One of the most difficult challenges for many speakers is to master character interactions inside of their stories. This is because they haven’t quite figured out the proper and natural mix of narration and dialogue. In my experience, too many speakers use way too much narration. As a result, they end up retelling the story […]
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Many speakers tell stories that have some ups and downs and maybe even good emotional twists and turns, but they don’t often reach a crescendo. Crescendos are so important because they are defining moments that bring the audience’s energy to its highest point. Without them, your audience can easily be deflated. What’s a crescendo? […]
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There is an inner game of public speaking. What’s going on inside of your mind determines the effectiveness of what comes out of your mouth. Some speakers simply memorize and recite their words and consider that a success. It’s not. That’s a memorization contest. If your mind is focused on remembering what comes next, then […]
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The best way to connect with your audience is to have each person feel like you’re speaking directly to him or her. You can use the following tool to make a deeper connection with your audience than you have ever felt before. Click the video for the tool that changed my speaking life and can change […]
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If you follow me at all, you know I believe that dialogue is the heart of your story and therefore the heart of your speech. It breathes life into your speech because… It automatically brings the audience into the present moment of your scene It lets your audience members hear what you heard and see […]
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My mother was an English teacher. My wife is an English teacher. Therefore, I try my best to be grammatically correct. However, in public speaking, I do not believe you must use good grammar at all times. There are times when I sacrifice correct grammar for something that is more important when I am speaking. […]
Continue readingRecently I received a phone call and an e-mail from an executive at an organization I spoke to 10 years ago. She said, “Can you speak at our conference again this year? We really enjoyed you last time!” Now, please don’t take this as me being cocky, but I’m surprised they didn’t call sooner. Why? Because […]
Continue readingA piece of advice I received when I first started as a speaker was to always be dynamic. Only years later did I realize that when you’re always dynamic, you’re no longer dynamic. Take a look at the following video lesson (a sample lesson from my 50SpeakingSecrets.com program) to see why many speakers are making […]
Continue readingMany speakers tell stories that have some ups and downs and maybe even good emotional twists and turns, but they don’t often reach a crescendo. Crescendos are so important because they are the defining moments that bring the audience’s energy to its highest point. Without them, your audience can easily be deflated. What’s a Crescendo? […]
Continue readingPatricia Fripp once said, “People won’t remember what you say as much as they’ll remember what they see when you say it.” Many speakers spend so much time preparing for what they’re going to say but so little time on how they’re going to get their audience to SEE the speech. If you don’t use […]
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