Volume

Watch this sales pitch from Iron Man and notice how Tony Stark varies the volume of his voice.

"Is it better to be feared, or respected? And I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries Freedom line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary Repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once! That's how dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain and I personally guarantee you — the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."

Words alone aren't enough to accurately communicate. Vocal variety — regularly changing pitch, speed and volume — adds more information to words. Making you easier to understand and thus, more engaging.

Think of your voice on a scale from one (quietest) to ten (loudest). Your default speaking volume should be seven. This communicates your confident about what you're saying and are worth listening to. If you speak so softly that others have difficulty hearing you, they'll:

• be polite and pretend to hear you while trying to get out of the conversation or
• become increasingly frustrated having to constantly ask you to repeat yourself.

To add importance, lower your volume below seven. People instinctively lean in and focus as if you're revealing something. In Tony's pitch, he lowers his voice when he says:

but not for things like:

Why? Because what is important for the audience isn't the tech, it's the result and the guarantee.

To signal what you're saying is something to rally behind or provokes emotion, increase your volume above seven. Tony raises his voice leading up to the statement:

to rally patriotic sentiment.

Be careful not to overuse these variations. Information isn't added just because something is quiet or loud — it's added when it's quieter or louder than everything else.