VICTORY OVER THE MICROPHONE, or How to Use a Microphone to Your Advantage

If you have to use a microphone
Something you abhor.
If you have to use a microphone
But feel like running out the door.
If you have to use a microphone
And you find a mentor.
Maybe that microphone won't scare you anymore.
(based on Shel Silverstein's If You Have to Dry the Dishes)

May I be your quick tutor on microphone usage? It's not too hard to use a microphone properly but on the other hand it's not hard to use it improperly either. So...


The objective when using a microphone is to be heard by the person farthest away from you. To achieve that goal, you'll have to:

• Hold the microphone up to your mouth, not below it, not away from it, not against your chest. You may not want to eat it but you still have to have that microphone very near your mouth because most microphones are not omnidirectional and they aren't that good at picking up your voice unless it's right in front of you.
• Aim the top of the microphone at your mouth. That's the part of the microphone that picks up sound.
• Hear yourself through the speakers. That's the scary part because we tend to get quieter when we hear ourselves through the speakers. Don't get quieter! If you can't hear yourself through the speakers then only you and the people in your immediate vicinity are hearing what you say.

And that's it. That's how you use a microphone to your advantage. If the microphone is not one that you hold--it's on a stand or podium--just remember to aim your mouth towards the head of the microphone; adjust the microphone as needed. And make sure you hear yourself through the speakers.

Now, overcoming the fear of using a microphone is different but it only requires one thing: use a microphone more often.