Today’s lesson is a little different than usual because I have a special guest joining me. You can listen along with my YouTube video or listen using the audio only version.

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Today we have a very special episode of the podcast, because we have a guest on the podcast today, Jennifer Kumar from AuthenticJourneys.info. Jennifer Kumar is the managing Director of Authentic Journeys, where she provides cross-cultural coaching and training for Indian and US remote and virtual teams.

Jennifer is based in the United States, but she spent many years living in India, where she trained more than 3,500 global professionals on cross-cultural skills in the workplace. In addition to Jennifer’s cross-cultural training experience, she also holds a certificate in TESOL from the University in Arizona. 

Welcome to the podcast, Jennifer! 

As all of us know by now, the coronavirus has spread all across the world. It was just classified as a pandemic, which means it is a disease that has spread to a whole country, or over the whole world. Because of the coronavirus, companies are having to re-think the way they do business. Many companies like Amazon, Facebook, and others are requiring their staff to work from home. This means all of our business interactions are moving to a virtual platform. 

That’s a huge change for many people, and it can be especially difficult for people who don’t speak clear English. When we are face-to-face, it’s easier for people to understand us, but when we are in a virtual meeting, on a platform like Webex, Google Hangouts, or Zoom, there are some things we need to do to make sure that people can understand us, and we can understand them. 

That’s why we have a professional training expert on the podcast with us today. For today’s podcast, we are going to talk about Jennifer’s Top 5 Pronunciation Tips for Virtual Meetings.
Because of the coronavirus and social distancing, many people are moving to virtual platforms in many countries who may not be used to it. Even if you have attended occasional virtual meetings, you may not be used to it for every meeting, every day.

Top 5 Pronunciation Tips for Virtual Meetings:

#1 – Don’t talk too fast or too slow Enunciate.

We don’t want to speak too fast, and we don’t want to speak too slow. We want to sound natural so that others can understand us. There are so many accents, even within a single country, and there are so many people who aren’t used to the virtual format, which is why we have to speak at a moderate pace. Jennifer gives a hilarious demonstration in the video of what talking too fast or too slow sounds like. We don’t want to sound robotic or unnatural. Speaking at a medium speed can help minimize a strong accent as well. 

One big mistake that a lot of second language learners make is to speak too quickly. They hear native speakers speaking quickly, and so they think they will be understood better if they speak quickly too. In fact, it’s actually more challenging for native speakers to understand what you’re saying when you speak too quickly. It’s counter-intuitive – not what you would think – to speak more slowly when English is not your primary language, but slowing yourself down helps others understand you better, especially in the virtual environment. 

If you’re a native speaker of English and you’re on a virtual call with others whose native language is not English, that does NOT mean that you should dramatically speak too slowly or yell into the microphone. We want to talk at a normal speed – not too fast, and not too slow. 
For non-native speakers of English, you may want to speak into your phone recorder and practice saying phrases at faster and slower speeds. Then, if you’re brave enough, you can ask others which speed they understand better. We are often afraid to ask others for feedback, but it’s much better to do that than just let others think, “I just can’t understand that person.” Listeners would much rather be able to give their feedback about how you speak so you can be better understood. 

#2 – Project your voice

When you’re in a 1-on-1 environment, you may not need to worry about projecting (raising the volume of) your voice. However, if you are on a group call, projection is necessary. This is especially true if you are sharing a microphone with others, or if the microphone is down on the table. Always know where the microphone is. If you have control over where the microphone is, make sure it’s close to your mouth, but not too close to your mouth. 

#3 – Maintain good posture

When we are on a virtual meeting, we want to have the same kind of good posture we would have if it were a face-to-face meeting. 

Four Don’ts of Posture in Virtual Meetings

• Don’t slouch or slump. Your voice will not sound as clear, and it’s less professional-looking in the video.
• Don’t lean over to reach the microphone. It looks odd, and your voice will change.
• Don’t lean too far back. You’ll look bored, and you might be moving away from the microphone.
• Don’t move the microphone to be right next to your mouth. The audio quality will be terrible, and you will be harder to understand. Even though you will be louder, it will be unclear and scratchy. When you put the microphone right next to your mouth, people will think about what you are doing with the microphone instead of what you are saying. Jennifer does a great demonstration of this in the video. 

#4 – Prepare in advance

Preparation is the key to success in virtual meetings! Take a couple minutes before the meeting to “get in the zone”. Think about what you’re going to say, what the format is, and what your outline is. That helps get you read for the virtual meeting. One idea you may want to try is adding a sticky note or virtual note up on your computer that has your talking points on it – anything to keep you in order and in the right “flow” is helpful. 

If there are any words or names that will be new to you that day, along with pronunciation. Look those words up ahead of time. You can Google almost any word or name to listen to a pronunciation. If you get those right, people will tend to respect you more. 

Use names when you want to transition discussions to the next topic. This helps move the meeting along, and gives everyone a heads up who will be talking next. Using names when talking about topics is a vital skill in virtual meetings, because we aren’t able to make eye contact with individuals. For example, you might say, “Andrea, would you like to take over from here?” 

#5 – Listen & Use Visual Cues

When Possible Depending on the platform, you are able to see all of the participants at the same time. This is important, because you may see that someone wants to say something before you hear them. This will help you avoid talking over others. You also may hear people breathe in, which is a cue that they want to speak. Consider the “raise hand” icons in those meetings, if it’s a larger meeting.

Work to connect names with voices. It can be difficult to identify which voice goes with which person, which is why virtual meeting platforms like Zoom, Webex, and Hangouts list the person’s name whenever they are speaking. That means you can put the name and voice together, even if you can’t see them. 

Bonus Tips

Get into the meeting 15-30 minutes early, especially if it’s a high-stakes meeting. The more prepared you are technically, the more calm you will be when you speak. The more calm you are, the clearer you will communicate.

If you have any time conflicts with team members for the meeting, think ahead of how you will handle that. Keep in mind that if you are from a flexible time culture like India or Brazil, you still need to start that virtual meeting on time. This is especially true if you have participants from rigid time cultures like Germany and the U.S.

Use your mute button so that background noise doesn’t interrupt the meeting or make it difficult for others to hear you. Remember that virtual meetings take some time to get used to, so have patience with yourself and prepare, prepare, prepare. Those virtual meetings will start to feel more normal, like in-person meetings.

To learn more about how Jennifer Kumar can help your teams go virtual, visit AuthenticJourneys.info. You can contact Jennifer at info@authenticjourneys.info. Jennifer is also active on LinkedIn.

To speak clearer English and improve your English pronunciation, join me for my Clear English Pronunciation course. There has never been a better time to learn English online! Go to StudyWithAndrea.com/speak to learn more.

Until next time, Happy learning!

Andrea