There it is, glowering at you from your desktop. If a slip of paper could sneer, this one would be sneering. If a web form could roll its eyes, this one would be rolling. Yes, you’ve received nasty feedback. One ugly, trivial snipe among the pile of other people’s helpful or complimentary comments. But that…
The secret isn’t innate confidence. It isn’t a good slide deck, either. It’s not positive, pre-show affirmations. It’s not killer quotes, “life changing” stories, or hilarious content. It definitely isn’t picturing your audience in their underwear.* The above all play a part in great presentations (with the exception of the underwear visualization), but they…
I may love writing, but doing podcasts is a hell of a lot of fun! As I’m off visiting family this week, I’m casting my content line back a couple of months and bringing you a podcast interview I did with the amazing Alison Donaghey from Natural Born Speakers. We chatted about pretty much everything related…
Who doesn’t love a good infographic? Alas, my knowledge of illustration software is nil. Happily, Lydia Bailey from Masterprogramsguide.com reached out to me with this fantastic infographic, which I am now sharing with you as today’s guest blog post! Author Bio : – Ms. Lydia Bailey has come up with this infographic. She is a…
I’m coming to the #elbowgate party a bit late. All the same, it’s too glittery a rhetoric issue for me to ignore. If you haven’t heard of Elbowgate, here is a brief summary: While votes were being gathered in the Canadian House of Commons on a contentious bill, a brouhaha was created when Prime Minister…
If you are trying to get yourself out there and get noticed, you need to give people something to see. It doesn’t matter if the thing you craft is code, art, words, or something else. People need to see what you are doing if they are going to respond. This is especially true if…
The word charismatic gets thrown about quite a bit. I’ve heard people call someone “charismatic” when I would have labelled that same individual “bombastic a**hole.” I’ve also encountered people I would label as highly charismatic that others describe as inaccessible or aloof. The last year has been an interesting study in political charisma, with Justin…
What’s the difference between Toastmasters and a public speaking coach? Good question. Finding the right type of learning method and environment is important if you want to make headway with your speaking, and it’s confusing to sift through the different options. Full disclosure: I’m a public speaking coach and trainer (in case that wasn’t…
I like to think that working out and public speaking go hand in hand. They are both tiring, they both demand a lot of effort, and speakers definitely benefit from being in good shape. Think about it: after you give a presentation, do you feel as fresh as a daisy or are you tired out? Do…
Among our many hang-ups with public speaking is that we make value judgments about the feelings and energy we experience when we give or think about giving a speech. When we think of speaking, many of us assign words like ‘bad’, ‘scared’, ‘crappy’, or ‘terrible’ to ourselves as individuals instead of to the negative…