The business of public speaking is a strange one. There’s no real “product” - not much to measure – and nothing you can put in a box or weigh in your hands. Just you talking. Your client wants to make the “perfect” decision and will often run you through a gauntlet of...
I struggle writing goals for the year. Don’t get me wrong - I’m all over project goals and making my Flight Plan for the week. But sitting down to write goals for the year makes my palms sweat and always feels like a blind dart toss. And the only thing worse than...
It happened four years ago and I never saw it coming. I was listening to another speaker, waiting my turn to present, when I witnessed an otherwise boring topic being delivered brilliantly. In fact, it was done so masterfully I’ve been using his advice every day...
There’s lots of opinions about how to start a speech. Some say start with a joke. Some with a story. Some with a confession. Some even use video to break the ice. All of those can work, but in this post I’m more talking about what comes next—how do you hook your...
It took me 10 years to discover - completely by accident - the one secret to public speaking that not only saved my bacon countless times, but actually made every speech better. Today, I’m going to tell you what that secret is. But I’m getting ahead of myself. When I...
Congratulations - you’re about to give a speech! Or maybe you’re speaking at your bi-weekly team meeting, or it’s a presentation at your company’s annual dinner. The problem is you’re boring. To be fair, it’s not so much you that’s the problem - it’s your audience....
The late Stephen Covey had a great line: “We teach what we most need to learn.” That’s been my pattern for far too long. If it wasn’t leadership, it was conflict resolution and, more recently, productivity. That works, to a point. And then there comes a time to teach...