Audience Management Archives - Improve Your Public Speaking Presentation and Influence Skills Training Coaching Melbourne Australia

11JunJune 11, 2020

How to Show Warmth to Any Audience

How can we deliberately show warmth to any audience? Or to a person we're about to communicate with 1:1? No matter what sort of a mood we're in before we speak, or how we feel about that audience? And fast? I've been working with a client this week on exactly this concept. I asked him how he believed he came across in meetings with his team when he opened the conversation - was there any specific process that he followed at the start? His reply was basically "No process...and how do I come across? It depends on how I'm feeling". This is...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, Body Language, Delivery, Mindsetaudience connection, authentic public speaking, emotional contagion leaders, emotional leakage, extend goodwill to audience, high audience engagement0 CommentsRead more...

30AprApril 30, 2020

Setting a Presentation Rhythm

A good way to get your audience's attention at the start of your talk is by setting a presentation rhythm. Lay out for them a plan about how your talk is going to unfold, and then follow that rhythm. You're basically giving an agenda, with rhythmic pace built into it. And it sounds simple, but I don't often see it done. The case for setting a presentation rhythm Rhythm is primal. Our connection to it starts before birth with our mother's heartbeat, and it's an integral part of our voice, speech and communication. And we've been communicating using rhythm for thousands of...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, content, Delivery, RehearsalEvelyn Glennie, Peggy Noonan, rhythmic presentation pace0 CommentsRead more...

13JunJune 13, 2019

Are Stories in Presentations Always Persuasive?

Using stories in presentations In today's video, I briefly discuss using stories in presentations to be more persuasive. The idea of using a story to help get your audience across the 'persuasion and influence' line is very common. Whether we're aiming to change people's mood, change their mind or get them to take real action. And when I talk about a story, I don't mean a cosy, fluffy tale, like someone reading to us in primary school or before we go to sleep! I simply mean using what I call 'humanity' to balance out facts, data, statistics. Most great presentations have...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, business meetings, content, Persuasion, Selling, StructureChip and Dan Heath, Influence and Persuade your Audience, Made to Stick, persuasion techniques, stories in business presentations1 CommentRead more...

13JulJuly 13, 2018

How Many Slides Should I Use?

I was working with a new executive client yesterday who had a list of questions for me including a burning one "how many slides should I use? I've got 62 at this point." He has an hour-long 5 year business plan presentation to give to his entire company in a couple of weeks. I'm often asked this question and obviously clients would love a definitive answer… however the true answer is "it depends". (But probably not 62!) How Many Slides Should I Use? A big point to remember around this whole 'slide' topic: you are the presentation, not your slides! Firstly: do you need...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, business meetings, content, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogaudience understanding and engagement, business plan presentation, communicate a message, do I need slides?, interpret slides for audience, using too many slides0 CommentsRead more...

18MayMay 18, 2017

Nervous Speaker? Where Does your Focus Naturally Go?

So you're a nervous speaker: where does your focus naturally go? Updated 2019 Today's video post is around a link to some interesting research on where your eyes and attention go if you're an anxious presenter. This is assuming you're able to look up and 'take in' your audience - and if you're nervous, that's not a given! (I put myself in that category: my eyes used to dart around the room when I was afraid of speaking. Eye contact was way too difficult!) Nervous Speaker - Where Does your Focus Naturally Go? So if you're a nervous speaker, where does your focus...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, Delivery, Mindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Bloganxious public speaking, British Psychological Society Research Digest, Cognition and Emotion, eye contact public speaking, focus nervous speaker, Muyu Lin, negative audience, nervous speaker2 CommentsRead more...

28AprApril 28, 2017

The Best Tool to Engage an Audience?

The best tool to engage an audience Updated 2019 What's our best tool to engage an audience? Assuming that our goal when presenting is to communicate well enough that our audience understands our message and can act on it. For this to happen of course, we need initially to get their attention. And this audience interest needs to happen almost straight away, or they'll drift, and we may not get them back again. (Smartphones are always beckoning!) So how do we get their attention? One great way is to: Create curiosity. Hopefully I did that with the title of this blog post! If you're reading...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, content, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogengaging presentation, engaging speech openings, engaging with audience, high audience engagement, Simon Sinek How Great Leaders Inspire Action TED, Tony Robbins Why We Do What We Do TED talk, using questions in presentations0 CommentsRead more...

05MayMay 5, 2016

5 Public Speaking Skills Donald Trump Gets Right

5 Public Speaking Skills Donald Trump Gets Right Whatever you think of Donald Trump - and he certainly provokes strong opinions - he has his own style, and breaks plenty of rules. As a public speaking coach, I find watching him strangely compelling - in small doses! Here are 5 public speaking skills I believe Trump gets right when he's speaking to audiences: 5 Public Speaking Skills Donald Trump Gets Right 1. He has strong, open body language. When you watch Trump speaking, he is usually behind a lectern; but although this can be a barrier between speaker and audience, he compensates as much...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogauthentic public speaking, body language in public speaking; public speaking coach, Donald Trump, getting attention of audience, public speaking skills, vocal presence0 CommentsRead more...

25NovNovember 25, 2015

Public Speaking Mistakes I’ve Made

Public Speaking Mistakes I've Made I've made many public speaking mistakes: especially in the early days, when I was feeling my way and still learning what worked and what didn't. So today I thought I'd give you three mistakes that I used to make - mistakes which threw up roadblocks for my audiences and stopped me being as engaging and professional as I wanted. Hopefully by sharing these errors, it might help you to avoid making them yourself! public speaking mistakes Mistake No. 1: too much content Cramming too much content into your talk: this one took me a long time to learn...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, content, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog0 CommentsRead more...

16JulJuly 16, 2015

Vocal Presence – Using your Voice to Own the Space

Vocal Presence - Using your Voice to Own the Space Creating vocal presence Our delivery style is crucial to getting a message across effectively to our audience, and one of the key factors in delivery is using our voice to create power, warmth and persuasiveness. Our voice gives our audience clear messages about our confidence, energy and vitality. When we contract and mentally “turn away” from the audience, our voice follows; we swallow our words, mumble and rush, or become monotonous or ‘lifeless’ in our tone. Of course, one thing which will always affect vocal presence is how much we trust ourselves and...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, Body Language, business meetings, Delivery, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog0 CommentsRead more...

02AprApril 2, 2015

Audience Brains Need Structure When You Speak In Public

Audience brains need structure when you speak in public Audience Brains Need Structure What's one thing that your audience really needs from you when you speak in public? A structure. It's so important to give them a clear framework for your content. Our brains are pattern-making machines. We're constantly scanning new information for patterns which we can relate to our current knowledge base, and we subconsciously try to create a logic by comparing and sorting information. If there's no logical flow, we'll be unhappy, even though we may not consciously know why. (Of course, if the presentation we've just sat through was a...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, content, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Structurebrain patterns, clear message, confident presentations, confident public speaking, framework for public speaking clarity, presentation structure, public speaking structure3 CommentsRead more...