How Do You Know if You’ve Given a “Good” Speech? As public speakers, we want to do our best. But presentations can be hard to evaluate. Was it a good speech if: You felt comfortable? The audience was engaged (and what about the audience that’s hung over, only got 3 hours of sleep last night, and Read More
TED
Giving a TED-Style Talk? Here’s How They’re Different from Business Presentations
In the past few years, TED, TEDx, and TED-style talks have become so pervasive and so popular that, even in business settings, speakers are often asked to give “a TED talk.” (And BTW, TEDx refers to independently organized events held for local communities, or communities of interest.) If you have a TED, TEDx, or TED-style talk coming Read More
How Joe Kowan Beat Stage Fright (and You Can, Too)
“Embracing??” “Exploiting?” Do these sound like words you would use in relation to fear of public speaking, a/k/a stage fright? Probably not. But Joe Kowan, who performed and spoke as part of a TED program said: By thinking about my audience… by embracing and exploiting my problem, I was able to take something that was blocking my Read More
TED Has Eliminated Two Things That Used to Be Said In Most Speeches: Hello and Thank You. Should You?
Even, if you’ve never heard of TED talks, they’ve changed the way you think about public speaking. I’ll get to how this happened in just a minute. But first… Who the H*** Is TED, Anyway?? TED isn’t a person. It’s an organization (the letters stand for technology, entertainment, design) that, for more than 30 years, has Read More
Introverts, Embrace Your Quiet Power!
Thanks to Susan Cain’s superb book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, people have suddenly made a stunning discovery: Introverts aren’t shy, reclusive losers; we actually add value! Why Is That a Surprise? This is surprising to many, in part, because introverts like Cain (and me), have done such a Read More