Resources to improve your public speaking and presentation skills.
17Jul
02Jul
Screen Apnoea
Have you heard of screen apnea?
Also called email apnea, this is a very unhelpful state that can occur when we are on devices or looking at a desktop and focusing. We either hold our breath or enter very shallow breathing patterns. Of course, when this happens, we go into low-level fight-flight. Because the system is always activated (and I'm sure you can join the dots on why I'm talking about this in terms of speaking, presenting, or difficult situations) if you're already in that state at work without even necessarily being aware of it, how much easier is it to escalate to...
16Jun
The Audience Takes its Cue From You
What you put out, you are likely to get back.
To give you a metaphor illustrating this: If you're the slug at the front, expect your audience to be slugs in the seats. This may be an extreme visual, but there's so much truth in it. Your audience will respond to your energy, vibrancy, and engagement with the topic, and what they see from you as the presenter or speaker is what they will mirror back. So if you're low in energy or appear disinterested, be prepared for that to come right back at you. Of course, we need to expand on this metaphor—you...
05Jun
Internalise don’t Memorise
If you’re preparing for a talk or an interview, and you write down the exact words that you want to say first and then try and remember them in the event, you’ve potentially got an issue.
You may get:
disconnected from the meaning behind the words, because you're so hung up on getting exact wording right. disconnected from the audience because you're in your head rather than with them. distracted by trying to remember the correct words or phrases. frustrated if something you said didn't come out exactly as you wanted it to. In all these cases, you've - even temporarily - lost...
08May
Asking Questions
When you give a presentation, do you ask enough questions? Even if they’re rhetorical questions, many people don't have enough questions in their presentations. It's simply a series of statements. And the higher level thinking or the more familiar the topic, the more involved we are, the less easier it is to remember that sometimes we need to flip and turn a statement into a rhetorical question. For example, I was working with a client in sustainability who had some incredible stats, that she simply clicked through to on the slides and… there they were. And that was a perfect moment, which we...
10Apr
Want to be a More Powerful Speaker?
Extend your vocal range.
You'd probably agree with me that one of the most crucial aspects of an audience's ability to "hear" us is the amount of vocal contrast we use. (There are other contrast aspects too, topics for another day.) Coming across as varied enough is a key challenge that so many speakers have to face. Low vocal range equals low contrast, and low contrast leads to low engagement. We all have a natural range, don't we? Varying from very little change (almost monotone in delivery), to highly expressive...even dramatic! You can probably think of people who demonstrate very different ends of that scale! If...
12Mar
How strong is your mind-to-mouth connection?
One of the things we’re always aiming for when we speak is to be clear. Sometimes to be impactful as well, but definitely to be clear.
[Video content is below, too, if you prefer to watch.] And one of the key reasons that we don’t achieve this clarity goal is when our mouth is ahead of our mind: we don't have a strong mind-to-mouth connection. When our mouth is running the show, any of these issues can happen. I'm sure you'll recognise yourself in at least one of them! Most people do at least one of these on a regular basis. We: Ramble ...
28Feb
Do you Prefer “I feel” or “I think” when you Speak? And Why it Matters.
Speaking with a younger client hoping for promotion this week, she was telling me about meeting a partner in her firm to discuss her concerns about a team process.
And I noticed in her retelling of the conversation with him that she was continually using “I feel” and “I felt” to describe what she was observing. Even though there were feelings involved on her part, using this language can be a concern for a few reasons: For us. Saying “I feel” - it’s personal. It’s closer to us. We are actually priming ourselves to attach more strongly to the idea we’re expressing. This...
12Feb
Don’t fight reality when speaking in public
Many of my clients try to fight or deny the reality of their situation when they have a presentation or important event coming up. And I've found, interestingly, that while it’s more for fearful or anxious clients, it's also common with highly confident clients who lack the time or focus to devote to their talks or presentations. Fighting your reality plays out in three different timeframes. You may recognise all, or just one of them:
1st: leading up to the event.
You procrastinate and put off preparing your slide deck or notes. In fact you may not give yourself any thinking time at...
30Jan
How Much Time Should You Spend on Context in an Interview?
Whether you're answering a behavioural interview question using the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Actions, Results/Reflections), or giving upfront context during a presentation or meeting: what's the best % ratio to use when you're giving that context? How can you avoid spending too long on setting the scene? I used to get bogged down in detail with this (and still have to stay alert to the danger!) - and so do many people I work with. Getting the ratio right can make the difference between your audience tuning out and drifting to thoughts of lunch or the weekend, or staying engaged right to the end. In this video, I...