As a person who stutters, I really enjoyed the movie “The Kings Speech” It captures beautifully the emotions, the struggles and the embarrassment that a person who stutters goes through when they try and speak. The movie was very close to home for me and at the age of 8 a drama and elocution teacher did put marbles in my …
Remember the KIS principal (Keep It Simple)
Information overload, death by PowerPoint and over complicating things are common mistakes that speakers and presenters make. They bombard their audiences with information, statistics, and numerous PowerPoint slides and seem to have too many points which make it hard to find the core message. The most effective speakers and presenters use the KIS principle regularly. They limit their material to …
Immerse Yourself In Public Speaking
It is fair to say that if you stand on your feet and speak once in a blue moon, it is going to be very difficult to overcome any fears and become confident and effective as a presenter. The reality is the more that you do it, the easy it becomes. The more you speak, the less fear and anxiety …
The Rule of Recency and Primacy
As a public speaking trainer and coach two things that I always try to get people to remember are: Start Strong Finish Strong The first thing that you say (primacy) and the last thing that you say (recency) are 2 parts of your speech that are very likely to be remembered by an audience. So make use of them and …
Common Mistakes When Public Speaking – 11 to 15
11. Failing to Start Strong Staring strong is very important and you should grab your audience’s attention within the first 30 to 60 seconds, so they know exactly why they are there and why they are listening to you. Simply put, the first thing that you say is one of the most likely things to be remembered by the audience. …
Preparation
Previously I spoke about “owning your content and the importance of preparation and I mentioned how Sir Winston Churchill spent 1 hour preparing for every minute he spoke. There are no shortcuts in preparing an effective and powerful speech and as they say “prior preparation prevents pitifully poor performance” Mary Atkins in her book “Finding your voice: ten steps to …