If you don’t have hooks strategically sprinkled throughout your speech, chances are your audience will bail mentally if not physically. You have to find ways to keep hooking your audience so THEY don’t want to let go. Below you’ll find 7 irresistible hooks (in no particular order of importance) that get your audience to say, […]
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Your audience members will likely remember best what they hear first and what they hear last. Therefore, it’s critical to frame your presentation in the most effective way. Watch the following special video (from the BRAND NEW FREE 7-Part World Class Speaking Toolkit) to see how to open and close your speeches in ways that […]
Continue readingUsing two stories back to back is often a very effective way to influence your audience, especially if one story represents a “don’t” and the other story represents a “do.” Why? It’s because the contrast in the stories helps to make the “right way” decision clear. In this video (from all the way back in […]
Continue readingYears ago one of my coaching said to me, “Craig, you have rhythm when you speak. How can I get rhythm into my speeches?” I have to admit, at the time, I was stumped for an answer. I really hadn’t thought much about it. However, a few months later, it hit me. Speaking is certainly […]
Continue readingClosing your speech with impact can open doors of opportunities because what you say last determines how your audience members feel once they leave your speech. You can give a wonderful speech but, if the ending is weak, your audience will walk away feeling like the speech wasn’t very strong. So here are 4 […]
Continue readingOne of the most important success factors in public speaking is your ability to customize your speech to make each audience feel like, “This has only happened here” and “This message is truly for us.” In other words, they don’t want a “canned” speech. They want it to be fresh. You can accomplish this in […]
Continue readingThe quickest way to connect with your audience is to share your failures, flaws, frustrations, and firsts. Why is this? Lots of people don’t care for motivational speakers because they are used to hearing the kind that think a motivational speech should consist of bragging about their successes and then telling their audience members, “You […]
Continue readingThe Problem Have you ever heard the saying, “If you try to do too much, you’ll end up doing nothing at all.” Well…there is an old speaker’s proverb as well that states… If you squeeze your information in, you’ll squeeze your audience out.” There is no time to engage them, to jump on the spontaneous […]
Continue readingCan Being Content-Rich Make Your Speaking Poor? I’ve always prided myself in being a content-rich speaker so imagine my surprise when I had the following conversation after a speech. A couple ladies cornered me and said, “You had a lot of content in your speech.” I said, “Thank you.” Then they said, “We mean you […]
Continue readingDid you know that, within the first 30 seconds of your speech, your audience members will have decided whether or not they want to hear more? What are you doing with your first 30 seconds? Most speakers open with Unpleasant pleasantries by stating something like, “Thank you so much for having me here. It’s a real pleasure.” […]
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