I often talk about and write about the power of silence and the value of a pause in public speaking and presentation skills. The silence allows you to breath, it allows the audience time to take in and digest what you have said, it allows you time to recover if your mind goes blank, it demonstrates calmness and confidence, and …
In a recent Western Australian (WA) business leaders forum, fear of failure was established as one of the worst enemies in WA Business. Fear of failure was preventing innovation and causing WA organisations to fall behind the rest of the world. They found that WA businesses had been going so well that they simply remained doing the same thing, neglecting …
They say that women form a first impression and opinion with 4 seconds of meeting you and men form an opinion within 7 seconds. Malcolm Gladwell in his book “What The Dog Saw” talks about an interview pannel forming a firm impression and decision on an applicant within 15 seconds. So first impressions do count. As a speaker and trainer, …
Tom Peters said “You shouldn’t give a public speech unless you want to make something happen”. Before you give a speech, you really need to define what you want or expect to achieve in the talk. This is really the core reason or the purpose of your talk, which can be any or a combination of the following: • To …
I am in Lunteren in the Netherklands attending a world congress for people who stutter. There are lots of inspirational people speaking about their own journeys, successes and achieving amazing goals and outcomes and not leting their stutter get in their way. I heard a wonderful quote from the chair of the congress organising comitte and it went like this. …
Many speakers and presenters are not sure what to do with their hands when they are not gesturing. Sure you need to move your hands effectively and have an expansive gestural vocabulary, but what do you do when you are not gesturing, those quiet times, those times when the audience is speaking or asking questions. There are 3 recommended resting …
