This is part two of my interview with Tamara Glick who is a personal brand consultant. In this episode, she gives us a number of really cool tips on how to make a temporary (or permanent) home office space look more professional. If you want to look and sound good on your next Zoom meeting or virtual meeting, Tamara's tips can be very helpful. She also covers details on how to match the items staged around you within the frame of a Zoom call can add to your personal brand. Good stuff. She create...
Sep 15, 2020•32 min
This is a really fun interview with Tamara Glick, a Personal Brand Strategist. She specializes in helping clients create a professional appearance in the boardroom and on virtual calls. On this episode, we talk about how, for a short time, the casual business casual (sweat pants) was accepted as people were learning how to work from home. However, the grace period has now gone away. She covers a few simple ways to stand out from your competition in your appearance on Zoom calls I was really exci...
Sep 08, 2020•33 min
Are your Zoom meetings kind of... well... blah? Want to make them more fun, interesting, and interactive? Below are seven of our best tips to help you jazz up your next online meeting. Keep in mind that anytime a conversation is one-sided, it will be boring for the listener. A good conversation is a dialogue -- not a monologue. Give Your Team Clear Instructions Ahead of the Meeting. Create an Agenda And Assign Roles Ahead of Time. Can You Give Me An Example? Use Zoom Breakout Rooms to Get Partic...
Aug 24, 2020•25 min
One of the most common questions that participants in our 2-day presentation class ask us after completing the class is, "Now that I feel more confident, where do I go to practice to continue to get better as a speaker?" In this session, Doug shares a few ways to find speaking venues who are always looking for good speakers, and how to build a solid reputation as a good speaker so your reputation grows. How to Find Great Venues to Practice Your Presentations If you are looking for someplace to p...
Aug 18, 2020•22 min
The Importance of Self-Confidence People will judge our COMPETENCE by the CONFIDENCE that we show. For example, let's say that you are going in for surgery, and just before you go under, the surgeon walks into your room. His posture is slouching, as he speaks, he stumbles over his words somewhat, and when you look at his hands, they are trembling a little. Now, it doesn't matter how good of a surgeon he is, you'll probably want a second opinion (maybe even a third opinion) -- Fast! Well, it's th...
Aug 11, 2020•21 min
Narrating PowerPoint Presentations designed by someone else can be very challenging. In fact, one of the fastest ways to increase public speaking fear and make your PowerPoint presentations sound canned and… well boring, is to try to deliver a PowerPoint slideshow that someone else designed for you. This doesn’t mean that you can’t deliver PowerPoint slide decks that someone else created. It just means that when you do, you’ll probably be more nervous. You will have less of a natural flow than w...
Jul 28, 2020•17 min
One of the fundamental steps in improving your presentations is to realize that you are the expert . Regardless of what industry you are in or what background you have, you first have to realize that you are the expert at that thing. The knowledge that you have is valuable to others . When you understand this, your presentations , and really your communication in general, will improve dramatically . Public speaking fear and self-consciousness will sometimes come from not understanding this basic...
Jul 20, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 132
When folks are having challenges with public speaking, they will often contact us with questions. Since all of our consultants are both professional presenters and public speaking coaches, we thought it might be a good idea to answer a few of the most frequently asked questions. Perhaps the answer here could help you when you deliver your next speech or presentation. If you have additional questions, complete the form at the bottom of the page. We do our best to reply with an answer! Public Spea...
Jun 24, 2020•33 min
This is part 2 of a two-part interview with public speaking coach and author Ivan Ruiz. I interview Ivan Ruiz, a public speaking coach in Canada. He quickly turns the tables on me and ends up interviewing me, somehow. If you ever wanted to know what professional public speaking coaches talk about when they are just chatting with each other, here is your chance. The interview is fun and lighthearted. Ivan tells how he transitions from a government worker in Canada to a professional speaker via Sa...
Jun 18, 2020•40 min
I interview Ivan Ruiz, a public speaking coach in Canada. He quickly turns the tables on me and ends up interviewing me, somehow. If you ever wanted to know what professional public speaking coaches talk about when they are just chatting with each other, here is your chance. The interview is fun and lighthearted. Ivan tells how he transitions from a government worker in Canada to a professional speaker via Salsa Dancing. (I don't suggest anyone actually take this route, but the story is hilariou...
Jun 09, 2020•28 min
One of the most terrifying moments as a speaker is when you are sitting in a meeting, minding your own business, and someone asks you to stand up and give an impromptu speech. Surveys show that public speaking, in general, causes a lot of fear and nervousness. This nervousness can increase dramatically when the speaker has to create and deliver the speech off-the-cuff . In this session, we going to cover a few impromptu speech tips that you can use in these pressure situations. In addition, we w...
Jun 01, 2020•22 min
Looking for an easy way to create killer content for your blog? Or, are you trying to design a motivational speech for your team? In this post, I cover a simple way to create content that your audience will love. The technique works equally well if whether you are delivering in verbally (in a speech) or writing it. The Keys to Good Communication Are Similar Whether You Are Writing or Speaking. Way back in 2000, I partnered up with a speaker in Dallas who had acquired a big contract to do leaders...
May 26, 2020•35 min
This part three of a three-part series on webinars and live online meetings. In this episode, I'll show you a few of the technical secrets about how I deliver the actual webinars. I'm going to cover the best online meeting platforms to use along with sound and video suggestions. If you missed either of the first two sessions, you can access them by clicking these links. The first session was 7 Important Things that You Need to Know about Live Online Meetings . I told you types of content that wo...
May 17, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 126
Continuing in our three-part webinar series, in this episode/post, we'll cover how to create webinar content to help you maximize audience retention. In the last episode, we covered 7 Important Things that You Should Know about Online Meetings before you start. Next week, we'll cover a few of the technical aspects of how to deliver online meetings and webinars. How to Create Webinar Content to Maximize Audience Retention. Step #1: Keep the Content Short and the Focus Narrow. " A good orator is p...
May 07, 2020•27 min
One of the most common questions that we receive in our public speaking classes is, "Do the things that you are teaching us about in-person presentations change when you are on a webinar or an online platform?" The answer to that question is both "Yes" and "No". The way that we teach people to design presentations is based on (1) focusing on the audience and what the audience wants and needs to know, and (2) make your content concise and entertaining. So, in those respects, yes, digital meeting ...
Apr 28, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 124
The Covid-19 virus has significantly altered the way that people communicate and interact with each other. These changes may be temporary. However, many of these changes are likely to cause a significant change in the way we do business. One of the main changes is in the training and development programs for employees. In the past, businesses thrived when they created a single new product or idea and brought it to market. Today, though, businesses thrive by adapting to and adopting best practice...
Apr 21, 2020•25 min
We have spent a lot of time focusing on using a speech or presentation to sell a product or service . Let's back up a little and talk about how to write copy that sells . For instance, how to write an article that sells a product or service. The techniques will help you craft better text on your webpages, emails, presentation slideshows, and social media posts . Before You Write Ad Copy or Marketing Pieces, You Have to Understand the Reader. Back in 1994, I was a new graduate from college. My da...
Apr 14, 2020•26 min
You've designed a great presentation. Now you need a great ending to drive your points home. In this session, we cover a few presentation endings that you want to avoid at all costs. (One of these is question & answer periods, by the way.) We also give you a little bonus tip to help you properly set up your speech ending so you get a better response. Then, we end with seven (7) different types of presentation closes that give you a number of different options. To make choosing a good ending ...
Mar 31, 2020•20 min
In this session, we are going to show you a few simple ways to use public speaking to promote or market your product or service. In fact, using a speech to promote a product or service is a fantastic way to conduct a marketing campaign. Using a Speech to Promote a Product or Service There are a number of different ways to use a presentation or speech to promote a product or service. We will cover each of these briefly in this post. Promoting a Product or Service in Personal Meetings and Sales Ca...
Mar 23, 2020•30 min
From time to time, I hear people say things like, "She is a natural speaker." On the other hand, I also hear things like, "I've always been a terrible speaker." Both of these statements may be somewhat true. But they are also both absolutely false as well. No one comes out of the womb a fantastic orator. In addition, everyone has the talent to speak. Many people just fail to develop their natural talent. Your personality strengths and weaknesses will often lead you to think one way or the other....
Mar 09, 2020•26 min•Ep. 119
This technique will help you create an amazing persuasive speech outline. In fact, these sales presentation examples can be used in a number of different ways. "Wait... sales presentation? Oh, I'm not a professional salesperson. This may not work for me." Whether you are a salesperson or just trying to persuade coworkers to accept your ideas, this process is important to success. Obviously, when you create a persuasive speech, you don't want it to be scripted. A quick outline will typically work...
Mar 02, 2020•22 min•Ep. 118
Want to add humor to your speech? Quite often, when we are designing speeches and presentations for a professional audience, we discount the value of entertainment and humor. However, a good presentation should be both informative and entertaining. You have to have both. If you aren’t providing the audience with good information, then you’re wasting their time. If you aren’t providing some type of entertainment, though, you will likely bore your audience. As a result, they will lose interest. So...
Feb 25, 2020•28 min•Ep. 117
Technology changes every year. As a result, a good presenter needs to change as technology changes as well. In this episode, we cover seven of the best PowerPoint tips and tricks for 2020. If you want to avoid Death by PowerPoint, this episode can be a great help. Just as an FYI, though, these seven tips are best-practices for in-person, live presentations. If you happen to be delivering a webinar or video, stay tuned for the next post. The design process for webinars is quite different than in-...
Feb 18, 2020•25 min•Ep. 116
When folks ask me what I do for a living, I answer, “I help people eliminate public speaking fear .” It is always fun to watch the looks on their faces when they process what I said. Inevitably, I will typically get a response like, “You do what?” or “How do you do that?” The process is really simple. In fact, anyone can reduce public speaking fear if they follow this process. Over the last 20 years, our great public speaking class instructors have perfected this three-step process. It works eve...
Feb 10, 2020•18 min•Ep. 115
There is an obvious reason why people come to the Fearless Presentations ® website and classes. They want to get over the fear of public speaking once-and-for-all . I have personally taught over 2000 public speaking classes in my career. (Yup... I'm old.) Although every class (and every class member) is a unique experience, all had a single thing in common. The people took time out of their schedule to find a way to eliminate public speaking fear . SHOW NOTES: https://www.fearlesspresentations.c...
Feb 03, 2020•25 min•Ep. 114
Catchy presentation titles are important when you begin to design a great presentation . Your audience will determine whether your presentation is worthy of their time almost instantly. In most cases, they make that determination based entirely on the title of the speech . In this session, I'm going to show you a quick and easy way to come up with a great title for your presentation. If you do this well, it will actually make your audience want to pay attention to your speech. I always say in cl...
Jan 27, 2020•29 min•Ep. 113
Want to know how to design presentations, from start to finish, in minutes versus hours or days? There are different types of presentations. Each different style has a different purpose. So the correct number of bullet points to cover and the correct amount of content to include is very important. The key rule is to cover as many bullet points as you need and absolutely no more. Secondly, add content to prove each bullet point until you're sure that your audience agrees with you, and then move o...
Jan 20, 2020•32 min•Ep. 112
This week, I was looking back over the 100 plus blog posts and podcast episodes that we have released. One of the things that hit me was that there is a very important part of the presentation that I have totally overlooked. In fact, this is one of the first things that I train my instructors on when I train new trainers. This important part of the presentation is the room setup. Proper room set up for a presentation can actually improve your performance in front of a group. The downside is true...
Jan 13, 2020•25 min•Ep. 111
I was teaching the best public speaking course ever last month. Early in the program, I asked the class members, “What physically happens to people when they get nervous in front of a group?” One of the first answers was, “They lose eye contact with the audience.” My response to the class member was, “Yes, eye contact in presentation skills is important, but keeping great eye contact isn’t as hard as what you might think.” Lack of eye contact is a symptom of presentation nervousness. So, when yo...
Jan 06, 2020•19 min•Ep. 110
What happens when someone forces you to deliver a bad presentation? You didn’t design the speech. You didn’t even create the endless slideshow. However, you are the one who has to stand in front of the group and deliver this gem. So, how do you deliver a bad presentation? Are there things that you can do to make a lousy presentation better? Of course. In this episode, I’ll show you some things that you can do to improve any presentation. SHOW NOTES: https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-d...
Dec 16, 2019•24 min•Ep. 109
