3 Visual Tools that Boost Clarity in Presentation Slides
Excerpt from The Clarity Code: 3 Visual Tools That Instantly Boost Clarity (Book coming Fall 2025) Visual aids can do more than decorate your message; they can deliver it. But only when used with intention. In Chapter 10 of my upcoming book The Clarity Code: How to Communicate Complex Ideas with Simplicity and Power, I […]
5 Quick Tips for Using Humor in Presentations
We’ve all sat through speeches that felt like an eternity… but what about the ones that kept us engaged, entertained, and actually laughing? Humor isn’t just for comedians—it’s a powerful tool for connection, persuasion, and making your message memorable. Below are 5 quick tips you can incorporate into an upcoming presentation. 1️⃣ Find the Funny […]
Unlock the Power of Persuasion: 7 Proven Strategies to Gain Clients and Members
Persuasion is a cornerstone of human interaction. Whether you’re seeking to grow your client base or attract new members to your organization, the ability to persuade can transform your results. But how can you harness the power of persuasion effectively and ethically? The answer lies in the principles of influence, masterfully outlined by Dr. Robert […]
How to Create a Killer Keynote
If you’ve ever wanted to captivate a room with your words, impel your audience to action, and maybe even get paid to speak, you need a speech that engages. You need to create a Killer Keynote. In the video below, excerpted from a longer workshop, you will learn the steps to create YOUR Killer Keynote. […]
Shape of a Story
When you tell a story, you want to engage your audience from start to finish. You can plan an engaging story, if you follow the typical story plot or shape. The basic elements of a story are: A. Context (Time, place, characters, goals)B. Challenge (inciting incident/obstacle)C. Rising Action (more obstacles or events leading to . […]
My Favorite Public Speaking Tip
There is one public speaking tip that has improved my public speaking more than any other, and I talked about it on a recent podcast (only 54 seconds long!) This tip is the first of 100 tips from my book, 100 Tips & Tricks to Appear Confident in Presentations.
Mini-Workshop: Make a Great First Impression Online
Make a great 1st impression online! Learn how in this Mini-Workshop (29 minutes). -Look Professional Online -Wield Tools of Engagement (online or in-person) -Tame the Technology Monster This presentation was in front of a live, virtual audience for PowerTalk Power Club (some of the audience interaction was edited out). RESOURCE PAGE MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO […]
How to Create a Memorable Story in Your Presentation
Stories will engage your audience, connecting with their emotions and memory. The video below, recorded as part of a live online workshop, demonstrates the power of story to connect with memory, and then gives you a structure to follow to create your own stories, especially business stories. Some helpful visuals from the presentation: Create a […]
Instant Design: Slide Templates
Do you want attractive PowerPoint slides, but you aren’t a designer? Would you like to create infographics, but you don’t want to start from scratch? Consider using a slide template resource, such as Simple Slides, where all the hard work has been done for you. For example, Instead of just having a quote with a […]
10 Uses for Sticky Notes in Speaking
#1: Storyboard your speech #2: Plan your book or blog content #3: Reminders #4: Clean your keyboard #5: Brief speech notes #6: Practice eye contact #7: Stage movement #8: Mark reference to read in speech #9: Audience activities #10: Have fun! Be creative
10 Ways to Increase Your Speaking Energy
When you speak, do you want to put people to sleep? Do you want people to think you don’t really care about your topic? Do you want people to think you lack energy? Of course not! Below are 10 Tips to Speak with More Energy (video + list): 1. Check your posture (especially if sitting). […]
NEW! Group Program: Virtual Presentation Success
“Thank you for the outstanding job on facilitating the Virtual Speech training. I learned multiple things, some of them I had an idea, others were new. It provided great value for our time”–training participant Live, online group training + individual coaching Download the complete program description Build fundamental skills essential to presenting in a virtual […]
The 5 Top Ways to Look Bad on Zoom
Webcam SpeechBuddy
By now you know that you make virtual eye contact by looking into the webcam lens. But, it gets tricky if you have speech notes. If your notes are too far off to the side, your darting eyes are very obvious. You can make better eye contact by having your notes near the webcam. If […]
100 Tips & Tricks to Appear Confident in Presentations: Video Summary
Public Speaking Book only $0.99 for 100 Tips!
The 100 Tips and Tricks in this book are techniques and strategies I learned through my years of presenting and coaching speakers, and now through May 8, 2020, you can get the ebook for only $0.99. Here’s a sample tip (screen shot):
Book Launch Special $0.99 thru May 8, 2020
Get your confidence on!Get my latest book, 100 Tips & Tricks to Appear Confident in Presentations: Public Speaking Success in 5 Minutes or Less! for only $0.99 for the ebook on Amazon. The paperback is $9.99. Practical, Illustrated tips, one to a page, will boost your skills and confidence! Editorial Review: An easy to read, […]
Podcast Interview: Public Speaking, Publishing, Toastmasters, Confidence + More!
CLICK HERE for my Podcast interview with Sarah CollinsTRANSCRIPT BELOW Sarah: And we are back again. I am with Diane windilling. I just totally butchered your name. Diane: You want me to give you my pronunciation? Then we can just like restart. . It’s, I’ll say it slowly first. It’s wind- een-land and then, then […]
The Secret to Engaging Stories
You know you need to have conflict to make a story interesting. You know you need the basics of setting, characters, and action. But, there is one element that can make your stories incredibly engaging, an element that many speakers don’t use very much: dialogue. Almost every speaker that I have coached starts out with […]
Top-Rated Kindle Book on Public Speaking FREE until 7/11/19
For just a few days, I’m offering the Kindle version of my top-rated book on public speaking FREE–yours for the taking, but you have to nab it by 7/11/19!
The Deconstructed Speech: Speech Writing Techniques Revealed
I’m going to be a little vulnerable here and let you see a video of me giving a new speech for the first time, practicing in front of a Toastmasters Club. It’s material that I will be developing into a longer keynote. If you watch the video (9:51), and then read the annotated speech below, […]
Make Your Presentation a HOME RUN!
Do you want to have a “home run” with your presentation? Or, better yet, do you want to “hit it out of the ballpark”? If so, tailor your presentation to your audience. It doesn’t matter if you have the most polished delivery skills, or the most moving stories, if you don’t connect with your audience, […]
Learn from Speech Evaluations
One of the most valuable aspects of participating in Toastmasters is getting feedback. At every meeting, speakers are evaluated by a peer. The video below (3:54) is an evaluation I did of a presentation at PowerTalk Toastmasters recently. This is also a short “showcase” of my skills as a presentation coach. The speaker wanted me to give […]
How to Deal with a Presentation Hijacker
I recently had a client (a Silicon Valley technical professional, an Asian, non-native English speaker) give a technical presentation that had both an in-room live audience, and an online, remote audience. The presentation went well: “Thank you Diane for coaching me. Today’s presentation is the best I have ever delivered in my life!” And, overall, […]
Speak with Confidence and Credibility Webinar (practice session)
In this 51-minute webinar practice video (I’m giving a webinar for the TCSHRM–Twin Cities Society for Human Resource Management in a couple of weeks), you will learn 6 Power Tips to Speaking with Confidence and Credibility (it’s not perfect, but I am modeling my belief in practice & dress rehearsal!): Structure with PREP Create Catchy […]
Smile to Engage Your Audience!
Video from my online course No Fear Public Speaking
10 Ways to Make a “Boring” Workshop Topic Exciting
Have you ever wondered how to create engagement for a “dry” or “boring” topic? Recently, at the end of a 90-minute workshop I conducted on “Email Etiquette,” for a staff development day for an online public school (on-site meeting), the principal walked up to me with a big smile on his face, “I wondered how you could make […]
FREE Public Speaking Class Jan 11 (Twin Cities)
Date: Monday, January 11, 2016 Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Location: Ridgedale Library (Minnetonka, MN) Link to reserve your seat (free event presented on behalf of District 6 Toastmasters) Speak with conviction and confidence! No matter the subject, you can capture your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. In this FREE, interactive class, you […]
Familiarize. Don’t Memorize.
It was the summer of 2009 and I had eight, 45-minute presentations to memorize as a newly hired high school workshop speaker for a local college. The other new speakers and I had been given scripts for each of the presentations, with topics ranging from budgeting to sexual harassment, and had been told to follow […]
Not Just the Facts, Ma’am
“I just want to get the facts, ma’am,” Joe Friday (actor Jack Webb) famously implored when questioning women in the old TV police show, Dragnet. Joe Friday might have just wanted the facts, but your audience wants more. Sure, they want to know your material, but they also want to know you. They want to connect […]
Engage with Passion
My husband and I recently had a photo shoot with our 4 grandchildren. As you can see from the above photo with two of them, this was not the typical posed photo shoot. It was wild, with an overwhelmed 17-month old, who had just arrived with her mother from New York that day, almost-3-year-old twins […]
Don’t Just Create Your Presentation . . . Create an Experience!
You want to create an experience for your audience, one that engages and makes a difference, right? One way you can do that is to create a tailored experience for your audience. This does require a little extra work than giving the same canned presentation to every group. The good news is that you don’t […]
Release Your Story with Right-Placed Details
How many triangles are there in the illustration below? Don’t read further until you answer that question. Two? Eight? More? Note that I didn’t ask, “How many triangles do you see in the illustration?” How many are there actually? The correct answer is “zero.” There are only V shapes and 3 Pac-Men type figures. At […]
How to Make a Boring Topic More Interesting
“You can talk about ‘Succession Planning’” said the person in charge of the conference. My first thought was Ugh! That sounds boring! Fortunately, the allotted time for the topic was only 5-7 minutes early in the morning and the audience was a couple hundred positive Toastmaster club officers. I challenged myself to deliver useful content, […]
Presentation Skills from a Tour Guide in Mexico
I just returned from a vacation to Cancun, Mexico, where I enjoyed fun, food and . . . learning presentation skills from unlikely sources: timeshare sellers, tour promoters, street vendors, restaurant servers and a tour guide! It was the tour guide at the Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza (the picture above, using an app called Waterlogue) […]
Gift Books for Presenters
With the holidays fast approaching, you may want to gift yourself a book on public speaking skills. I’ve read many books on public speaking, but only a few more than once. Consider adding to your library (physical or ebook) one of the 5 books on public speaking that I own and have read more than […]
Create Content Experts in 20 Minutes
Workshops are designed to give people practical takeaways, but all too often, there is just too much content to cover. Of course, the easiest solution is to reduce the content, but sometimes the content to be covered is prescribed, such as training employees on new methods and procedures or, covering all the officer duties for […]
Re-engage Your Audience with a “Snowy Owl Moment”
The audience was losing interest quickly. They were shifting in their seats. They were talking. Some were even crying. Of course, more than half the crowd was under the age of five. Yesterday was Member Monday at the Minnesota Zoo and I had brought my twin two-year old granddaughters to the bird show. One, Zoe, […]