It is time we update one public speaking rule to align with the collective wish for more authenticity in communicating. Public Speaking coaches everywhere advise their clients, “Don’t ever tell them you are nervous. They won’t know.”  This old-style public speaking rule causes us to sacrifice being real for looking perfect. Public speaking will always […]

Here’s a valuable tip for finding stories from your life that you can use to make talks and presentations more engaging and compelling.  Both professional and personal stories can be used to illustrate ideas, make points and sell your services. If you read my last post on 6 Reasons to Tell Stories in Presentations, Leadership […]

In public speaking,  authenticity is important because our degree of comfort is directly related to our degree of authenticity. The more willing we are to be genuine with our expression, the more comfortable we feel with ourselves. Conversely, our fear and anxiety is locked up in our reluctance to be real with our thoughts and feelings. People […]

In terms of public speaking, developing greater authenticity is an important key to unlocking stage fright and fear of public speaking. To transform stage fright and fear of public speaking, you must learn to be comfortable being who you are in front of other people. In public speaking, the tension associated with stage fright comes from […]

There is simply nothing that transforms your life as much as Self-Expression, because a profound shift in consciousness happens when you open yourself to share your truth. “What we say is important… for in most cases the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” – Jim Beggs As you express your inner Self, your […]

By Sandra Zimmer How would you respond if you were accused of incompetence in a media interview? Could you stay calm and open? Could you handle it with grace and dignity? Currently, there is a big media bruhaha around General Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs. He has been accused of allowing veteran’s hospitals […]

Marian Bell of www.MarianBell.com demonstrated the most powerful communication skill I know – she asked me gently for what she wanted me to do. I buy delicious food from her each week which she delivers to my house every Monday. In order to get her food, I have to place an order each week. She really wants customer’s […]

Have you experienced that people sometimes give you excuses rather than reasons? They respond, but somehow it just doesn’t ring true? Maybe their answer just does not satisfy you? I walked into the women’s restroom at my favorite pizza kitchen last week. A lovely young black woman was in the restroom talking on a cell phone.  […]

Oh Wow! For all of you struggling with Stage Fright and fear of public speaking, please watch Joe Kowan give an 8 minute TED Talk on how he beat stage fright.  Joe shares that he wrote a song to express the inner feelings of stage fright as a way of dealing with it. Those of […]

We can alchemically transform performance anxiety into presence in our physical body.  Alchemy is a term for turning a less valuable substance into a more valuable one. The human body is a laboratory for transformation of consciousness. Performance anxiety is a distressful reaction to energy trying to flow through the body when we become the […]