Emotional Connection To win over your audience, you must connect emotionally. With well-chosen words, you can open your presentation and establish an immediate emotional bond. s a presentation skills coach, when I work with a group, I’ll invite individuals to come to the front and deliver their opening lines. On one occasion, up walked Stephen. […]

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There are no boring subjects. There are only boring speakers. It doesn’t matter what your content or topic is, when presented well, it can be interesting and educational and make an emotional connection to the audience. There are some who claim that public speaking is merely knowing your subject. They take the attitude that having […]

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A eulogy is a speech given at a memorial service in memory of a person who has died. The purpose is to recall the defining qualities and highlights of a life lived in a way that benefits the audience, particularly the family. It should capture the essence of the life lived. That means it can […]

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Tips on How to Give an Acceptance Speech Accepting an award is like walking a tightrope. You need to be gracious, grateful, and humble, yet not so humble or self-deprecating that the audience thinks you are trivializing the honor. In May of 2022, Dan Maddux, my best long-time client and Executive Director of the American […]

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Congratulations! You’ve been asked to moderate a panel. This is a great opportunity to build your reputation and add value to your customers. Moderating a panel can be more challenging than delivering a keynote speech. As you probably realize, when you moderate a panel discussion, you have multiple responsibilities and many more elements to stay […]

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The Importance of the Pause in Public Speaking and Executive Presentations can not be over estimated. Continuing my comparison with Hollywood..

Alan Alda says, “It is the stuff between the lines that makes it a great performance.”

(I know I hate that word stuff. However, it is an actual quote.)

When you pause the audience has time to digest what you have just said. The faster you speak, the more you have to open up your talk with silence.

Consider where you have a comma, period, paragraph, and exclamation mark, an underline or … Use this as a guide for pauses.

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