Finding your voice for
academics
The ‘Finding your voice’ workshop series was introduced by 2018 CLeaR Fellow Nancy November. Nancy contextualised the gathering by speaking about a 2017 workshop she facilitated called “The “V Factor”: Finding Your Voice in Academic Writing.” Whereas “The V Factor” brought together academics who discussed their voice in writing, this 2018 iteration focussed on the spoken voice. Nancy reflected:
“Our voices carry our identities. From the moment we open our mouths, listeners can speculate on how we’re feeling, whether we’re well, what we’re thinking, and where we come from. Our voices are powerful. We can learn to use them to influence and persuade listeners. But how can we harness this power when speaking in various contexts, public and private, intimidating and fun? And how can we translate and deploy our voices in writing?”
Shifting from writing to speaking, one Tuesday, in May of this year, a group of academics as well as CLeaR professional staff made the climb up to Penthouse of the Fisher Building for a two-hour intensive voice workshop. Led by voice coach Sylvia Rand the event involved looking at why the voice might be held back for personal, emotional or cultural reasons or because of attitudes towards gender. Sylvia encouraged participants to explore why they might hold their voices back as well as giving them strategies with which to unleash their voices and set them free.
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