Confidence
Is This the Best Presentation Skills Book You’ll Read This Year?
I hope you can excuse a little piece of shameless self-promotion, but I am delighted to say that my new book, The Presenter’s Edge, is now available globally on Amazon Kindle. It’s the first in a series of bite-sized business books and, as its name suggests, tackles the thorny subject of presenting. Now of course I may…
Read More4 Powerful Tips for Speaking “Off The Cuff”
*POST UPDATED JAN 2017* If there is one thing that some people fear even more than public speaking, it is speaking off the cuff. Impromptu speaking can turn confident presenters into gibbering wrecks. We’ve all been there. You are sitting quietly in a meeting minding your own business, when your boss suddenly, turns to you…
Read MoreA New Way to Become Fearless?
Recently I heard pop star Jessie J interviewed on BBC Radio 4. During the interview she talked about how the key to success was being fearless. She then went on to define what that meant for her. She explained that fearlessness was the acceptance that , making mistakes, getting things wrong, or being criticised by others were just…
Read MoreOvercoming Public Speaking Fear – Embrace Your Vulnerability
One of the most common reasons for public speaking nerves is our fear of making a mistake in front of others. Maybe we’ll dry up, or say something stupid or … In other words, we are scared to let others to see that we are anything less than perfect. Interestingly, some of the best…
Read MorePresentation Design Tip – Dare to be Different with PowerPoint
In the corporate world it’s often seen as wrong to swim against the tide and challenging the way that things are done can take real guts. I’ve recently been working with a client to help him transform a bullet point heavy PowerPoint presentation into something that supports, rather than competes with, his clear and energetic…
Read MoreAre You Afraid of People Looking at You?
I have had a number of presentation coaching clients who have avoided making presentations because of an acute fear of being looked or judged. The technical name for the fear of people looking at you is Scopophobia and can be a very debilitating. Whilst some cases need specialist 1:1 therapy, many find that simple techniques like…
Read MorePublic Speaking Anxiety – 7 Nervous Gestures And How To Tame Them
How To Keep Your Public Speaking Anxiety Under Wraps Public speaking anxiety is common when you start speaking, but your nervous gestures can give the game away to your audience. Here are the most common and most distracting ones along with preventative tips on how to reduce or eliminate them. Updated May 2017 1 )…
Read MoreHarnessing the power of self talk to improve your presentation skills
Learn how adding one word to your self talk can help you become a better presenter. Recently, at a networking event, I had the pleasure of speaking to lovely man called Peter Moore who runs a small domestic electricians business along with his son Russell. We were talking about public speaking and he was telling…
Read MoreLife Lessons From The Movies – The King’s Speech
Can Public Speakers Learn from The King’s Speech? Every so often I watch a film that proves to be a fantastic source of learning and inspiration as well as entertainment. Recently I saw The King’s Speech and it really moved me. Afterwards, I started to wonder what it was that made it so powerful. The acting was…
Read MorePositivity and presentation confidence
A recent comment to one of my earlier posts by Stephen Hendren prompted me to review some of the research on positivity and performance. Thanks to his post, I found a great video interview by Positivity researcher Barbara Fredrickson. I thought you might like it so I have included it in this post. Dr Fredrickson’s key message…
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