How to Enunciate to Engage Your Audience
A key tenet of sales is to make it easy for your prospective customers to buy from you. Making the process too convoluted, it’s believed, increases the likelihood that the buyer will become confused or frustrated and ultimately opt out of the buying process. The same is true when it comes to public speaking. If we, as speakers, confuse or frustrate our listeners, they won’t buy what we’re selling – be it a product, service, or message. However, many of us unknowingly make it difficult for our listeners to, well, listen. One of the ways we do this is by not speaking clearly. Instead, we garble words and syllables.
Consultants, Attract More Clients with Public Speaking
You chose to be a consultant so you could help people overcome obstacles and achieve their objectives, and that’s a worthy and lofty goal. But, if you’re like many consultants (dare I say most consultants), you struggle to consistently acquire high-quality, high-paying clients.
How to Tame Your Nerves When Speaking in Public
Your heart pounds. You breathe faster and harder. You begin to sweat. Your blood pressure increases. Your face gets flush. Your mind seems like it’s going a mile a minute and can’t stop. You forget what you’re going to say. Do any of these happen to you when you speak in public? If so, you’re not alone. And here’s how you can get your nerves under control.
7 Ways Public Speaking Can Boost Your Career
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 developing his public speaking skills is arguably his greatest investment. Why would he give so much credit to a “soft skill”?
7 Ways Silence Improves Your Presentations
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 you learn how the often-ignored pause can transform what would otherwise be a rambling monologue into an engaging and interactive presentation.
Tips That Will Have You Speaking With Confidence
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? Learn several easy-to-implement tips that help you …
3 Simple Ways to Add Impact to Your Presentations
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 …
Storytelling Works Like Magic
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 saying?” As he looked up and said, “Please tell me that you can wave a magic wand and help me be better at this.”
It’s Time to Look Like a Zoom Pro
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, or ourselves, very seriously. Now, we need to …
Give Yourself and Your Pitch the Greatest Opportunity to Succeed
You have a tremendous product/service that addresses a current or upcoming problem. You are the person/team to build the company that provides the solution. However, if you cannot convincingly convey this information, the odds are …
10 Public Speaking Myths Busted
Some public speaking myths have been around for years. At first blush, many actually seem helpful. Others, however, are almost foolish. I have no idea how these continue to be perpetuated. Hopefully, this post will …
Rehearse. Record. Review. Revise. Repeat.
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 …
How This Statement Benefits Your Audience
Whether you’re speaking to one person, 10, or 1,000, it’s recommended that you grab your audience’s attention from the beginning. Actually, it’s essential. Without doing so, you’re not going to be able to serve your listeners as effectively as possible.
In this short article, you’re going to learn how to …
How the Ultimate Public Speaking Principle Benefits All
You 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 the advice down to …
Memorizing Your Presentation … Or Not
Trying to memorize an entire presentation is not easy nor is it suggested. Yet many people try to do just that. Please do not.
At this time, you might be wondering how you’re supposed to deliver a presentation without memorizing it. Well …
Captivate Your Audience From Word One
Recently, I listened to a podcast of one of the better-known speakers of our time. It was very enlightening … 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 the audience something like …
I’m Sorry, But I Have to Say This
Speakers know, to be most effective, they must engage their audiences. And it doesn’t take a veteran speaker to understand that apologizing does not occupy, attract, or involve someone’s interest or attention. Then why, oh why, do so many speakers …
The # 1 Reason You Won’t Be a Successful Speaker
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 …
The Public Speaker’s High
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 nervous, in fact, that she was thinking about dropping out of the program. We worked together for a while and she decided to stay in the program, although …
Paint Pictures in the Minds of Others
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 I remember most — what still fascinates me — is the way he
…
So, This Is One of My Pet Peeves
So, I have to tell you a pet peeve of mine. It drives me crazy. Every time I hear it, it grates on my nerves. What is it? It’s when people unnecessarily say “so” at the beginning of a sentence. I don’t understand it. Nor do I don’t know when it became so prevalent?
“What’s the big deal?” you may be asking. It’s simple. When a sentence begins with “so” …
Transport Your Audiences Through the Power of Storytelling
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.
Originally, her story consisted of her and her best friend going up in the plane with her friend, in tandem with her instructor, jumping out first. The words she chose we perfectly accurate, but …
