It’s your turn soon. There’s no turning back now. You’ve been putting it off and putting it off, but you can’t put it off any longer. You’ve got good news to share. News that’s going to make everyone happy. But you can’t bear the thought of standing on stage and delivering that news to 100 […]
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The Public Speakers’ “Secret Sauce” to Slam Dunk Presentations
Want to know the public speakers’ “secret sauce” to capture the audience’s attention? Brace yourself. You might think that there’s some formula. You might think that formula involves being a gifted storyteller or a master designer. Maybe you even think that there is no “secret sauce” — That you’re either born with the talent of […]
3 Super-Effective Tactics Your Public Speaking Coach is Ignoring
Doesn’t matter what you do you can’t shake those anxious feelings. Public speaking and presentations are part of your job. You’ve been speaking at least once a week for the last few months but it’s still not any easier. Days before a presentation you’re a mess. Panicking about everything and struggling to sleep. Trying to […]
Master Public Speaking
My first ever presentation was a train wreck. Let me tell you what happened. Years ago, I worked for an extremely dysfunctional organization. The atmosphere in my department was toxic. People were burned-out and unhappy with the working conditions of the office, interpersonal politics were insane, and projects were stalled. Nothing was getting done fast. […]
10 Ingredients of a Knockout Speech (Number 9 is Impossible)
This was a terrible idea. Archie swallowed hard, took one step towards the stage, and froze. 300 sets of eyes peered at the stage. Awoken by the movement in the shadows behind the bright lights. Archie Benedict looked down one last time at his notes. How had his business partner, Jeff, considered, even for a […]
8 Killer Speech Openers (You Won’t Believe You Can Get Away With Number 4)
“Good afternoon. Thank you for coming to my presentation. Today I would like to talk about ….. “ How boring is the above speech opener? …And how would you feel if you were sitting in the audience? The only thing that could make this speech more boring, more dis-engaging, would be to couple it with […]
Presentation Skills: 9 Visual Communication Mistakes That Make You Look Stupid
“Penguin doing the moonwalk while eating a banana.” That’s what your crappy visual communication looks like during your presentation. Here are the top 9 visual communication mistakes that make you look stupid in your presentation… Mistake #1: Synchronized signing You know how you spent all that time practicing your gestures? …Complete waste of time! As […]
The 11 Best Presentation Hacks You Will Ever Need (#7 is Pure Genius)
The next 15 minutes were going to be a horror show. Lenny stood at the side of the stage waiting to be introduced. One hand filled with a stack of cue cards, the other hand covering a ginormous yawn. He’d hadn’t slept the night before and was paying for it now. His hamburger lunch had […]
4 Tricks to Keep Your Audience Interested
Janice Brown pressed the clicker and advanced to her second slide. She turned back to the audience and continued. “As you can see…” Janice was nervous. There were only about 25 people in front of her and this made her more jittery. She could see every wince, every uncomfortable shift, and every check of a wrist watch. […]