Ever feel you’re losing your audience? Or have you ever seen a speaker who is merrily going through their presentation without realising that the audience is a little bored or disconnected? I believe the solution is to really engage them by trying to notice your audience’s activity and behaviour, and responding to it. As a […]
Confidence is like a group of muscles, which you need to develop and strengthen. Let’s continue this excellent* analogy, for speaking confidence in particular: 1.) Conversations. A bit like running, in that they maintain overall speaking fitness and stamina. You may find that you’ve had fewer of these during the lockdown. 2.) Talking in meetings.
Confidence Workouts Read More »
Before your talk: plan properly. On the day itself: go with whatever happens. Great quote from Mike Tyson: ‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’ Eisenhower: ‘I have always found planning to be essential, but plans to be useless.’ And another military quote: ‘A plan never survives first contact with the
Confident Speaking: Planning vs Go With the Flow Read More »
In many video games and role-playing board games, you can choose what type of character to play as. For example, in a military or fantasy game, you will probably see these roles: Heavy/Warrior (AKA ‘Tank’): big, slow and powerful, you can deal out lots of damage, take lots of damage, but not a lot else. I see this
Speaking Style: Play to Your Strengths Read More »
It’s Showtime! The opening night of a show in London’s West End is scary for everyone involved; the most recent dress rehearsals may have gone OK, but now there are hundreds of actual paying customers (and some ruthless reviewers). Success tonight is vital if the show is to continue, and if so, it may run for many years
