Three public speaking resolutions for 2021

2021. We made it. We finally said goodbye to 2020, a year that will be forever remembered in the history books but not for the best reasons. And, we are still in the thick of the fight against COVID-19. Still, with vaccines now being distributed, there are reasons to be hopeful. And, in any event, […]
"Duck and Cover" won't help

In the years following World War 2, the threat of nuclear war hung over the world. As the United States and its allies faced the Soviet Union and its allies, a Third World War was a distinct possibility. Given the looming threat, in the 1950s, the American Government produced a civil defence film entitled Duck and […]
How to handle public speaking nerves

On 3 June 2017, professional rock climber Alex Honnold accomplished something that few people thought could be done. He climbed the 3,000-foot granite wall of Yosemite Park’s famous El Capitan, the vertical wall in the photo above. Alone. Without ropes or any other safety apparatus. (Yes, you read that correctly.)This achievement has been celebrated as […]
Gamification can help overcome public speaking nerves

Gamification is serious business. I have written before about Rhetoric – The Public Speaking Game™, the board game and app that Florian Mueck and I co-created. You can read recent posts here and here. Recently, I was interviewed about the game on Dukascopy Swiss Financial TV. My interview with Jack Everitt below. While discussing the RHETORIC, […]
The Public Speaking Fear Grid

Public speaking fear is well known. As Jerry Seinfeld has said, “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two! This means, to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” Even those who are not […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 237) – Adele

“I’m scared of audiences. I get shitty scared. One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit. I’ve thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile-vomited on someone. I just gotta bear it. … “My nerves don’t really settle until I’m offstage. I mean, the thought of […]
A Musical Way to Beat Stage Fright

Stage fright! You have to speak in front of an audience. Perhaps you know the people, perhaps you don’t. Perhaps it’s a big audience, maybe it’s not. It doesn’t matter, because all of a sudden, the heart beats faster, the palms get sweaty, the butterflies start bouncing around in your stomach, the throat dries up. […]
Five Lessons from Michael Bay's "Meltdown"

Michael Bay is an American film producer and director. He is best known for big budget action-packed, blow-’em-up movies like Armageddon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor and Transformers. In 2014, Bay spoke—briefly—at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While nothing blew up, many are calling Bay’s performance a meltdown. He was invited on stage […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 154) – Dale Carnegie

“Students of public speaking continually ask, ‘How can I overcome self-consciousness and the fear that paralyzes me before an audience?’ “Did you ever notice in looking from a train window that some horses feed near the track and never even pause to look up at the thundering cars, while just ahead at the next railroad crossing a farmer’s wife will […]
Public Speaking: Taking That First Step

This summer, my family and I returned to Canada for a vacation. While we were in Toronto, I followed the debate that was raging (and which continues to rage as of the date of this post) about closing public libraries to reduce municipal government costs. Toronto City Hall Public hearings were held to discuss the […]
Tagged Anika TabovaradanNervespublic speakingToronto City CouncilToronto City HallToronto Public Libraries