There are two kinds of great pitching: One happens on a baseball diamond. The other happens when employees, entrepreneurs — really, anyone in business — “pitches” a prospect, donor, influencer, or boss to get support for a project or an idea. If you work “outside the home,” you’ve probably given a business pitch, and you’ll Read More
Public Speaking Skills and Techniques
Got One Minute? Build Your Skills With These Five Public Speaking Exercises
How can five public speaking exercises that take just one minute to complete help you become a better public speaker? Well, as with any physical discipline (and public speaking is physical; you speak with your body), a little bit of daily practice can produce more dramatic results than the occasional cram session. Yes, public speaking mastery takes Read More
How To Ask for What You Want
Public speaking — and effective communication in general — is always about preparation. So really, the title of this post should be… How To Prepare to Ask for What You Want I shared these tips at the annual conference of The Women’s Alliance of Xerox: So you get the point: When You Ask for What You Want, You’re Read More
How to Manage Yourself in Public Speaking and in Life
I recently had the kind of week that every consultant cherishes. I delivered three workshops and one major keynote speech to exciting organizations, all in a six-day period. So what did I learn from this whirlwind of activity (aside from, get to the airport early)? In Public Speaking, as in Life, Learning to Manage Yourself Read More
What If You Could Practice to Sound Exciting When You Speak in Public? You Can!
A new client recently shared this self-judgment: I’m not energetic, dynamic, funny, or entertaining. I speak in a monotone. When I asked how she practices her public presentations, she said, I walk around my office reading my bullet points, and then I do it from memory. I took this to mean, I read my bullet points Read More