What's Your Theme For 2015?
We are already more than three weeks into the new year and there has been a lot of talk about new year resolutions. But I wonder whether you are sticking to your resolutions? Have you already broken them or at least some of them? Often we set too many or make them completely unrealistic so that it is impossible to stick to them. Here's an alternative...
What to Do When Things Go Wrong During a Presentation
How to Take Your Presentations From Good to Great
During a recent Professional Speaking Association event Patricia Fripp, award-winning keynote speaker, business presentation expert, sales presentation skills trainer and in-demand speech coach, put presentations under the microscope and offered advice for how to make a good presentation great. Here is an overview of her top tips...
10 Tips to Make Challenging Conversations Easier
If you're someone who avoids conversations that you perceive may be difficult, you'll probably already know that this can lead to further miscommunication, upset and angst. It is crucial to ensure that you find a way to express yourself so in this post you'll find some tips for preparing and managing the conversation...
'Let Go' and Improve Your Public Speaking
What to Wear When Presenting
Whether we like it or not, people are making judgements about us from the moment they first see us. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a great first impression. Therefore, when we are speaking in public it is crucial to think about the image we are presenting as this can have an effect on how the audience perceives us and receives our message...
How to answer the question 'So, what do you do?'
7 Simple Rules of the Stage for Presenters
Lessons From My Most Difficult Speech Ever
Delivering the the eulogy at my brother's funeral was tough; however, at that emotionally challenging time, I was grateful I was able to write and deliver a well-crafted, succinct and heartfelt tribute to him because I had taken the time to develop my public speaking skills. Here are some lessons from my most difficult speech ever...
10 Tips for Motivating Your Team
How to Ensure Your Pitch Strikes the Right Note
I have developed a simple formula for what I like to call a 'pitchtastic' pitch. It can be applied to any type of pitch from a 30 second elevator pitch that you might deliver at a networking event right through to pitching for millions of pounds worth of investment. This post looks at each element of the formula individually...
Dos and Don’ts for Pitching Competitions (and other important presentations)
Pitching competitions are a great opportunity for companies to raise funding and support to grow their business, but in order to win you need to be able to stand out from the competition. Based on what I observed at a Scottish EDGE fund final, here is a list of dos and don’ts to help your next presentation or pitch stand out...
5 Tips to Weed Out Self Doubt and Cultivate Confidence
Do you feel confident and positive all the time? If you are like most people, your confidence can wax and wane depending on the circumstances. However, lack of confidence and low self-esteem can impact on every area of our lives. In this post I share my tips on how to weed out self doubt and cultivate your confidence...
21 Best Quotes About Public Speaking
9 Attention Grabbing Ways to Open a Presentation
During the first 30-60 seconds of your presentation, your audience will decide whether they like you and are interested in listening to what you have to say. It’s a very short time to draw people in and it’s important to ensure that you don’t waste those first few precious moments to effectively engage them so here are 9 attention grabbing ways to open your presentation...
7 Worst Ways to Open a Presentation
Speaking Tips from the Man Who Has Spoken At 2,500 Funerals
This week I was delighted to have the opportunity to interview Neil Dorward who is known as The Legacy Man. He was the first full time civil funeral celebrant in Scotland, and has written and delivered over 2500 funerals in the past nine years. In this post he shares a bit about his work and some great tips for public speaking...