Over the years I’ve realized there is one formula that most speakers rarely use that, if they used, would keep their audiences hooked and hungry for the entire presentation. It doesn’t take long to put into place but it has a very long-lasting effect on the audience because it makes them constantly say, “Tell me […]
Continue readingIf you want to thrive in speaking and continue to get opportunity after opportunity, that’s as easy as ABC. ABC stands for… Always Be Creating” Resting on your old material will eventually make your speeches go stale. Creating new, fresh material is a pathway to creating speeches people talk about for years and getting hire […]
Continue readingI’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.” They looked at me with concerned expressions and said, “We mean you had […]
Continue readingWhat you do in the first two minutes can absolutely make or break your speech. My number one goal is to connect quickly with my audience and I can do this using humor, curiosity, and involvement. Click below to listen to the first two minutes of a recent 45-minute keynote speech I gave to […]
Continue readingYou might have the greatest content in the world, but, if you do not connect with your audience, it all goes to waste. That’s like being on the phone and having something very important to tell your friend but the call keeps dropping. No matter what you had to say will not get through. However, […]
Continue readingWhat is the key to great speaking? You will find the answer within this post. Before you do, let’s take a look at a brief coaching session I had with a speaker in Seattle. You can use the same tools he picked up to build an unbreakable connection with your very next audience. Tool #1: […]
Continue readingRecently, at a speech to university students in Tokyo, Japan, I asked my audience a question and nobody responded. Instead, the students looked at me as if they wanted to respond but could not. So what did I do? I went to the method that has never failed me for as long as I’ve been […]
Continue readingThe following mistakes will keep you from making the impact you should have and from being the speaker you should be. Be honest in evaluating whether you make the mistakes or not. Then, and only then, can you change them. 1. Don’t use too much set-up before you get into your story. This is a […]
Continue readingThat past 12 years of professional speaking have taught me something invaluable that I never expected to learn about audiences. Your connection to them often comes from what you didn’t plan to do or say Spontaneity Sparks Speaking Success Surely you can connect with your planned content. However, audience members love to feel […]
Continue readingTo become a top-notch speaker and keep improving, it is important to internalize valuable speaking truths. Now, these are my truths but I’ve certainly found them to work for the hundreds of speakers I have personally coached. I suggest that you tack these Reminders up in your workspace and keep them in front of […]
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