A Week of Miracles
In Christian beliefs and traditions, this is a week of miracles. Thousands of years ago humanity was given a gift that proves we don’t have to be good enough. In a few days we will once again celebrate God sending Jesus from heaven to earth to save us from our imperfections. But the miracles are not over. .. read more
How speakers push tolerance levels
When it comes to drinking and driving, we all have a tolerance level for what we can handle. Unfortunately, we only learn this lesson by crossing the line and vomiting, if not worse. The same is true for how much a person talks within a given time frame. If someone has used up 3 minutes while .. read more
Got Energy to Burn? Practice Public Speaking using 5 Tips
Whether you are in leadership, sales, training or litigation, you may step into moments when butterflies in the pit of your stomach feel overwhelming. Not only is this common (most folks won’t admit to it), it’s common for folks who have excelled in performance. As Victor Lipman points out in his post from 9.09.2015, “public speaking .. read more
Two Steps can Save People-Pleasers
Many of us are people-please’rs. As such, we have had many occasions to share encouraging, exciting conversation, and no doubt just as often have needed to discuss the difficult. In these hard occasions we may sit back and ask ourselves, “How will so/so think about this new development?” Maybe a boss is expecting something from .. read more
What Listeners Notice When You are Nervous
What they see may surprise you. Ever stood in front of a group to speak when a case of the nerves blindsides you? Many of us have, and most of us think that whatever we are feeling is obvious to our listeners. We can’t focus on anything more than our own discomfort, and it stands .. read more
What Rehearsing Does for Introverts, Extroverts
You’ve heard the key to speaking well is in preparation, right? Well some think preparation means planning, and only that. Others think planning means coming up with an idea to share. Imagine the following scenario: John shows up ready to speak with his detailed notes in front of him. He has proof that he has .. read more
Get Rid of Public Speaking Fears, Once and For All
“There are three things to aim at: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience.” – Alexander Gregg When it comes to speaking well, just like with anything, if we can “get into” it we can not only .. read more
If you don’t speak now, you’ll hate yourself later
Speak up. The number of times I have heard that command and done nothing about it is the exact number of times I have lived to regret it. Many of us introverts choose to not speak up when we believe it’s not in our best interest and could suffer as a consequence. How could it not be .. read more
How to Forget You’re an Introvert When Speaking
So many introverts get in their own way when they speak in front of groups simply because they focus on the negative about themselves while they speak – “not quite good enough”, “boring conversationalist”, “slow to speak” and then they experience the desire to run and hide from group exposure. At that point they avoid .. read more
Avoid “if all else fails”. Rehearse!
They say, “if all else fails, read instructions.” In essence, get a preview of what to expect when you attempt something, especially after you don’t get what you expected. When it comes to speaking in public, doing so without first rehearsing is inviting “all else” to “fail”. Do you really want that “when all else fails” .. read more
