.” Cavil means to quibble over an unimportant point. Even better, it’s a really annoying and trivial objection. The reason for mentioning this is because there’s often a fine line between caviling and getting it technically right. Here at The Tech Writer’s Tool Kit, the general view is that every word has a specific meaning and no two words ever have exactly the same meaning. Is it a cavil to insist that there’s an important difference between a procedure and a process? They both mean a way to get something done. Is changing a tire a process or a procedure? Did you just go through the (process or procedure) of refinancing your home?

Procedure – The dictionary gives the etymology of procedure as a French word, procédure, from proceder which means to proceed. To proceed is defined, simply, as to go forward and procedure is defined as a manner of proceeding. We have to go beyond simple definition to usage. In American English, the word is used, most often, to designate a unique type of undertaking. So, we have medical procedure and nomination procedure. A procedure, then, is a single activity, consisting of multiple steps, performed to accomplish a specific outcome. – This is the procedure we use to elect our officers.- The doctor said the procedure is simple enough to be done in his office.- It’s a long and complicated procedure that must be performed carefully.

Process – Starting with the dictionary for the etymology, we do kind of a loop around to find out process comes through Middle English and Old French from Latin prMcdere that means to advance or proceed. Sounds a lot like procedure. But, the definition of process shows a difference. It says a process is a series of actions that bring about a result. In most cases, that result is a completed procedure. The distinction holds up in general usage in a number of fields. For example, we talk about a hair coloring process, events now in process, and processing an order. In Law, process is defined as the whole judicial proceeding (procedure). In Engineering, the steps in changing iron into steel is a process. In Computer Science, it means performing operations on data, which is done by a processor.

Based on general usage, then: – a procedure is a total operation – the complete set of actions – that results in some desired outcome- a process is the series of individual steps within the procedure that is followed to achieve the outcome The difference is that you must follow a process in order to complete a procedure. That would mean that saying, “The process of getting a haircut is boring” doesn’t mean the same as saying, “The procedure of getting a haircut is boring.” It depends on whether you’re saying that the individual steps are boring or the whole operation boring. Two different words: two different meanings? We think so. What about you?

If you’ve been in the copywriting realm for very long at all, you’ve heard the phrase “features vs. benefits.” It’s a fundamental copywriting principle and driving force behind much of what we, as copywriters, create. But there’s also another aspect to this equation.

What happens after customers buy your product or service? Once they’ve used what you have to offer, what will be different in their lives? What will the end results, of their buying decision, be? Getting your customers to look at the end results of their actions can be an extremely powerful persuasion tool that you’ll want to incorporate into your copy.

Let’s look at features, benefits and end results and see how all three work individually and collectively to create a targeted push to the point of purchase.

Features – The Basic Outline of Your Product or Service

Features, in copywriting, are a starting point. They provide a basic outline for what your customer needs to know. Features describe (most often) the attributes of a product or service. If we’re using the example of a cordless, telephone-answering system, some features might be:

• 5.8GHz FHSS

• Talking caller ID

• Expandable to 4 handsets

• Selectable ring tones

• Speakerphones

For a person who knows nothing about cordless phones with answering machines, this list might not mean much. It’s a basic blueprint of the telephone and nothing more.

Benefits – Make the Product or Service More Personal

Benefits enliven the features. Benefits make the features, and the product or service, more personal. They explain how the features will improve the customer’s life in some way. Using the features list above, see what the benefits might be. (The list below was taken from Panasonic™ marketing materials and relates directly to their KX-TG5230M model phone.)

· 5.8GHz digital system: The 5.8GHz frequency lets you go anywhere in your house and still have clear reception without interfering with your home network. The frequency-hopping digital technology keeps calls secure from outside sources.

· Talking caller ID: No need to be within visual distance of your phone. You can hear who’s on the line before you pick up the phone. No more running to find the handset or base!

· Expandable: Keep a phone in any room—extra handsets cost less than other phones and don’t need a phone jack. This base unit supports a total of four handsets. Add up to three handsets for a complete set.

· Selectable ring tones: Customize the sound of your phone by choosing from three ring tones.

· Dual speakerphones: Talk directly into the base with the base speakerphone, while the handset speakerphone provides convenient hands-free calling wherever you take your handset.

Benefits make the features personal. They explain how the features will be of use in the customer’s life.

End Results – A Glimpse Into the Future

We can take this process one step further, however. After customers buy the phone, and after they use it, what end results will they experience? As asked before, how will their lives be improved? What will the effects of their buying decision be? Let’s go back to our list and add end results as the last sentence in the benefits list.

· 5.8GHz digital system: The 5.8GHz frequency lets you go anywhere in your house and still have clear reception without disrupting your home network. The frequency-hopping digital technology keeps calls secure from outside sources. You’ll have complete freedom to talk with no interference on one of the most advanced systems available.

· Talking caller ID: No need to be within visual distance of your phone. You can hear who’s on the line before you pick up the phone. You’ll enjoy the ultimate in convenience with this feature. No more running to view the handset or base!

· Expandable: Keep a phone in any room—extra handsets cost less than other phones and don’t need a phone jack. This base unit supports a total of four handsets. Add up to three handsets for a complete set. Expandable phone systems are smart investments that save time and money.

· Selectable ring tones: Customize the sound of your phone by choosing from three ring tones. Make your phone an extension of yourself.

· Dual speakerphones: Talk directly into the base with the base speakerphone, while the handset speakerphone provides convenient hands-free calling wherever you take your handset. You’ll have the flexibility of speakerphones wherever and whenever you talk.

Do you see what the end results have done? They’ve given the customer a glimpse into the future. The feature states that the phone offers 5.8GHz technology. The benefit goes on to explain that 5.8GHz technology is important because it offers clear reception and safety. The end result wraps things up by stating the customer will have a life filled with freedom and no interference from their highly advanced system.

Other end results point out how the phone system will make each user’s life more convenient, how this smart investment will save time and money, how it will conform to one’s personality and how the phone will lend flexibility to the customer’s life.

When you create your copywriting plan, be sure to list the features and build your benefits as usual. But, for added power, don’t forget to include end results that will help the customers visualize how your product or service will make their lives better.

© 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com

Writing grant proposals can be an intimidating process. Some people never undertake the challenge because they assume they need specialized technical skills in order to win grant funding. That assumption is false. Though grant writing can be a labor-intensive task, the most critical aspects of writing a winning proposal are not technical secrets available only to professionals. They are tools and techniques available to anyone willing and able to prepare the necessary groundwork, take advantage of available resources, and follow some basic but often neglected strategies for success.

Because technical writers work primarily in information technology-related industries, they need specialized capabilities and knowledge which may be beyond the skill set of the typical grant writer. However, good technical writers are also experts in less technical areas critical to those pursuing grants. Developing those common areas is something you can learn — that’s the “science.” By also honing your skills in areas specific to the “art” of grant writing, you can greatly increase your odds of winning a grant.

Common Areas (The Science):

• Technical writers and grant writers must thoroughly understand the purpose of their document.
• Both must understand that they are communicating to a specific audience for a specific purpose.
• They must communicate information in a clear, concise way that can be easily understood. Good grammar, correct spelling and organization are critical in both cases.
• Their writing must be “presentational” – i.e., they should use appropriate headings, bullets and layouts that make their documents easy to read.

Grant-Specific Areas (The Art)

• In addition to understanding the purpose of your document, as a grant writer you must also understand and convey a compelling sense of purpose for your organization. The most successful grant seekers are “purpose driven” and clearly communicate that in their writing. Be sure you are clear about the problem you are trying to solve.
• The grant writer must know far more about the audience, or grant maker. Beyond knowing who the audience is, you must be very aware of what is important to that audience, what drives them. Grants are offered for very specific purposes; the needs you are addressing must be important to the grant maker.
• While the technical writer follows basic rules for organizing data, the grant writer must absolutely conform to the grant maker’s specifications. There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if you think the grant maker’s guidelines are nonsensical and irrelevant, those are the guidelines you must follow if you wish to be considered.
• Be clear about what you are trying to achieve and specific about how you will measure success. Most importantly, communicate how your proposed plans and programs will transform lives. You are asking a grant maker to give you money; be sure your reader can see the impact that decision will have.

In summary, some technical writing skills can help you write a stronger grant proposal. Learning the skills specific to grant-writing, however, will have a major impact on your success. We have touched on major areas here; many free resources are available to give you more insight and help you obtain grant funding.

If you are writing travel articles than consider what is best to enable you to get the maximum possible opportunity for getting your articles published. One of the tips to consider is that of whether to write in the first or third person.

There are some clever and popular travel writers, for sure. Some of them are household names. Others are new and inspiring. These people find it easy to write in the first person. They say “I did this” or “I did that.” Their articles are of a high standard.

However, it can be difficult to write in this way and, especially if you are not established, it can be difficult for readers to connect with you. Frankly, people don’t always want to know what YOU did, what YOU ate and where YOU went. Your article is, after all, not an autobiography. It is a travel article.

People feel more comfortable when you talk and write in the third person (unless they know you or know of you). So, you would say, “proceed down Western Avenue” rather than “I proceeded down Western Avenue” and “try the duck in wine sauce” rather than “I had the duck in wine sauce.”

You are giving your reader a guide, a blueprint and an opportunity to loosely base their travel plans and experiences on the facts you can supply. You are not asking them to live a typical day in YOUR travel itinerary.

Allow your readers to experience the travel information you have in an objective and factual way. Write in the third person, not in the first.