The Two Sides of What I Do – Part 2, the Sequel
Welcome back! This is about the other part of what I teach – communication and presentation. I enjoy the voice training, which I think of as the raw ingredients.
And I particularly relish what I’m about to describe because this is the creative side of things – with the celebrant being like a chef, bringing the recipe they’ve created into form, reality. It involves interpretation, feelings and, with a bit of luck, flair.
As you’ll know, a celebrant only gets one crack at a ceremony. It’s not like a play where there are several or many performances in which to improve. What a pity – tragedy, even – to fall at the last hurdle! A pity for the celebrant, a tragedy for the bereaved or the loving couple.
The ceremony may have been brilliantly written, but what if the celebrant has had little or no voice-and-communication training? Can they do it justice? Many celebrants don’t know whether they can or not because they don’t check in with themselves to assess how they’re currently doing with their ceremonies.
It’s essential for celebrants to record themselves from time to time (audio and video) to see if they have any mannerisms, and to hear if they sound like they’re reading.
Obviously, they are reading, but if they sound like they are, their ceremony’s going to be dull – lifeless, even. With guidance from the right person, and effort on the celebrant’s part, they can appear to be fresh and spontaneous – raising their ceremonies to a much higher level.
When I coach working celebrants and celebrants-in-training, I use several straightforward exercises to help them to sound natural, as if they’re speaking on the spur of the moment in their presentations. I’m passionate and deadly serious about this work because a celebrant has a huge responsibility towards their clients; but we have a lot of laughs in our sessions, without taking our eyes off the ball. (That light touch and humour is often mentioned in the testimonials on my website. And there are demos and more detailed information about techniques there.)
I offer a free no-obligation chat (phone or Zoom) so you can see whether you’d benefit from working with me. Usually, the answer is yes. I work on a session-by-session basis. Some people book just one, and take it from there. Others commit to between two and four sessions. I charge £70 for a one-hour session. (And as someone remarks in the testimonials, I’m generous with my time.) When you get to four sessions, you get a fifth one, free of charge.
This blog tells you why I’m highly qualified to be a celebrant voice, presentation and communication coach. https://paulrobinsonvoicecoaching.co.uk/my-background-and-celebrant-training/
Website: https://paulrobinsonvoicecoaching.co.uk/
07469 957 199