I got my start in the world of advertising and marketing when I was fourteen years old. This was before the Internet. It was before MTV. In fact, it was before desktop computers. I was a runner for an ad agency which immediately led to a part time gig at the local radio station. My primary interest was writing ad copy and producing commercials for radio and television, something I still do although these days I do it in my own studio.

Within a couple of years, a remarkably short span of time, I worked my way up through the ranks to production manager — the guy responsible for commercials being done well and on time — largely a result of the fact no sane human being wanted the job. In other words, as a high school graduate I fit the job description and, in fine Peter Principled manner, I ended up with the position.

One of the very first lessons I learned, virtually from day one and a lesson I take with me to this day, is the value in speaking clearly and properly. The first part is a lot easier to “fix” when broken than the second, which can only be “fixed” by effective education and disciplined learning.

Unless you’re performing a silent act, from the moment you open your mouth to speak, the success of your act depends on what comes out. If your opening sentence is mumbled, you have lost your audience in fine, if not unfamiliar form. It’s a whole lot easier to keep them in the first place than to regain them.

Speaking clearly is one of the fundamentals dealt with in Ken Weber’s seminal book, “MAXIMUM ENTERTAINMENT”. (If you don’t already own this book, I have to assume you did not know it was available. You absolutely have to own a copy of this book and read it several times. I told Ken, when I met him in Las Vegas, that I considered it and “Greater Magic” my “stranded on a desert island” books; the former to keep me occupied, and the latter to help me be successful should I ever be rescued.)

Ken writes:

“Yes … luck plays a considerable role in the success of a performer. For just one example, where your Mum happened to pop you out and grow you up makes a difference, because you will sound like your neighbors. That may be fortuitous, or it may be unfortunate. Some of us have naturally pleasing voices, some don’t.

An off-putting accent, a whiny voice, a too-slow or too-fast speech pattern: all present obstacles that must first be recognized and then modified. Careful analysis of your videotaped presentation is, again, the first step.”

(Chapters 8 and 9 deal specifically with this post. They are worth reviewing if you have this book in your library.)

Ken and I are both True Believers in video taping your performance for review and critique. Cutting your foot off with an old, dull, rusty knife is probably only slightly less painful than the first time you sit down and watch a video tape of your performance. (It does — or at least should — get less painful with each subsequent review but I suggest you keep handy a copy of your first tape for those times when you think you’re an excellent, preeminent performer. Nothing keeps you humble like watching your first tape.)

Pay particular attention to how fast you speak. Many issues dealing with clarity can be fixed immediately simply by s-l-o-w-i-n-g d-o-w-n. All evidence to the contrary, the brain thinks faster than the mouth performs. This causes many people to speak faster than they can clearly mouth words. While what you intend to say may make perfect sense between your own ears, something gets lost in the translation for your audience when you speak too quickly. SLOW. DOWN.

The other, primary fix is in how you physically get the words out of you. Speak this sentence out loud. Now do it again, and notice from where the words come: your throat or your belly. If you take in a deep breath and start your words in your belly, they’ll come out louder and clearer than if you pinch them through your throat.

How can you train yourself to speak better? Record your voice, then listen to it. Repeat.

In the late eighties, a company called Achievement Dynamics began running radio commercials for an audio book product called, “Verbal Advantage”. The ad copy read, “People judge you by the words you use…” — and do they ever.

Speaking colloquially is perfectly acceptable in the appropriate situations. It may be in private or group conversation. It may even be because your character requires a speech pattern that is colloquial in nature. But for everyone else, using proper English before an English-speaking audience is of paramount importance.

Mentalism, to a greater degree than magic, requires its practitioners to gain immediate respect of the audience. After all, the subtext that runs through people’s minds — which is human nature — is, “If you’re one of us, how can you be special?” (Or, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”) And this is especially important for younger performers, and far more so for younger mentalism performers.

A command of the language is an overt message to your audience that you are a serious professional. (Yes, I know, we shouldn’t judge people that way, but you can either go with how we should do it or how people really do it.)

Does that mean you should pretend you are Stentor somehow propelled through time onto a stage channeling Sir John Gielgud doing “Henry V“? (I hope you didn’t actually ask that.) No, what you should do, however, is consider the character you’ve created for your act and decide if it’s best for him to speak properly — and then make sure he does.