I recently heard a speaker tell his audience that public speaking is always fun. I'd take a bet that that speaker hasn't done a lot of speaking in the real world! Of course public speaking can be huge fun. But every speaker who gets up on a stage on a regular basis in the real world has at some... Read More
I've had the pleasure of leading several presentation training workshops for companies around Europe this month. Standing out from all the good performances I've seen and heard from my trainees, one glaring weakness has shown up time and time again: the absence of a strong close. In fact, some otherwise good presentations have had no close at all. 'Thank... Read More
Has it ever happened to you that you make a speech to a small audience and it works well, but when you repeat it in front of a larger crowd, it fails to ignite that spark? I experienced this scenario (or its reverse) a couple of times in my early speaking career, and the explanation is simple. It's... Read More
Have you ever tried to be funny in a presentation, only to find that the audience didn't laugh? Well, if you have, you're in good company. Using humor well in your presentations takes practice, and most speakers who do use humor have experienced one or more of those moments when the audience was supposed to laugh, but didn't! Let's... Read More
As a presentation trainer, I'm quite often asked how a speaker can make a successful presentation on a boring topic. This query comes up particularly often when I'm training corporate groups. And the answer is simple. The speaker needs to remember the 4 Ps of successful presenters: preparation, practice, perseverence, and...drum roll...PASSION. Think about that fourth P-word for a... Read More
Over the past four weeks we've been discussing stagefright, and I'm glad to hear that many of you have found the four articles on that subject helpful. If you're joining us for the first time this week and haven't read those articles yet, I urge you to do so because their content has proved helpful to many people -... Read More
So the answer to last week's question is clear, isn't it? First of all, don't try and fight off the physical symptoms of stagefright by tensing up your body even further. That will only make the symptoms escalate! Even though stagefright symptoms can make us feel as if we're out of control, try to accept them for what they... Read More
Hallo again. As we are continuing with our investigation of stagefright this week, I suggest that if you haven't read the previous two articles on this subject, you might like to click onto Previous Posts at the bottom of the page and catch up with the two earlier articles on this subject before you read this one.So what... Read More
Welcome back! Did you check out how you stand when you make your presentations? If you did, you probably found out that several of your muscles were working hard while you were standing. And yet most anatomy experts agree that there are no more than two muscles required for standing upright: the Soleus and the Gastrocnemius, both of which... Read More
It's the day of your speech. You‚'ve worked hard on getting it just right. But when it comes time to deliver, you‚'re so nervous that you can barely breathe. Your hands are sweating. Your heart is pounding. You can‚'t even remember what you wanted to say. You feel as if you‚'re fighting your own body all the way through... Read More