Imagine, you’ve done all the work to prepare and rehearse a major presentation and at the last minute you’re told, “I’m so sorry, but we’re short on time. Can you give us the five-minute version?” Is it possible to shorten a presentation without losing all of your impact? Yes. Don’t panic. After all, a sound […]
Read More...For Engineers – How to Speak Effectively at Customer Conferences
When you’re an engineer presenting at a user meeting or customer conference, you are the expert on the topic you plan to deliver to your customers. Remember, your audience does not want to know everything you know; they just need to know about the subject of your presentation. You can connect with your audience, regardless […]
Read More...Criticism: How to Turn Gripes into Growth
Criticism: How to Turn Gripes into Growth Criticism, also known as feedback, can help us improve our presentation skills. No one enjoys being criticized, but if you want to succeed, you must overcome your natural instincts and actively seek out feedback, good and bad. After years as a professional speaker, I understand. Some years I […]
Read More...Why Is Eye Contact Important? How Long? When?
Your presentation can be powerful and persuasive when you connect with your audience both intellectually and emotionally. Eye contact is essential to creating an emotional connection with an audience of any size. This is true whether you’re speaking one-on-one or delivering a formal presentation from the stage. Eye contact gives you an edge in business. […]
Read More...One Little-Known Secret to Sound intelligent in a Speech – Expert Advice
Choose your words carefully to build credibility, sound intelligent, and make your message understood. When you do, you can be repeated frequently from boardroom to convention hall.
Read More...Want to Be Regarded As A Brilliant Conversationalist?
What makes someone a brilliant conversationalist? Brilliant conversationalists engage others by asking excellent questions. You can improve the quality of all of your conversations, professional and personal, when you ask good questions and then listen, really listen, to the responses. This is also one of the best ways to get smarter. Maybe you know of […]
Read More...Want to Know the Secret to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas to Senior Management?
As a Presentation Skills Expert, I’m often asked, “Patricia, how do I report to my senior management without being nervous?” The secret is to be prepared, clear, concise, and to act confident. Now, how do you appear confident when you’re nervous? First, prepare. Script out exactly what you are going to say, at least the […]
Read More...What Do You Really Mean? Specificity Is The Key to Credibility
What Do You Really Mean? Every day in my role as an executive speech coach and the creator of FrippVT, I always say, “Specificity builds credibility.” I listen to intelligent engineers, experienced leaders, and true experts in every field and find that too many are sloppy speakers. If you want to build your credibility, listen […]
Read More...When A New Relationship Is Worth Millions – Expert Advice
Imagine my surprise when the national sales manager said to 60 of his top associates, “At lunch the sales team and I agreed, we have no idea how we managed to sell anything before we met Patricia!” He told me, “It takes a year for us to get the opportunity to deliver an hour presentation […]
Read More...What Is The Biggest Mistake Sales Professionals Make?
“Patricia, what is the biggest mistake sales professionals make?” I was recently asked this in an interview. My answer? Not rehearsing. I expected to hear, “We lock the presentation team in the board room for a week. We go over our parts, video, and review. Then we bring in at least five different audiences of […]
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