Public speaking instruction often focuses on eye contact, voice projection, and what to do with your hands while you’re talking. Equally important to mastering these physical techniques is developing and deploying good and original content. As an executive speech coach people ask me, “What do I talk about?” “How do I start my speech?”
Read More...Be the Audience You Want to Have
What should we do if we find ourselves in an audience listening to someone who has not yet learned how to structure and deliver an engaging presentation? “Every audience has a responsibility,” says my brother, the legendary guitarist Robert Fripp. Bill Gove, the first president of the National Speakers Association taught NSA members, “You are responsible […]
Read More...How to Use Visuals So They Support Your Presentation
Use technology to enhance your message, not to eclipse it. Two executives came to me to develop a speech about a new product. They spent some time describing it, but what they said was so complicated that it was challenging for me to even begin to understand what it was that they were selling. I […]
Read More...6 Mistakes Sales Professionals Make in Their Sales Presentations
You have a competitive edge when your sales presentations are more powerfully persuasive in your than your competition’s. Are you losing sales you feel you deserve to make? Would it be helpful if your prospect remembered what you said? Would it be beneficial if three weeks later, your prospect could repeat your key ideas? Would […]
Read More...Public Speaker Improve Your Stories with Hollywood Techniques
For the fourth time Hollywood and NSA Royalty collide! Officers of the National Speakers Association Northern California Chapter (NSANC) are excited to present a very special program on Saturday, May 3, 2014 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Patricia Fripp and Michael Hauge give both another reason to celebrate that special show business bond. Registration: 8:30am […]
Read More...What Are the Secrets Behind Good Stories? Michael Hauge & Patricia Fripp Join Forces May 3, 2014
Hollywood story consultant, author, and screenwriting coach, Michael Hauge joins forces with me to help speakers and business leaders improve their stories and examples for more effective presentations. I often say, “Stories are the best way to explain the complex, and also help the audience ‘see’ your message.” Michael Hauge & Patricia Fripp Join Forces […]
Read More...What Discipline Can Do for Natural Talent
Before I became a successful professional speaker and executive speech coach, I was one of San Francisco’s top men’s hairstylists. As I said on 60 Minutes – and if you’re on 60 Minutes someday, you WILL tell EVERYBODY – “I used to work on the outside of peoples’ heads, now I work on the inside, […]
Read More...The Communicator’s Job – Can You Improve Your Speaking and Writing?
I first had the honor of speaking at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference in 2003. It was an exciting experience and I made many new friends, including John Howze who kindly allowed me share his “best of” conference notes with my readers. Consider how you might incorporate some of these ideas into your public speaking and […]
Read More...How to Become a Storyteller…Two Minutes at a Time
More than any words you say in your keynote speech or sales presentation, your audience will remember what they “see” in their minds through your stories. No matter what our culture, we grow up feeling that hearing a story is somehow a reward – this is just one of the factors that make stories the […]
Read More...How to Make A Sale by Making Your Questions Count
This is a follow up to my post on how you can solve “who cares?” syndrome in your sales presentations. We discussed the importance of asking good questions in order to discover how a client can benefit from your product or service. With that, here is a strategic approach to several aspects of asking questions […]
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