*This article first appeared in VOICES magazine for Professional Speakers - Issue 2/4 July 2025. You can read the full magazine here.*
When you think of the most powerful speakers you've ever heard, chances are it wasn’t just their message that moved you – it was the way their voice carried that message into your heart through their emotional signature, the unique blend of tone, story and truth expressed through their voice.
As professional speakers, we invest in structure, storytelling and stagecraft. But sometimes we overlook our most potent tool: the voice itself. Not just how it sounds, but what it says about us.
I have a background as an actor and a singer, so I’ve been training my voice from a young age. With this foundation, and now working as a speaker and workshop leader helping clients to express themselves with impact, it’s clear to me that the magic of our voice is released when it’s used with intention. The clearer the intention, the more effective our voice can be as an emotional instrument that influences, connects and transforms.
And when we focus that intention at the intersection between tone, story, and truth, we can use our voice to deepen our emotional impact.
Firstly, let consider tone, the music beneath the message. It’s how we express emotion through pace, pitch, rhythm and pause. We’ve all heard a speaker whose words were “right” but whose tone felt wrong – flat, forced, or disconnected. And we’ve all experienced the opposite: a voice that said very little but stirred something deep because it was alive with presence.
Tone is where the emotional intent of a message lives. It’s why a sentence like “I’m glad you’re here”, can sound welcoming, indifferent, or even sarcastic, depending on the tone.
As an actor, I was trained to find the emotional truth of a line by setting a clear intention for the scene. The same words can have entirely different impacts depending on whether the character’s objective is to comfort or challenge; seduce or persuade. Similarly, as speakers, we need to connect with our feeling in that moment and ask: What emotional goal am I pursuing?
Once that intention is clear, your tone will follow. It’s not a performance, more like a natural byproduct of your emotional alignment. And just as in acting, subtle shifts in tone can speak louder than words.
As global speakers, we also need to consider how tone is interpreted across cultures. A passionate tone might inspire in one context but overwhelm in another. A quiet, grounded tone might project humility in some countries, while coming across as uncertain in others. Tuning into these differences sharpens our impact and broadens our reach.
If tone is the music, story is the vessel. Stories give shape to emotion. They give your voice a reason to rise, fall, pause… And they give your audience a way to emotionally invest – not just in your message, but in you.
We know that humans are hardwired for narrative and that stories activate the brain in ways facts can’t. Stories also reveal who you are, not just as a speaker, but as a human being.
Actors inhabit stories through becoming a character, but as speakers, we inhabit our own stories. The power of story lies not just in what you tell, but how you tell it. Your voice brings it to life. A moment of silence before the punchline, a breath taken before a painful memory, a tremor of laughter in a joyful recollection. Remember, these aren’t performance tricks; they’re emotional cues, communicated through the instrument of your voice as a result of you intentionally connecting with your feelings.
I recently coached a client, a CEO, who shared a story about a deeply personal failure. Her voice cracked slightly; not theatrically, but authentically. The result? The audience leaned in to hear more. Her vulnerability, expressed vocally, connected more powerfully than any perfectly delivered line.
As speakers, we don’t just tell our stories, we re-live them. This includes feeling them again. Reconnect to your original intention when you chose to share it. Your voice will reflect the emotional journey, and your audience will travel it with you.
The final, and perhaps most powerful, element in the emotional signature of a voice is truth.
Truth doesn’t mean perfection. It means alignment. When who you are, what you say and how you say it are in sync, your voice carries the ring of authenticity. When it’s not, your audience may not consciously know what’s missing, but they will feel the dissonance.
On stage, authenticity is your most magnetic quality. A voice that is too polished, too rehearsed, or too “performed” can create distance. But a voice that’s congruent with the speaker’s values and emotions draws people in.
This is something actors are taught from day one: don’t perform the emotion, experience it. And let the voice be a reflection of that truth. In speaking, the principle holds. Your voice is the messenger of your inner world. If that’s misaligned; if you’re saying one thing but feeling another, your voice will tell on you.
Before stepping on stage, ask yourself: Am I connected to this message today, not just when I first wrote it? When you speak from a place of alignment, your voice naturally resonates with credibility, presence and impact.
Tone. Story. Truth. Individually, they are powerful. Together, they create your emotional signature – the distinctive way your voice makes people feel.
Your emotional signature is not crafted overnight. It’s refined through reflection, practice and the alignment of inner intention with outward expression.
So, how can you enhance it? Here are some ideas:
Reflect on how you intend your audience to feel at key moments in your talk.
Revisit the emotional core of your stories and rehearse them with fresh intention.
Use recording and playback to tune your tone to your purpose, not just your script.
This is the intersection of technique and truth. Not performance for applause, but performance in service of connection.
An investor once told a founder I was working with, “I don’t just want to think it’s a good idea; I want to feel it’s a good idea.” As speakers, we know that the real transformation happens in the heart, not the head – your voice is the bridge between the two. That is your emotional signature. So let your voice carry your intention – clear, real and fully alive.
Mel Sherwood is a Presentation Skills and Personal Impact Speaker, Founder of The RED Effect™ and Author of ‘The Authority Guide to Pitching Your Business: How to make an impact and be remembered - in under a minute!’ She works with global business leaders, teams and individuals who want to be more confident, credible and compelling. An Australian based in Scotland, Mel is an award-winning speaker, author and coach and combines over 25 years’ experience in business with a background as an actor, presenter and singer.