We’d all like to sound (and feel!) cool, calm, collected, and prepared when we’re called on to speak off-the-cuff or to answer an unexpected question. The Public Speaking Rule of 3 is a great technique for accomplishing that goal… and here are three examples of how: 1. Media Interviews: Use the Rule of 3 to Transition to Read More
100 Top Public Speaking Tips
Public Speaking Tip 95: Find Out If You Have Unconscious Bias (Including Bias Against YOURSELF)
What Is Unconscious Bias? If you’re like me (in other words, breathing), you can probably list many human qualities, and possibly some groups of people, that you think are inferior. That’s because — whether bias is hard-wired in us, or a habit from our tribal past — we human beings are really good at noticing how other people are different from us, and Read More
Public Speaking Tip 34: Lead Your Audience
Lead Your Audience Like a Tour Guide When you stand before an audience to give a speech, you take on a responsibility that’s somewhat like that of a wilderness tour guide. Your audience is putting themselves in your hands. They’re about to venture into new territory — a series of ideas that may be unfamiliar to them — Read More
Public Speaking Tip 44: Make Small Talk in Business Settings, Using the “Respond and Return” Technique
You’ll do more business, and better business, if you make small talk and connect with your clients, colleagues, higher-ups, and prospects — and it’s easy if you embrace a technique that I call respond and return. Before we look at how, though, let’s clear up a matter of protocol: How Do You Know Whether or Not to Make Small Read More
Public Speaking Tip 94: Women (and Men), Watch Out for Upspeak — It Can Hurt Your Career
What Is Upspeak, and Why Should You Care? Let’s start with something so obvious that you may not have thought about it: When you want to ask a question (and you’re speaking American English), your voice rises at the end of what you’re saying, like this: But sometimes, people’s voices rise at the end of a thought Read More