Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson each point to public speaking as the most valuable business skill for building a career. Going even further, Buffett, the billionaire investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., whose every investment is analyzed and scrutinized, has stated that...
Read More
When you’re developing a presentation, there’s no doubt that you give thought to the words you will use to convey your message. But how often do you consider when you’ll pause during your talks? My guess is seldom, if ever. Hopefully, that will change after...
Read More
Whether you’re presenting in meetings, in court, in sales situations, or on stage, it takes your audience just a few seconds to assess your level of confidence. How would they rate yours? It's important they rate it high. To help accomplish this, let’s look at...
Read More
How many times have you delivered a presentation and known that people were not engaged? Demoralizing, isn’t it? Well, there are numerous elements you could add, delete, or change to make your presentations more compelling. To get you started, here are three techniques that will...
Read More
It was obvious that Anthony was frustrated. He leaned forward in his chair and said, "Peter, I know my job. I know the numbers. I know what we need to do to reach our goals. Why does it seem like no one understands what I'm...
Read More
(This article originally appeared in the Providence Business Journal, June 19, 2020.) When we first turned to videoconferencing in the early days of the stay-at-home orders brought on by the pandemic, most of us figured it would be short term. We did not take the format,...
Read More
Some public speaking myths have been around for years. At first blush, many seem helpful. Others, however, are almost foolish. And I have no idea how any of these continue to be perpetuated. Hopefully, this post will help bring all of these myths to an...
Read More
It’s natural to want to know what you look like before going out in public. Is your hair brushed? Is your makeup looking good? Are your clothes fitting nicely? And depending on the level of the social interaction you may be having, you check, double-check,...
Read MoreOne 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. Originally, her story consisted of her and her best friend going up in the plane with...
Read MoreA 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 dream of playing...
Read More