Sequencing Information
When building a presentation, determining information order can be difficult. Should you lead with the system outage to make the fix seem more impactful, or should you open with the fix as a segue to how we need to improve system...
Anchoring and Information Mutability
If you were offered a painting for half a million dollars, would you be interested? What if you discovered that the artist’s paintings sold for no less than ten million dollars, and the seller simply didn’t have that point of reference?...
Presentation Flow
When students struggle with speeches, presentations, or pitches, it often stems not from research issues, lack of knowledge, or insufficient content. Frequently the opposite is true, and I hear that time honored refrain, “I don’t know where to go with this.”...
Writing a Focus Statement
I’ve written about selecting topics based on who you’re taking to and why you’re taking to them as well as focusing early in the process. Sometimes, though, it helps to have a clear “how to” on concepts like “know your audience”...
What Does “Persuasive” Speaking Really Mean?
Public speaking is generally categorized as informative, demonstrative, and persuasive, depending on what you read. However, I would argue that all speaking is persuasive to some degree, because even if you’re not pitching something directly, you’re still persuading people that what you...
Quick Tip: Recovering from Mistakes
Below is an excerpt from my upcoming book So What: Better Briefs, Powerful Presentations. If you find this information useful, grab a copy for yourself to tons of information on building a brief from ideation to delivery, constructing slides, and tips for...
Word Choice and Word Order
This is the first post that I’m categorizing under “Advanced Techniques.” That is not to suggest they are the exclusive domain of expert public speakers but rather an acknowledgement that they should be addressed only after the fundamentals are secured. In...
Quick Tip: Reducing Verbal Pauses and Excessive Gestures
Verbal pauses like um and uh can be very distracting to audiences – to the point that they cease to listening. Likewise, while gestures can enhance a speech, excessive hand movement can also be so distracting as to make the audience...
Public Speaking is Relationships
Most students I coach start with a fundamental misunderstanding of public speaking’s purpose. If you ask ten novice speakers what public speaking is, at its core, you’ll probably get ten different answers. People respond with notions like information exchange, persuasion, conversation...