Having recently become acquainted with the charms of 'Siri' Apple's 'Intelligent personal assistant', I was struck by how, when speaking to Siri I became more than usually conscious of my enunciation……

In an age where the focus is on speed of communication and where more attention is paid to the 'message' rather than it's 'delivery' ' will a tool like Siri which has been designed to simplify and speed up our processes of communication, unwittingly put the focus back on our spoken delivery……

(photo not from event!) 

Recently I spend a very uplifting Saturday with a great and spiritual group of people.  I was delivering the ConfidentSpeak Vocal Presence & Elocution workshop.

As opposed to being in a stuffy training room the workshop was held in a church, which is a first for me!

I was working with a large group of African pastors that work throughout Ireland communicating their positive message to the Irish people.

Thank you very much for the opportunity and the experience. 

If you were ever  curious about why people from Cork sound completely different to people next door in Kerry or why people in Mayo speak completely differently to Donegal.

Find out when  Newstalk’s Henry McKean talks to some actors and some acting coaches at a leading Irish Drama school to get some explanations.

According to a new study by Thetutorpages.com website there seems to be a soaring demand for elocution lessons?

The report shows that elocution teachers received more enquiries than teachers of any other subject in 2011.

Let me share with you the findings – it makes interesting reading.

Reasons given in the report for seeking elocution

• a desire to be taken more seriously

• worries about employment and promotion prospects

• fear of public speaking and giving presentations

Quotes from people seeking training

“I have a strong … accent and often the first impression people have of me when they hear me talk is that I’m thick. I want to improve my elocution and tone down my …. accent as I think it may hold me back in my career.”

“I am beginning to get tired of the reaction I get when I open my mouth and although proud of my roots I am wondering if I should have some elocution lessons in order that I am taken more seriously.”

“ …..looking for promotion but feel that my language skills are holding me back. I am from South East Asia and speak Mandarin and English. I’d like to improve on the clarity and tone of my speech, soften my accent……….. “

Who is seeking the training?

A high proportion of the requests come from professionals looking for a way to improve their career prospects, including

• business executives

• bankers

• doctors

• managers

• social workers

• broadcasters

• non-native speakers

Thoughts from speech and elocution tutors for the surge in interest?

"There are a lot of pressures on people to try and improve all aspects of themselves….everyone is fighting for jobs and positions and employers have the upper hand in that they can pick and choose”.

“A lot of people I work with want to develop skills in presentation and communication as well as speech and articulation. It’s about how they put themselves across and whether they can make a clear point.”

“one factor behind the rise in requests for elocution coaching was The King’s Speech, the film starring Colin Firth as King George VI, who sought assistance from a speech therapist to help him overcome his fear of public speaking.

So is it the return to the days of Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle?   Where ambitious people were denied opportunities because they spoke – in this competitive job seeking world – it could very well be the case. Food for thought….