| July 14 - Get Yourself on Video Want to see how the audience sees you? Get yourself on video. Have someone video your next speaking engagement. It will give you an opportunity to see yourself from the audience's point of view. It is amazing how many things we do when we speak that we do not realize. Once you become aware of distracting habits, you can take steps to fix them. You can also use the tape to better critique your speach content. |
| July 21 - Improve You Speaking Skills One of the best ways to improve your speaking skills is to increase your confidence. Confidence is a combination of Experience, Inner Communication and External Communication. Experience: Doing boosts confidence. Thinking about it, but never getting in front of a crowd will do little to expand your experience. Speaking works like riding a bike -- you have to work at it. Inner Communication: What do you tell yourself about the way you speak? Your mental thoughts can improve your confidence or make you insecure. But it is not as simple as just saying it. The key is to believe it based on what you know to be true, so focus on the things you do well when you speak. External Communication: A person who you hold in high regard possesses a lot of power concerning your feelings. What they say to you acts as pleasure or poison because of what you feel about them. Guard yourself from those who would intentionally hurt you with their words. |
| July 28 - Focus One fundamental principle for successful speaking is focus - everything must connect. Every point, illustration, joke, principle, prop or chart must connect to the purpose of the presentation. That is focus. Without focus you will leave your audience scratching their heads, wondering where you are going. Focus is elementary but it is rare that you and I hear tight speeches that do not drift. It is not necessary to take every story and joke you know and pour it into one speech. Doing this would result in a flurry of words that are not connected, leaving your audience confused and the speaker with unwarrented fear. The best speakers are focused. |
| Past Speaking Tips of the Week - July |
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