A Winning Speech Structure: 1-3-1
“Life’s . . . a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” These are the despairing words uttered by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, after hearing of Lady Macbeth’s death. I’ve often thought they could apply to some speeches I’ve heard. Sitting in the audience, I’ve despaired over the loss of my time, […]
7 Tips on Using Speech Notes Effectively
One of the biggest fears that people have about public speaking is the fear of forgetting what they are going to say. Using notes can reduce that fear greatly, but at the same time create a barrier to audience engagement. Here are 7 tips on using speech notes more effectively so that you can engage and […]
What Do Your Shoes Say?
Maybe I have a shoe fetish. No. I only own about 15 or so pairs of shoes. But, am I the only one who notices a presenter’s shoes? I don’t just notice them; I am distracted by them. Lately, I’ve been distracted by some poor shoe choices on the platform–mostly by aspiring professional speakers. Why? […]
Back to “School” for Speakers!
It’s back to school time for kids, but what about you? Are you taking intentional steps to improve your speaking skills, to start a speaking business or to grow your speaking business? While there are excellent books on speaking skills and on building a speaking business (one of my favorite is World Class Speaking by […]
Tailoring Your Presentation to the Audience
Even if you have a “canned” presentation, you will want to tailor it for each audience, to better connect and engage the participants, and to specifically address topics related to your presentation that the meeting planner deems important. Through a discovery process of asking questions of the meeting planner and of conducting short, informational interviews […]
Working with the Meeting Planner: The Pre-Program Questionnaire
If you want to hit a “home run” at a speaking event– to engage your audience and to please the meeting planner–start your preparation with a pre-program questionnaire. Elements should include: Contact person information, including a cell phone number Meeting details: date, time, place, length of program, what’s before and after Audience demographics (number in […]
Get More Testimonials with LinkedIn (Ask for Recommendations!)
If you want to increase the likelihood of getting hired as a speaker, testimonials can make a difference! Whether you are speaking for free or for fee, you can ask people to give you testimonials. Video testimonials are great, when you can get them, but you can also use written testimonials. I’ve found it highly […]
3 PowerPoint Photo Tips (Video)
You can take your PowerPoint slides from ordinary to awesome with 3 simple tips shown in this video (4:22): 1. Make your picture BIG! 2. Remove the picture background 3. Match the font of your text to a color in the picture Bonus Tip: If you want to grab the colors from something online, you can […]
Using Quotes in PowerPoint–Video
You get two tips today! Tip #1: Make your quotes look better in PowerPoint. Click below to see the 4-minute Jing video I made on using quotations in PowerPoint: BonusTip #2: Create short videos to explain “how to.” For the above video, I used Jing, a free screen capture tool. Not all of your presentations may be […]
Who Are You?
Every now and then, I get an email inquiry about my presentation coaching services from someone I never met before. Recently, I received an email that was direct and to the point: I am interested in some coaching–can you give me some information about you, rates, and your philosophy? I’ll share my answer below, but I’d […]