One of my clients was working on a presentation about facing fear. At one point in her talk, she told a story about jumping out of a perfectly good plane. Initially, her story consisted of her and her best friend going up in the plane. Her...
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A pedestrian on 57th Street sees a musician getting out of a cab and asks, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Without pause, the artist replies wearily, “Practice. Practice. Practice.” This joke has been around for many years, yet its message never gets old. Musicians...
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According to the New Oxford American dictionary: engage |inˈɡājenˈɡāj| verb occupy, attract, or involve (someone's interest or attention) Speakers understand that to be most effective, they must engage their audiences. And it doesn’t take a veteran speaker to realize that apologizing does not occupy, attract, or involve someone’s interest...
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Recently, I had the pleasure to be on a team of mentors, working with a young woman who recently started a business. When it came time for her to pitch her product/business plan, she was a nervous wreck. She was so scared that she was thinking...
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I remember so vividly sitting on the porch with my brother and cousins, listening to my uncle tell stories. Even though we were young and restless, he kept us captivated for what must have been an hour at a time but seemed like fleeting moments. What...
Read MoreYou may have seen articles and books that feature such titles as The Seven Principles of Public Speaking, The 12 Innumerable Laws of Public Speaking, andFive Fundamental Truths of Delivering Presentations. All such items contain valuable information. But in this article, I want to boil...
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Recently, I listened to a podcast of one of the better-known speakers of our time. It was very enlightening until … until. When he mentioned how to open a presentation, he suggested that you first thank the person who hired you to speak and then tell...
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