There seems to be an inherent insecurity around being able to accomplish good public speaking consistently. Even people who are skilled speakers worry about “losing the magic” or not being “in the zone.” I get it—I’ve definitely had experiences when it feels like a talk I’m giving reaches a place it hasn’t gone before, where … Read more
Presenting with Impact
In our coaching approach, we are really high on practice. My standard instruction is, “You should have your content complete at least a week before you are going to present, so that you don’t have to adjust at the last minute.” But let’s have some real talk. It’s rare that we’re working that far ahead. … Read more
When we commit to memorizing all or part of our talk, we also have to make another commitment. It’s this: we must commit to rehearsing in a way that ensures that our intention isn’t “to say the words in the right order.” This came to mind for me recently when a client told me he … Read more
Someday you might do a talk where you use notes, or you have a teleprompter. If you do, please think about this: Our instinct is to look at the next thing we have to say as we’re coming to the end of the current thing we’re saying. We sort of capture the rest of the … Read more
Speakers and presenters sometimes get feedback from an audience that they seemed “rehearsed.” If you said this to an orchestra or a corps of dancers, it would be a compliment—of course they rehearsed. It would be a very weird experience to watch musicians or dancers who were unrehearsed. But when people say it to speakers, … Read more
William Shakespeare knew a lot about appealing to an audience. He wrote quickly, and he wrote to make money. He knew that he needed to create plays that made different kinds of people happy, from the working class groundlings to the Queen of England. Here’s how he did it: He included something for everyone. Even … Read more
My company coaches and leads workshops for people and teams who typically have been in the workforce for a while. Very often, they’ve had other coaching in public speaking skills. I know this in two ways. One, they tell me. “Well, you know we did two days with X company ten years ago, so…” [read: … Read more
I am a big admirer of public speaking coach and overall interesting thinker Nick Morgan. His book, Can You Hear Me?: How to Connect with People in a Virtual World, is one of the resources I have turned to most often in the last 18 months. Because I appreciate Nick’s writing, I’m always particularly pleased … Read more
In the last twenty years, we have become cyborgs. Our humanity is intersecting into our technology, and the submersion is accelerating. There are lots of examples of this phenomenon, from our phones constantly in our hands to the intermediary of screens in many areas of our work and personal lives. But today what is blowing … Read more
If your PowerPoint slides can do the work of your presentation without you, just email it out and save everyone the trouble and expense of travel. Elevate your presentation beyond the slide deck. We can read your slides at home; we came to listen to you. Learn about Ignite’s Presenting with Impact workshop here!
