Communication Skill Training for Older Americans



April 30, 2005 -- May is Older Americans Month-Perhaps "you are as young as you sound" should get equal billing with "you are as young as you feel." We commonly accept that a health and exercise regime will help keep our body strong, but we may not have considered how much our speaking voice can benefit from a program of care that keeps us from sounding weak. If you want to speak so that others will listen and pay attention, Renee Grant-Williams, a leading voice coach and communication skill expert, can help with tips that will show you how to project your voice with energy and confidence.

"It's generally not the voice that wears out, but the power behind it that diminishes. If we use good support when we speak and exercise the voice-producing mechanisms regularly to prevent them from atrophy, we will be rewarded with a vibrant and resonant voice well into our later years," Grant-Williams claims. "We can't stop having birthdays, but we can affect the way others perceive us at this stage of our life by keeping our voice presence strong and vital."

Renee Grant-Williams is a well-known voice coach and Communication Skill Trainer whose clients include senators, attorneys, salespeople, and celebrities like Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Travis and Huey Lewis. Grant-Williams' book VOICE POWER: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention (AMACOM Books, NY). VOICE POWER has been endorsed by Paul Harvey and was chosen by Soundview Executive Book Summaries as one of the thirty best business books of 2002. She maintains, "There's no reason to speak with a voice that's weak and scratchy when you have the ability to make it hum along smoothly."

Here are some of the things you can do to protect and preserve your voice:
- Eat sensibly, get plenty of rest, and keep body, brain, and voice well exercised.
- Use Passive Breathing to eliminate neck and shoulder tension when you speak.
- Use the strong muscles of your lower abdominals to support your voice.
- Keep your moisture level high with plant life, humidifiers, and eight glasses a day.
- Be alert for the voice-damaging symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

A graduate of and former instructor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as former Director of the Division of Vocal Music at the University of California, Berkeley, Renee Grant-Williams is an active member of the National Speakers Association, presenting communication programs to business organizations. She has been quoted by Cosmopolitan, Business Week, Southern Living, TV Guide, AP, UPI, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and San Francisco Chronicle, and has appeared on numerous television and radio outlets including CBS, NBC, Fox, Bravo, Bloomberg, MTV, GAC, NPR, and Voice of America.

For more information about Renee Grant-Williams, or to schedule an interview, visit www.ReneeGrantWilliams or call (615) 259-4900.





Communication Skill Training for Older Americans