telling your story

The Power Of Telling Your Story

Benjamin Franklin said “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”. Did you know that if you give people some facts, there is a 5% to 10% retention rate. If you add a visual image retention can increase up to 25% to 30%. If you tell a story with examples and it is …

Know your Audience

Know Your Audience

One of the keys to being a successful speaker, presenter or trainer is to know your audience very well. There are lots of sayings that I have read and around the importance of knowing your audience well. These include, “it is not about you – it is about the audience”, “always put the audience first”, “choose your stories and your …

Body Language

Body Language

According to Malcolm Gladwell you have 15 seconds to make an impression and impact in a job interview. In his book “What the dog saw” he describes how the first 15 seconds of any job interviews determines how the interview panel rates you and your ultimate success at getting that job. This and many other studies reiterate the importance of …

Habits

Habits

Habits, Practise, Routine, Repetition, whatever you want to call it, is an important aspect of becoming more confident and more effective in your presentation and public speaking skills. You need to get in the habit of speaking and the habit of speaking more frequently and the habit of speaking in more difficult situations. Napoleon Hill said “Habits are the Stairway …

Confidence

Confidence ≠ Being Free of Nerves or Free of Fear

Learn to be more confident as a speaker and presenter. Confidence is an essential part of public speaking and engaging an audience and getting your message across. Confidence shows the audience that you know what you are talking about, you are sure of your information and you believe that what you are saying is important to them, not just yourself. …

Preparation is the key to public speaking

In all of my public speaking workshops, regardless of it being overcome fear, beginners, presentation skills, off the cuff or presentation skills for leaders, I always teach that preparation is the foundation of every speech. It was Robert Schuller who said “Spectacular performance is always preceded by spectacular preparation. I have been lucky enough to be doing some training in …