After this proposal was accepted, I drafted a very short survey for participants to complete in advance, so I could create an outline to best address what they wanted to learn about voice and communication. This led to a highly successful workshop in March 2021. 25 women in the legal profession participated, including lawyers and one judge. Their feedback after this five hour workshop was very positive.
Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers Women’s Committee presents a
Voice & Communication Workshop
with Actor/Designated Linklater Voice Teacher Sarah Weatherwax, March 2021
In this one day intensive, learn simple, repeatable ways to warm-up your voice so you can be more persuasive and confident in your communication skills.
Learn how to manage the nerves that sometimes accompany public speaking. Learn ways to communicate compassion or, conversely, a well-reasoned neutrality not only through word choice, but also the quality of your voice, eye contact and body language.
Understand simple ways to control the rhythm and pace of communication when discord or disagreement come up.
Learn how some gestures speak to the heart, others to the intellect, and still others to the knowledge in our bodies.
Do you want to communicate a soft understanding or a firm control of the situation at hand? Do you express too much emotion when challenges come up at work? Do you communicate too little emotion when your client is in distress? Are you interrupted a lot in the board room? Do you, in turn, interrupt a lot ? This is all within your control.
Start with body awareness. Find out how spinal alignment not only aides clarity of thought but also how poise can shape people’s impression of you. Then learn about breath. Are you breathing when you listen? Or holding your breath and waiting to speak? That will limit both your comprehension and word choice. Is your breath dropping in freely & easily, or do you take short ‘catch’ breaths when speaking. That may communicate insecurity. And learn exercises to help free your voice, so you can be as expressive and effective as you want to be, so you can choose the best words quickly and let them out clearly. Then add to that gesture, eye contact, body language and you will start to realize just how much of your personal power has to do with your voice & communication skills.
Utilize the same exercises the world’s best actors practice in order to stay relaxed physically, expressive vocally, calm mentally and clear intellectually under very stressful speaking circumstances – all while being really present, and really listening.
Learn now to communicate exactly what you want to communicate, nothing more, nothing less, so you can more easily, more quickly achieve your goals.