Posts Tagged ‘Public Speaking’
Storytelling for Speakers – Beware The Dark Side
Many people have written about the importance of storytelling for speakers from the perspective of the audience. They remind us that packaging information and ideas in the form of a story make it more memorable. But I have never seen an article warning presenters about how the stories they tell could be holding them back from…
Read MoreDoes Public Speaking Training Work?
Have you ever read something that made “see red”? Something that is so obviously wrong that you wanted to grab your pen, or rush to your keyboard and let rip? This was me earlier today after I spotted a blog post entitled “Confessions of a Former public speaking trainer – Don’t waste your money.”…
Read MoreBecome a Better Presenter Thanks to Your Smartphone
Becoming a better presenter and public speaker takes time and effort, but did you know that your ever-present smartphone is a powerful tool to help you improve your speaking skills? In this article, I want to show you how to leverage the power of these ubiquitous devices to develop your speaking skills. 1) Recording your presentations…
Read MoreHow to Come Across as Credible With Your Audience
One of the most common fears associated with presentations and speaking in public is the fear of not being taken seriously. Whether you are presenting in front of a few colleagues at an internal team meeting, or standing up in front of thousands at a major conference, credibility is essential if you are to influence…
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 MoreSpeech Writing Tips – Choosing What to Speak About
Sometimes you are told given a speech topic and other times the choice is left entirely up to you. This latter option can leave people feeling completely stuck. The purpose of this short post is to give you some practical guidance on how to choose the best speech topic of a presentation. The…
Read MoreBuilding humour into your speeches and presentations
Weaving humour into a speech can be a real challenge. In a earlier post I recommended that speakers avoid using jokes in favour of self-deprecating stories. Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Jan Jack of PerfectVerse who used to be a corporate secretary but is now a professional speech writer, speaker and comedian. Jan specialises in writing humorous…
Read MorePresenters – dare you get your audience to move?
The vast majority of the presentations I listen to are essentially passive, at least from the audience’s perspective. All I am expected to do is sit and listen. I am not asked to move either physically or mentally and the result is usually the rapid onset of boredom. I was at a 4Networking…
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…
Read MoreHow to be funny in a speech or presentation
Southampton based Presentation Trainer, Gavin Meikle gives some some great practical suggestions for how to write a humerous speech or presentation.
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