Making it stick: Be unexpected

Being unexpected is a great way for public speakers to be memorable. You have to create surprise and interest for your audience. Learn how in this post and watch a great example in a talk given by Dan Pink.

Making it Stick: Keep it Simple

This is Part 2 of a seven-part series on making speeches and presentations memorable. It is based on the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Simplicity in a presentation is not so … well … simple. And yet, finding the core of our message and communicating it in a straightforward manner is […]

Making it stick: Introduction

This is Part 1 of a seven-part series on making speeches and presentations memorable. It is based on the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Good speakers are memorable. Come to think of it, bad speakers are also memorable, albeit for different reasons. Being memorable, making our message resonate with our audiences […]

Preparation

Preparation is essential if you want to be a good speaker. There is an old public speaking story, attributed to different people, that essentially goes something like this: If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, […]

Eye Contact

Eye contact is one of the most important forms of non-verbal communication, especially for speakers. Have you ever had to endure a speaker who read from the lectern, or talked to the PowerPoint slides, or stared at the cue cards in his hand, or basically looked anywhere but at the audience? How exciting was that? Not […]

Gone Walkabout

I have a number of friends from Australia. I have also had the good fortune to visit that great country. If you know any Australians or have heard them speak, you will know that they pepper their sentences with wonderfully unique expressions such as “G’Day, Mate” or “She’ll be right” or the ever popular “Ripper”. […]

Toastmasters World Champion – 2009

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about the Toastmasters District 59 International Speech Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. My run in the contest ended with a silver medal in the fourth round of six. But last week, a world champion emerged from the ten contestants who made it to the final round. The winner is […]

Listen Up!

An important aspect of public speaking occurs, paradoxically, when it the speaker’s turn to stop talking and listen to questions or comments from the audience. You should welcome these moments. They show that the audience members are engaged and they afford the speaker an opportunity to interact more closely with them. To make the most of […]

When the words don’t come

Sometimes it is difficult to craft a speech. We have no idea what to talk about. The well has run dry. Or, we know our topic, we have a general sense of what we want to say, but we cannot get our ideas down on paper. It’s hard when the words don’t come. Authors aren’t the […]