Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog

Resources to improve your public speaking and presentation skills.

Which Music Can Make you Feel More Powerful Before you Present?

What Music Makes You Feel More Powerful? Updated October 2019 We all know that music can have a strong effect on our emotions (I've only ever met one person who claimed that music didn't affect her at all). And there was a study done back in 2014 about which types of music can make you powerful before you present, and lead to "higher perceived control over social events". The study, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, was inspired by the pre-game routines of athletes (Hsu et al., 2014). The authors explored 31 pieces from different genres of music (sports music, heavy...

7 Ways NOT to Open your Presentation

The opening of your talk is crucial: your main goal is to capture your audience's attention and show them why they should listen to you. It also sets the tone and direction of your presentation. This is often the time where you're most edgy, and the audience is most focused on you, so you don't want to get it wrong! So with that mind, here are some suggestions for what NOT to do at the opening of your speech. With these tips, I'm assuming that you're speaking to a group for the first time, or one which you don't know very...

Should you Move About When you Present, or Not?

Should you move around when presenting? As presenters, people tend to fall into two opposing ‘choreography’ camps when they’re in front of a group - you may recognise yourself here: You stand stock-still (often hiding behind – even hanging onto – the lectern), barely twitching except to advance a slide Advantage: you feel better because you’re in a safe space (or safer – of course it’s all relative!) Disadvantage: it’s a boring, un-engaging look for your audience, and using so little physical energy  is unhelpful for you too - if you're nervous, that adrenalin and cortisol will 'bank up' in your system and perpetuate any physical...

As a presenter, should you be interesting, or interested?

Be an interested presenter, not interesting When I was younger I used to worry that I was never interesting enough as a person; I was quite shy, and never one of the cool girls...and I used to fret that I had nothing special or exciting to say socially. Well one of the great things I've found about getting older is that I've become pretty comfortable with who I am - and I no longer worry when presenting to groups that I'm not an interesting or dynamic enough speaker. I know that my content is solid, and that the right audience will...

Why and Where to use Silence during your presentations

Presentation Delivery is like Waves on the Sea This topic is deceptively simple, but it’s such a crucial aid to your speaking success that it's worth revisiting. After all, we’ve heard the basics before - but we don't always remember to do them, right? Pauses Few presentations have enough of them – how do yours rate? Imagine that your presentation is like the ocean, each main point a wave rolling towards your audience who are standing on the shore. When you pause, it's like giving your audience "signposts in the sea" of waves about what's important in your presentation. Without these signposts, your waves of words...

4 Tips to Redefine Public Speaking Anxiety

Reducing Presentation Anxiety Do you feel anxious when you have to speak to groups? Obviously you're not alone: public speaking is one of the toughest social situations that most people have to deal with. I've felt it myself, many times. Yet it's also one of the greatest opportunities to leverage your time, energy and visibility if you're interested in advancing your career. Here are 4 tips which can help to shift your negativity, and make presenting a more positive experience.  1. Start to see yourself as 'presenting' in everyday situations: when you walk into a meeting, pay for petrol or buy a coffee....

My CRISPER Formula for Good Public Speaking

CRISPER Formula for Good Public Speakers People often ask me "what makes a good public speaker?" And on my journey from dreadful to competent presenter, I've done a lot of thinking about this - as well as working with all my clients. A couple of years ago I had fun (yes, I'm quirky like that!) creating an acronym for good presenters which I still like: the CRISPER formula. I would be fairly certain that even if you think you’re not a good speaker, when you read the list below you’ll find that you already exhibit one or more of these 7 skills when you speak...

Fear, and How to Build Belief around your Public Speaking

Building Belief I was talking with a client this week about her fears around failure and embarrassment when she gives a presentation at work, and how she felt they weren't normal.  I commented that they were indeed normal, and that we all have these fears as human beings.  It got me thinking about the different fears and needs we have, and how the ones below are so often triggered by public speaking. Fear of: failure rejection embarrassment discomfort uncertainty not being good enough And the needs we have: to be heard to be accepted to be loved When you look at these lists, it's no wonder that speaking in public is so difficult...

The Ultimate Motivation to Improve your Speaking Skills?

Ultimate Motivation to Change? We're guaranteed two things in this life: Nothing stays the same Death Now I'm not someone who has an easy relationship with the idea of death - far from it! But over the past 10 months I've lost my father, mother-in-law and aunt - and that's made it much harder to push away the knowledge that I too will die one day (and those whom I love). And along with that uncomfortable awareness, I've frequently found a new boldness to ignore my 'what-if's', particularly in business, and take action anyway. You know them I'm sure - the nagging thoughts we all...

Energy – Are you Missing this Vital Element for Speaking Success?

Your energy as a sparkler Having enough energy when presenting to carry your audience along with you - and get your message across - is a vital part of being a good presenter. I believe this is one reason why people are so often afraid of public speaking: because they know, even subconsciously, that they're ultimately responsible for the energy in the room and they have to lead it - and that's a real challenge if you're not comfortable with speaking to groups. The audience takes their cue from you: why should they respond and care about your presentation if you don't seem to?  I'm...