The Only Reason to Give a Speech
“What exactly do you mean, ‘the only reason to give a speech is to change the world?’” That comment greeted ...
The Dirty Secret of Public Speaking – and What to Do About It
One of the dirty secrets of public speaking is that audiences don’t remember much of what you say. I’ve seen ...
Authenticity, Artifice, and Presentation Prep
We live in an era when the demand for authenticity trumps a number of qualities that our society (and others) ...
What’s Wrong With Acronyms?
Just because it’s possible to sum up the key takeaways in your presentation in one of those annoying acronyms doesn’t ...
The Three Tasks of a Public Speaker
The work of a public speaker is never done. You can never complete your expertise – true knowledge of a ...
How to Prepare a Presentation
How do you prepare for an upcoming presentation? Let’s say it’s an important one, so you’re not going to wing ...
Slideware: Just Don’t Do It
I was talking this week to a very nice group of folks who were prepping me for a speech to ...
The Five Basic Secrets of Great Speechwriting
This is my most popular blog post ever. I'm trying to grab a little vacation this week, so enjoy, and ...
Which Is Better — A Humble Speaker or an Arrogant One?
Should a speaker be humble or – its opposite? Let’s call it ‘arrogant’? ‘Conceited’? ‘Egotistical’? Or the more neutral ‘assertive’? ...
The Promises a Speaker Makes
A speaker makes two kinds of promises to an audience – the explicit and the implicit. Explicit promises involve foreshadowing, ...
