At a recent meeting, people in the front rows of the audience were excited by a speaker’s powerful words while the rest of us towards the back of the hall heard zilch. Why the @#%$  is it that people recoil from using a microphone? They do all the steps needed to prepare their presentation, rehearse it ad nauseam then fail at the last hurdle.  My blood runs cold when  a speaker refuses the microphone saying  ‘No thanks, I don’t need it. You can hear me can’t you?’ in a well articulated and projected voice. Once their presentation is under way they forget the volume and all that work is wasted. Three tips for using a microphone.

Seek out it. It wants to work with you to promote what you are saying.

Learn to use it. Before you speak , get used to the feel and weight of it, find out how to turn it on and off. If it is on a pedestal, practice  raising or lowering it till it is the right mid chin height. For more sophisticated microphones lapel or  a headset, the sound technician is your new best friend, they will mike you up and brief you.

Use it. Hold it a hand span  away from  mid-chin level for best amplification. Speak. For lapel and headset microphones simply wear and forget, the sound techno will do the business!