The great presentation guru Garr Reynolds wrote a blog post in which he shows a video of Frank Sinatra singing “You Make Me Feel So Young.” Garr quotes Sinatra saying, “When I sing, I believe. I’m honest. If you want to get an audience with you, there’s only one way. You have to reach out […]
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The dictionary states that there are two definitions for the words present and presentation. The first definition for present is to exist or occur in the moment; but the second definition is what intrigues me the most for both forms of the word – to bestow or give a gift. How often do we actually […]
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TED Talks provide inspiration and great models for public speaking skills. TED recently shared the 20 most popular talks since TED began. If you would like a summer project to inspire you to reach for the stars and to develop your public speaking skills, watch all 20 of these, one per day. If you undertake […]
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The prevailing model for speaking persuasively is a style of speaking that is enthusiastic, energetic and extraverted. The speaker is asserting a point in hopes to convince the listener to agree. However, this model can be a trap. It puts you in the position of selling. Of course others don’t want to be sold, so they have […]
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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 […]
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Recently, I have had several clients and students in public speaking classes who quit or tried to quit classes because I asked them to tell stories from their personal or professional lives. I could not figure out what was causing people to stop their progress in public speaking when they were doing so well in […]
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I had never seen Steve Jobs talk before; but after he died, I heard lots of people rave about the way he spoke in public. It seemed like many people thought he was the epitome of a great speaker. Then I began reading his biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Before even finishing a quarter […]
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Much has been said about Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg and how he appears when speaking in public. As recently as June this year, he sweated profusely while being interviewed. But last Sunday he seemed calm, comfortable and in command of himself on CBS 60 Minutes. His passion is palpable in this interview. Some have speculated that he […]
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“Has anyone ever been in prison?” These were the words that opened W Mitchell’s talk to NSA Houston Chapter in September 2010. Words spoken quietly in a voice vibrating from deep within his chest. Words not spoken immediately. W Mitchell wheeled himself to the center of the staging area, sat deeply into his wheelchair and […]
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The following is a post written by my friend and client Leigh Mires, Principal and Training Director of Walter P Moore Engineering. She and I have been working for seven years to train their engineers to reduce their dependence on PowerPoint. I guess we have more work to do! Married to PowerPoint Cate Blanchett, portraying […]
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