A Toastmasters meeting has a portion dedicated to evaluating speakers, so I thought I’d dedicate a portion of my own to that very subject. Such evaluations can range from good, to not so good.Evaluations: Let’s talk about the good first. Because you are focused on delivering a speech, combating nerves, etc., it’s hard to evaluate yourself while you’re speaking. And probably … Read More
Why Fear Is Good For Public Speaking (It’s Outrageous)
I’m sure you’ve heard that people fear public speaking more than death. Lately I’ve been hearing that it’s a bogus stat, but that’s beside the point. The fact that the two get compared at all gives the fear of public speaking a serious legitimacy.Just to be clear of what were talking about, it also gets called glossophobia, speech anxiety, or even “performance anxiety.” … Read More
Public Speaking Advice That You Must Watch Out For
Advice and constructive criticism are supposed to make you stronger, right?The thing is, that’s not always true.People have a tendency to pass around what they like…with little or no thought to whether it fits the person they’re giving it to.I’m not a huge fan of visual aids, but I would never tell anyone not to use them. Some people would though.They’d say, … Read More
Tactical Talks TOP 5: The Best Public Speaking Articles On The Web
The HUNT is on!Each month I will scour the interwebz looking for the best articles on public speaking. I’ll be looking for topics like these:Overcoming the fear of public speakingPresentation tipsBody language and other technical speaking tipsAnd anything in between…I’m looking for the interesting, the fascinating, the practical, and anything with worthwhile information to help you become a better communicator. The best of the … Read More
Talking To Yourself To Overcome The Fear Of Public Speaking?
Raise your hand if you think affirmations are a pile of mystical poop.If your hand is in the air, I completely understand. I used to ignore them like junk mail from the Prince of Nigeria. [I will continue to ignore until he offers me a bigger cut of that 50 million dollar inheritance!]I mean come on. All I need to … Read More
3 Public Speaking Techniques That Suck
You want to make a real connection with the audience? There are many ways to do so. There are also many ways to kill it.We’re going to focus on getting rid of the connection killers.I don’t wanna cringe after watching a presentation anymore. I dream of a world where everyone gets up on stage and proudly delivers their message as … Read More
7 Alternatives To Resisting The Fear Of Public Speaking
Your heart starts pounding, your neck and shoulders begin to tense up, your mouth and thoughts quickly dry up, and you rapidly begin to wonder whether or not you’ve gone completely insane. Because why the hell else would you have agreed to do this? If that sounds about right, you’re in heavy company. I’d estimate just about all of humanity has felt or feels this way. [A … Read More
Public Speaking: Cut The Crap And Stay On Topic
“Get to the freakin’ point!” or “Stay on topic!” You’ve probably heard that before—it’s good advice. It takes some serious discipline, though. The trouble is we might not even realize that we’re shifting off topic. I used to think every detail that I could remember about a situation, needed to be told! My apologies to everyone who had to struggle through my … Read More
FEAR: Do You Accept Or Reject?
Wouldn’t this world be a lot better if everyone was more accepting? Accepting of others, sure, but also accepting of one’s own feelings, emotions, physical sensations of the body, etc. This is what we’re going to talk about. An example that illustrates this for me is when I first started running. When I’d run up a hill, as soon as the … Read More
Do You Take Books For Granted?
The only books I had voluntarily read before the age of 26 were the first six books in the Harry Potter series. I never got around to the final one. Someday though, Harry. Anyway, do you read books? I think that collectively, as humans, we don’t value books as much as we should. After all they’re just a bunch … Read More