In school, Denise Galloni was the last person you would expect to become a speaker. She was voted the quietest girl in her class. But she went on a journey to change that. Now, she’s a speaker, corporate trainer, and award winning Toastmaster with her own local TV show empowering women in her community to succeed.
2-Minute Tip: Practice Breathing Breathing is, of course, an essential step in speaking. After all, it’s how we make sounds. But it’s more than that. Getting adequate air into our lungs calms us down. It helps us counter act the nerves many speakers experience. It ensures our brain has the oxygen it needs to stay on task. And it enhances the volume and confidence with which we speak. To practice…
2-Minute Tip — Remove Filler Words Filler or crutch words are the bane of many a speaker’s existence. The ums, ahs, likes, verys, you knows, and more clutter up our talks and conversation so much we don’t even notice them. They waste time, annoy the audience and distract from your message. So get rid of them. Easier said than done. One technique is to have a friend or colleague listen…
Most people don’t think of leadership in the military as serving those under your command. But then again, Air Force Technical Sergeant Lyle Tard isn’t most people. Join us this week as we talk about #PublicSpeaking, training in the #Military, and the importance Servant Leadership.
2-Minute Tip: Challenge the Audience to Discover Truth Immediately challenge the audience to discover a truth about themselves that proves the premise of your talk. If the group knows that you have an appreciation or understanding of their personal (or business) situation, they will engage. As a bonus, make them laugh within the first 30 seconds. Post Tip Discussion: Meet Amy Lyle I always enjoy to talking…
2-Minute Tip: Don’t Squander Water Cooler Talk After winning or losing a big sale in a store there’s tendency to brag or vent to colleagues around a literal or metaphorical water cooler. It happens after a big talk, too. We celebrate the brilliance or decry the stupidity of an audience. Don’t. It’s not effective. It won’t help you win or save more sales in the…
2-Minute Tip: Practice To be successful, there is no substitution for preparation. Practice. Rehearse. Prepare. And then practice some more. When you see speakers who make it look easy — who effortlessly string together words and phrases and jokes and more — it’s usually not off the cuff. It’s because they’ve practiced. Put in the time and know your stuff cold so that you can come up…
2-Minute Tip: Greet Your Audience A lot of speakers pace back stage or pound coffee or try to deal with nerves in other ways before going out to speak. Instead, go out into the audience as folks are arriving, and greet audience members. Have a brief chat to get to know folks. This accomplishes a few things. It gives you something to do and…
2-Minute Tip: Choose Your Headline As you frame your talk, make sure you choose the headline for it. Flip through a newspaper or magazine and look at the headlines. Their job is to give you a little bit of information in a way that is compelling enough that you want to read more. They have to be short. They can be funny, But when you define the headlines…
2-Minute Tip: Listen Actively Speaking is about more than just giving a speech. It’s about meeting the needs of the event organizer, getting the logistics right, and helping to put everyone at ease. One way to do that is with active listening. When meeting with your event organizer, customer, colleague or SME, there are some things you can do to help everything run smoothly. Look…