Transitions in a speech or presentation
Have you ever been in the audience listening to a speaker and found yourself lost? You weren’t exactly sure where the speaker was going or how the different points in a speech were connected? There are many possible reasons for such a situation, but one of them is faulty, or non-existent, transitions. What is a […]
Three ways to rethink your title slide
Your title slide occupies prime real estate in your slide deck. It is the gateway to your presentation. You can either spend time thinking how to use it to maximum advantage or miss an opportunity to grab you audience’s attention from the start. Titles slides often contain such details as the date of the presentation, the […]
This year, push yourself beyond your boundaries
Push yourself beyond your boundaries this year! My wife Julie and I recently returned home after three days in Zermatt, Switzerland with our friends, Florian Mueck and Rose Chong, and some of their friends. Great people and great skiing! Besides being a friend, Florian is also a fellow public speaker, my business partner and co-creator of Rhetoric – […]
Five Public Speaking Resolutions for 2019
I am one of the co-founders of Presentation Guru, a digital magazine for public speaking professionals. This post is part of a series to share the great content on Presentation Guru with the Manner of Speaking community. ––––– As 2018 draws to a close, many people reflect on the year gone by and make plans for the year to come. If you […]
The Camera and Brett Kavanaugh
The fight over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh was the ugliest confirmation process for an American Supreme Court Justice that I have seen. I’m not American, but I am a lawyer, and I thought it was a sad indictment on how politicized the American legal system has become. A thoughtful, independent judiciary is a cornerstone […]
5 Books for Public Speakers
I am one of the co-founders of Presentation Guru, a digital magazine for public speaking professionals. This post is about books for public speakers and is part of a series designed to share the great content on Presentation Guru with the Manner of Speaking community. ——— There are hundreds of books about public speaking and presentation skills. While the best way […]
Change your perspective
Good, better, best. Bad, worse, worst. One, two, three. Past, present, future. When we speak, we often find ourselves comparing things (e.g., different investment opportunities; different options for a business) or reviewing a timeline (e.g., stages of a project). Thus, we should structure our presentations using the appropriate format. But the work doesn’t end there. […]
Recovering from a memory lapse during a presentation
The people at Visme have designed a simple infographic with eight tips to recover from a memory lapse when delivering a presentation. They expand on these points in a blog post that you can read here. I like the tips, particularly No. 7 (don’t memorize your talk but rather know the points you want to […]
Sawubona: See your audience
I recently wrote a post for Presentation Guru on the importance of “seeing” your audience. It was based on the Zulu word sawubona. Zulu, or isiZulu, is one of South Africa’s official languages and is spoken by approximately 10 million people. Sawubona means, “I see you.” Not in the sense of, “I see you here in front of me, and […]
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