Content or Delivery: Which Matters More?

Content or delivery? This is one of the oldest and most frequently asked questions in public speaking: What’s more important—what you say, or how you say it? In truth, both are essential. Content is the foundation of your message. It’s what gives your speech structure, purpose and value. Without good content, all the style in the […]

5 tips for drinking water on stage

Why do some speakers look polished even when taking a water break, while others seem to fumble? Most speakers focus on their content and delivery, but overlook the small things that can make or break their stage presence. Something as simple as how you drink can either enhance your professionalism or create an awkward distraction. […]

Create mental bookmarks for your audience

I love reading books. Especially physical books. (Remember them?) If you are going to read a physical book, you will undoubtedly want to use a bookmark so that you know exactly where you stopped when you put the book down. It might be a scrap of paper. It might be a treasured bookmark that you […]

Take a risk

It can be scary to take a risk. But as the saying goes: No risk, no reward. Last month, I spoke at the 2025 edition of the Summer School of Rhetoric in Hämeenlinna, Finland. My talk was about how speakers can connect with their audiences when speaking. One of the points I stressed was the […]

Sore throat before a speech?

A sore throat is exactly what I was dealing with earlier this month in Hämeenlinna, Finland. I was speaking at the Summer School of Rhetoric (Retoriikan kesäkoulu). On 5 June, I ran a full-day workshop for 25 people and on 6 June, I gave a 40-minute talk to 200 people at the conference. The evening […]

⬇️ Movement on Stage Emphasizes an Idea ⬆️

Your movement on stage is important. Moving 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 on stage can be a simple, but powerful way to emphasize an idea. When you want to emphasize a positive idea, take a step or two forward. When you want to emphasize a negative idea, take a step or two backward. Examples of movement on […]

𝙍𝙀𝙈 𝙏𝙀𝙉𝙀, 𝙑𝙀𝙍𝘽𝘼 𝙎𝙀𝙌𝙐𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍

📜 𝙍𝙀𝙈 𝙏𝙀𝙉𝙀, 𝙑𝙀𝙍𝘽𝘼 𝙎𝙀𝙌𝙐𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍 📜 “Grasp hold of your subject, the words will follow.” – Cato the Elder There is often a temptation, when preparing to speak, to focus on the words. We spend hours crafting sentences, rehearsing phrasing, tweaking the script. All in pursuit of saying it just right. And yet, Cato the Elder—speaking […]

Signpost your presentation

The brain wants meaning before detail. That’s why you need a signpost. When it comes to presentations, speakers often jump straight into the details—and keep adding more details—before properly setting the context. (If, in fact, they ever get around to setting the context.) And for an audience, it is incredibly frustrating because an audience wants […]

It’s too damn much!

Microsoft created Word and PowerPoint for a reason. A Word document and a PowerPoint presentation are not the same thing. They serve two different purposes! And yet, every day, I see people making their slides as packed and dense as any report or standard operating procedures. It’s a bad practice. You force the audience to […]

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