Alignment

Sometimes it feels like there’s a school of thought in public speaking training that “more is more.” Do more with your voice, more with your gestures, more with your movement. If some is good, more must be better! My view on this is that it gets confusing for the audience when we load up every … 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

One of my clients is up for a promotion, and we’ve been practicing the presentation she needs to give as part of that process. Recently she told me, “I practiced with a colleague the other day, and he told me that I look really serious. Do I need to smile more?” Sigh.  This is such … Read more

I was watching a recording of a keynote speaker recently. and he was good. I felt engaged with his content, he was enjoyable to listen to, and I was getting something out of the experience. Then, in one moment, my assessment shifted. To underscore a point, he spread his hands wide in what was obviously … Read more

I’m taking a sabbatical from writing new blog posts. You’ll be seeing some re-runs and old favorites for the next little while. You can always write me back with suggestions or ideas just by responding to this email! Do you ever have the experience of being sure you told someone an important something, but they … Read more

I’m taking a sabbatical from writing new blog posts. You’ll be seeing some re-runs and old favorites for the next little while. You can always write me back with suggestions or ideas just by responding to this email! When you’re starting a presentation, challenge yourself to engage the audience from your very first words. The … Read more

I’m taking a sabbatical from writing new blog posts. You’ll be seeing some re-runs and old favorites for the next little while. You can always write me back with suggestions or ideas just by responding to this email! There’s an important tenet in theatre that I want to share with you. It’s this: if a … Read more