Jan 19

Public Speaking Tip: room set-up

You’re in a room, giving a presentation that you know like the back of your hand, everything’s going well. And then the sun sets… and sunlight pours through the window and washes out your PowerPoint presentation. Argh! What to do? Draw the blinds! WHAT? There are NO BLINDS? Egad, now what?
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Jan 17

Speakers – Embrace your Inner Actor!

Here’s something that’s been floating around in the back of my head for a number of months. When you get up and present are you acting? You might think that you’re not. But I’d suggest that if you’re not using acting and theatre techniques when you present, then you’re seriously missing out on taking your presentation skills to the next level. Continue reading

Jan 14

Public Speaking: Causing Offence (or not)

There have been some interesting things going on in British newspapers this past week or so. We had Prince Harry’s gaffe reported as he was on videotape calling an army friend a “p*ki”. Immediately on the tail of that we had his father, Prince Charles, in the papers for having called an Asian Businessman “sooty”. Continue reading

Jan 12

Tearing up the Public Speaking Rulebook

I’ve written about the various tips and techniques of creating effective public speaking skills. A quick google search or a run through some of the peeps on my blogroll can reveal a lot more of the Dos and Don’ts. There’s advice on effective openings, structuring the body of your presentation and so on and so forth. But sometimes I really don’t think it’s necessary. Sometimes I think that the techniques we learn from books, workshops or places like Toastmasters can be thrown out the window entirely! Continue reading

Jan 08

Public Speaking Advice: Reading Audiences

I was General Evaluator at a Toastmasters club recently and, half-way through my evaluation, I noticed one of the audience members in the front row falling asleep. I’m not normally known for being the sort of soporific speaker to send someone into a slumber. My mind immediately began racing through my potential options whilst my mouth carried on on auto-pilot. Here were the choices as I saw them: Continue reading