Are you one of the many, *many* people who “like” a little too much? Like, you pepper your speech with “like” so often it practically stands in for, like, a comma? Or maybe there is another filler noise that’s messing up your verbiage – the infamous uh, um, and ah , or perhaps their pernicious…
Have you ever felt that your voice was blocked, that you wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out? In today’s talk shop interview, join me and professional soprano and voice coach Rush Dorsett as we look into how your voice works, what can cause you to hold back, and how to overcome…
Is your speech plagued by umms, ahs, and other pointless filler words like “so, like, y’know,” etc? I’ve got a question from Tamara on this very common issue: Hi Lauren – I find myself saying “um” and “ah” a lot when I give a presentation, and I hate it! It’s distracting and makes me…
The first few minutes of your speech or talk are critical. Putting together a really solid opener can be tricky, and Ian is looking for advice on how to create stronger openers will grab his audience’s attention from the start: Hi Lauren, My name is Ian, and I’m in the financial sector. I give lots…
Demagogue, n.: A leader of a popular faction, or of the mob; a political agitator who appeals to the passions and prejudices of the mob in order to obtain power or further his own interests; an unprincipled or factious popular orator. (Oxford English Dictionary) In democracies the principal cause of revolutions is the insolence of…
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…
Oustide of miming, rhetoric could be one of the most maligned arts out there. It’s derision has become built into our language: “That argument is purely rhetorical.” “It’s all just rhetoric.” “Rhetorically speaking…” The funny thing is that most of us don’t actually understand what the word means. We toss it around to mean arguing…
Today I’m bringing you a new feature of my blog: special posts written by guests with unique communication expertise. This post was written by Lynda Katz Wilner of Successfully Speaking. Lynda’s full bio and links to her work can be found at the end of this post. Enjoy! When is an Accent a Problem? Most…
