We just finished a series on public speaking fear and how to reduce nervousness during a speech. This week, I discuss how to better prepare for your presentation. For most people, the absolute most nervous part of the speech -- the place where they feel the most uncomfortable -- is right as they step foot in front of the audience. That nervousness builds to a crescendo up to that point. So, in this episode, I give my favorite tips for reducing presentation jitters from that day to a few minutes ...
Aug 12, 2024•25 min
This is part 3 of a three-part series on public speaking fear. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, I started by explaining the difference between glossophobia and public speaking fear. In those episodes, we basically discovered that glossophobia is an unreasonable fear of public speaking that keeps people from presenting in the first place. Last week, I covered a simple four-step process that will help you eliminate this fear. This week, I'll give you ten tips to help you implement th...
Jul 22, 2024•24 min
This is part 2 of a three-part series on public speaking fear. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, I started by explaining the difference between glossophobia and public speaking fear. In those episodes, we discovered that glossophobia is an unreasonable fear of public speaking that keeps people from presenting in the first place. Last week, I covered part one in this series about where public speaking fear comes from. We covered a number of different activities that presenters do to ...
Jul 15, 2024•20 min
In the last couple of episodes, I covered the difference between Glossophobia and just normal, everyday public speaking nervousness. In the episode, I'm going to delve more deeply into where public speaking fear comes from. I'll talk a lot about triggers that make people more nervous when they stand up to speak because if you know what is causing your fear, you can better eliminate it. Because of all the info, I'm breaking this into two sessions. Then, in the third week, I'll give you my ten sim...
Jul 08, 2024•24 min
In the last episode, I covered the difference between Glossophobia and just normal, everyday public speaking nervousness. In summary, everyone gets some nervousness when they stand up to speak in front of a group. However, a phobia is an irrational fear. So, if the fear is extreme or irrational, your fear may be a full-blown phobia. On this episode, I'm going to give you some tips that will help you reduce or even eliminate this fear. If you do these things, you can calm your nerves and become a...
Jul 01, 2024•13 min
For the next couple of weeks, I will cover a quick series on Glossophobia and public speaking fear. This week, I explain the difference between the two forms of presentation jitters and give you a few tips to help. Then, over the next couple of weeks, I'll cover more details on things that you can do to calm your nerves and become a more poised and confident public speaker. By the way, the episode is sponsored by FearlessPresentations.com. So, if you are looking for a faster way to reduce public...
May 28, 2024•18 min
We are continuing our series on how to create great presentations. If you remember last week, I mentioned how one of the major ways to reduce public speaking fear is to design a fantastic speech. If your presentation is not that good, you will definitely be way more nervous when you present. Last week, I talked about how to deliver business proposals or sales proposals to customers or people outside of your company. Those speeches can be nerve-racking because a great speech can open a lucrative ...
May 20, 2024•22 min
For the last few weeks, I've covered a number of topics about how to create great presentations. And on social media, I've received a few questions like, "What does a presentation design have to do with public speaking fear?" The answer is simple. If you try to deliver a terrible speech to any audience, you'll be way more nervous. However, if you design a fantastic speech, you may never even get nervous in the first place. If your audience likes and respects your content, they will overlook a lo...
May 06, 2024•28 min
For the last few weeks, I've covered techniques that you can use to design better presentations. We talked about ways to start a speech first. Then, we covered how to design a good presentation. Next, we covered how to end a presentation. For the next couple of episodes, though, I'm going to share a few secrets about designing presentations that may also come in handy. Today, I'll give you a very simple three-step process to help you make your presentations more persuasive. This simple process w...
Apr 29, 2024•31 min
For the last few episodes, I've shown you how to start a speech, how to design a speech, and, last week, how to end a speech. But before we end this series, I wanted to cover one often-overlooked part of creating a compelling presentation. Today, I'm going to show you how to introduce yourself to an audience so that your presentation starts off on the right foot. Remember, when you are speaking to a new audience, they don't know who you are, what you want from them, or why in hell they should ev...
Apr 22, 2024•29 min
This week, we're continuing our series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback, which will boost your confidence. A couple of episodes ago, I showed you a few fun ways to start a speech. Last week, I showed you a simple way to design a speech so you don't have to memorize the presentation word-for-word. And today, I'll cover a few ways to end your speech so you leave the audience wantin...
Apr 15, 2024•24 min
Last week, we started a new series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback, which will boost your confidence. Last week,, we covered seven ways to start your speech. Today, we'll cover a simple three-step process for designing a great presentation. When we teach presenters how to reduce nervousness when they speak, a major component of the process is designing a great speech in the firs...
Apr 01, 2024•22 min
This week we're starting a new series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback. When that happens, you confidence will go up. In this session, we'll cover a few different ways to start a presentation effectively. What most presenters find is that once they say the first couple of sentences, their nervousness drops pretty dramatically. These seven presentation starters will help you win y...
Mar 25, 2024•32 min
Last week, I recovered a few tips for better virtual training sessions where your entire group is participating through Zoom or Teams. This week, though, I'm covering tips to help you lead better hybrid training sessions. These are sessions where some of your team is sitting in a room with you while you teach, and others are participating virtually. This type of workshop delivery is more challenging, but over the last few years, we've come up with a few simple tips to ensure everyone attending t...
Oct 09, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 275
The last few weeks I've been traveling around delivering a series of in-person training sessions all over the world. And I noticed that when I'm delivering this training in major urban areas like Washington DC, Chicago, New York, and the like, inevitably, my client will turn on a Teams meeting or Zoom meeting as I'm setting up. In many of these cities, coming into the office is still somewhat optional. These poor meeting organizers are trying to include virtual team members in their training ses...
Oct 02, 2023•34 min•Ep. 274
STEVE MULTER is a veteran corporate spokesman and trainer for more than 100 global brands, including Cisco, Panasonic, Siemens, Fujifilm, HP, NTT Data, and Bayer. He is known as the chief storytelling officer for these and other brands. I wanted to have him on as a guest to give us a few tips on how to become better storytellers and use stories as a way to communicate more effectively and create more persuasive presentations. During the interview, Steve explains what a corporate story is. He als...
Sep 25, 2023•25 min
Do I need to get a presentation skills coach? Well, unfortunately, the answer is probably… It depends. A public speaking coach can be very helpful in certain situations. However, in many cases, a public speaking coach can also be a complete waste of time and money . (The process may actually make you more nervous as well.) In this episode, I cover the pros and cons of public speaking coaching. I give you a few circumstances where hiring a good public speaking coach can be very helpful. We will a...
Sep 18, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 272
Today, I'm covering the importance of proper room setup and how the room that you present in will either make you more nervous or help you deliver a better presentation. The way that you set up the room before you even say a word has a lot of impact on how well you present. It also will determine how you can interact with your audience. The main thing, though, is that if your audience is comfortable, they can help you present better. If they are uncomfortable, or worse, if you make them particip...
Sep 11, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 271
On this episode, I'm going to cover a few of the biggest myths about public speaking. These are some of the things that well-meaning friends, family, and even coaches will suggest to us that are absolutely wrong. So, if you are doing any of these things, you may actually be causing yourself to be more nervous when you present. There are a number of myths about public speaking out there. Well, it’s time to set the record straight. ANYONE can be a fantastic, world-class speaker. It just takes a li...
Sep 04, 2023•22 min
On this episode, I'm going to cover the dreaded errs and uhms. Yup, those filler words that High School teachers and Toasting Clubs try to eliminate from the speeches of their students and members. However, I think you will be shocked to learn that just about everything that you have ever learned about those errs, uhhms, and other filler words is just flat-out wrong. So stick around, and I will share with you a few truths about this symptom of nervousness. Filler words are a natural part of ever...
Aug 28, 2023•19 min•Ep. 269
Have a team that needs to build communication skills as a group? Well, just as an FYI, business presentation training is quite different from university-level public speaking classes or what you might pick up at a tasting club. For instance, a good presentation that you deliver for your friends or coworkers may actually backfire if you deliver the presentation to senior executives. In this post, I’ll cover a few best practices for organizing fantastic business presentation skill training classes...
Aug 21, 2023•22 min
This week, I'm going to give you my secret to delivering boring presentations. In fact, this secret is the absolute most important thing that you have to know to have every audience fall in love with you as a speaker. I'll give you a hint... There actually is no such thing as a boring speech or a boring topic. There are only boring speakers. But you don't have to be one of them. Enthusiasm and Energy is the absolute most-important skill in public speaking. If you take only one piece of advice ab...
Aug 14, 2023•14 min
This week, I'm going to give you a few simple ways to create some very effective presentation handouts. A couple are really easy and can be used effectively for internal presentations. The last one is the technique that I use when I create workshops and training programs. It takes a little more time but can elevate your presentations dramatically. One of the most often overlooked parts of a presentation is the presentation handouts. So, in this post, we’ll give you a few examples of presentation...
Aug 07, 2023•16 min
This is part two of a two-part series on Glossophobia -- the fear of public speaking. Last week, we talked about what this phobia is and what causes it. This week, I will give you a few of my best tips to overcome this fear -- even if you fall into the camp of having a full-blown phobia of public speaking. How to Overcome Glossophobia (An Irrational Fear of Public Speaking) 1) Start Small. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. If your fear is intense, there is no need to schedule a hig...
Jul 31, 2023•12 min
Want to know how to overcome glossophobia? Does stage fright sometimes make you pass up opportunities in your career? Do you feel like you have an irrational fear of public speaking? You are not alone! Glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is very common. I’ve been in the presentation skill industry for decades now. During that time, I realized that the statistics about this fear were confusing. Some studies say that as few as 7% of the population has glossophobia. Other surveys claim th...
Jul 24, 2023•18 min
This week we're getting back to how to reduce public speaking fear. And on this episode, I give you the four main causes of public speaking fear. Once you understand why you are feeling the way you are, it becomes a lot easier to reduce that nervousness. As I cover each of the four causes of nervousness, I'll give you my best techniques for eliminating that particular cause. Here Are Some of the Causes of the Fear of Public Speaking and How to Overcome These Fears. Once you understand the root c...
Jul 17, 2023•18 min
A couple of weeks ago, I started a series on how to get paid to speak. I mentioned that a professional speaker is just a person who gets paid to give a presentation. So, teachers, trial attorneys, salespeople, and really any supervisor or manager who leads internal presentations are professional speakers. They all deliver information in presentations or briefings that their audiences need in order to solve a problem. But almost all of them give away this important information for free. So, in th...
Jul 10, 2023•28 min
Last week I started a series on how to get paid to speak. And if you are a new listener to Fearless Presentations, you might be thinking, how can I get paid to speak if I'm scared to death to stand up in front of a group? If that is the case, just go back to some of the earlier episodes for tips on how to reduce nervousness. In this episode and the next couple, I'm going to show you how you can cash in on one of the highest-paid professions in the world. Last week, I mentioned that a professiona...
Jul 03, 2023•19 min
I'm starting a new series on how to get paid to speak this week. And I know that a lot of our regular listeners subscribe to the podcast for tips and tricks to reduce nervousness and become more comfortable in front of a group. However, public speaking is one of (if not THE) highest-paid professions in the world . In this episode, I'll dispel the myth about what a professional speaker is. Basically, a professional speaker is just a person who someone has paid to give a presentation . So, element...
Jun 26, 2023•26 min
For the last couple of weeks, I've given you a series of presentation enhancers -- things that make good presentations better. This week, I'm going to cover a way that you can enhance persuasive speeches exponentially. If you are trying to win your audience to your way of thinking, then audience participation is a stellar way to do that. In essence, you can get your audience to convince themselves that your idea is sound. There are several different types of audience participation, though. So, I...
Jun 12, 2023•23 min
