The Pause that Refreshes
Don’tyouhateitwhenspeakersneverpause? Pausing is to speaking as punctuation is to writing. Both enhance comprehension. Pausing is perhaps even more important because a live audience can’t go back and re-listen the same way a reader can go back and re-read. Pausing increases comprehension in several ways. Pausing: Reduces the overall rate of speaking Gives the audience time […]
Talk from Your Belly Button: Project Your Voice
“Your carefully chosen phrases will be meaningless,” I told my presentation client, “if no one hears you.” My soft-spoken client was preparing for an important presentation and we were doing a rehearsal in the large meeting room where it would be held. I sat near the front. I sat near the back. I tried to […]
Smile! Don’t be a Stiff Presenter!
Which person’s presentation would you rather attend? This person’s presentation? Or, this person’s presentation? In the top picture, I am displaying my neutral face. I am neither happy nor sad. But don’t I look a little sad, maybe even angry? I also look every one of my 51 years. Gravity is starting to give me […]
Speak with Confidence: Stand and Move with Power and Purpose
I could tell they were all nervous. Julia’s hands shook. Justin kept his left hand in his pocket. Darcy flailed her hands. As each student came up to give their first speech in my class, their body language, and especially their hands telegraphed their speech jitters. Hand in pocket Clasped hands Flailing hands Fig leaf […]