Fearless Presentations

It’s easy to develop a career as a public speaker if you’re already a celebrity. If your last name is Trump or Schwarzenegger, you will have no problem getting people to pay you to speak. However, that is not the only way to become a professional speaker. In this post, I will share with you a few tips about how to become a professional speaker. By the way, if you have a famous last name, it may no...

Sometimes when I'm teaching classes, participants really love how with a few simple modifications, even the most boring or technical presentation can become a fantastic persuasive message. In fact, last week, we covered some of these simple modifications. The big quest that comes up, though, is "What happens if you have to deliver a negative message?" In the past few months, inflati...

The persuasion technique in this episode 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...

In this episode, I'm going to explain the pros and cons of public speaking coaching. Sometimes, when I suggest to people that presentation coaching may not help them, they are a little taken back. "Wait Doug, aren't you a public speaking coach?" Yes, I am, but I very rarely work one-on-one with a single person in a coaching session. In this episode, I'm going to explain wh...

This is part 2 of a two-part series on Glossophobia (an irrational fear of public speaking.) In this episode, we cover a few simple tips to help you overcome glossophobia. 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 high-level presentation in front of 1000 people right away. Instead, start by speaking up more in staff meet...

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. In that time, I’ve come to realize that the statistics about this fear are...

In today's digital world, there are so many ways to come by great public speaking types and presentation training. Here on Fearless Presentations, we have over 200 podcast episodes, and over 400 YouTube videos on our YouTube channel, and we have also published HUNDREDS of free presentation skill articles on our blog at Fearlesspresentations.com. These resources are all free to the public. How...

This is part 4 of a four-part series covering the 101 best public speaking tips. We are going to the last 25 today. In this episode, I will continue with a list of some of the best places to practice your public speaking skills. (As we progress further down the list, the locations will become more lucrative for you when you speak to these audiences.) Then, I will cover a few best practices for gro...

This is part 3 of a four-part series covering the 101 best public speaking tips. We are going to zoom through another 25 or so tips today. In this episode, I'm going to continue our series on 101 public speaking tips that you can use as a roadmap to improve your presentation skills. I have to go through them at lightning speed. though. So, if you want more information about any of these tips...

In honor of our 201st episode last week, I started a four-part series covering the 101 best public speaking tips. So if you missed last week, make sure to catch up before listening to this episode. We will zoom through another 25 or so tips today. These are public speaking tips 25-50. I cover a few ways to use stories to reduce public speaking fear. Then, I cover 20 or so of the best ways to add i...

This is the 201st episode, so for fun a couple of years ago on my 101st episode, I started a series of 101 public speaking tips. So, in the 201st episode, I'm going to deliver those 101 tips a second time. (My humor knows no bounds.) So for those of you who listen to the podcast and say, just give me the tips without all the fluff, these are the episodes for you! This episode covers public sp...

You have identified a problem or opportunity for your company. Now you need to get approval. So, how do you present a proposal to management that will get approved? The process is actually pretty simple. The method of how to present a proposal to management that we use works about 100% of the time. Just follow the simple steps below, and your project will easily get funded. By the way, if you are...

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you present a proposal to a client. Here is the scenario… You have done your homework. A team at your company painstakingly created the perfect sales proposal. In fact, the potential client was so impressed, that they moved you to their “shortlist.” Now, though, they want you to present a bid proposal to the purchasing committee. Your team is one of just si...

In this episode, Doug Staneart of Fearless Presentations walks us through a simple three-step process to persuade others. Want to learn how to write a persuasive speech? Want to make sure that you persuade your audience without raising resentment? Well, if you use the techniques that you likely learned in school, you will often fail at both of these goals. In high school, you most likely learned t...

This “remember stories from your life” post is part three of a three-part series about how to tell stories in your speech . In the first two posts, we talked about the value of stories. If you recall, statistics and data are forgotten quickly and lead your audience to play “Devil’s advocate.” However, stories build rapport with your audience and reduce public speaking fear. They also make the data...

Feel nervous about speaking in public? Tell a personal story in your speech (early), and you can reduce public speaking fear dramatically. One of the first public speaking secrets that we share in our public speaking training classes is that stories are your friend. When you tell a story, you reduce presentation jitters and build rapport with your audience. Don’t believe me? Watch any professional...

Great speakers know how to tell a great story. This post will give you the five key steps of storytelling that these great speakers know. This is a continuation of the post about how inserting stories into your presentations reduces public speaking fear. I mentioned a recent class member who told me that he just wasn’t a good storyteller. If you feel the same way, then these steps of storytelling...

The Train-the-Trainer Model is very common in the business world. However, many Train-the-Trainer programs have big flaws. A good analogy of what happens during this process is the old “telephone game.” Put ten people in a room. Whisper a phrase with more than 10 words into the ear of the first person. The second person then relays the message to the third person. This process continues over and o...

One of the more challenging parts of any presentation is the very first part. If you are wondering how to introduce yourself before starting your presentation, you are in good company. For most of us, once we get the first few sentences out, our nervousness will diminish pretty significantly. So, this initial self-introduction is really important. If we struggle here, our nervousness will increase...

For the last couple of weeks, I covered how to start a presentation and also how to design a great presentation. This week, I'm going to show you a few ways that you can end your presentation with a bang. We start with a few "show stoppers." These are things to absolutely avoid when you end your presentation. Then, we cover seven very effective ways to end a presentation. By the way...

Welcome back to the Fearless Presentations podcast. When most of you first started listening to this podcast, it was because you wanted to feel less nervous when you have to stand up and speak before a group. So, most people start listening to try to create a different feeling. An important thing that we often overlook, though, is that the way that we design a speech will either add to your nervou...

Looking for a few ways to start a presentation that are dynamic? We’ve all been there as a speaker. You walk out onto a stage or into the front of the room. The audience is staring at you with skepticism written all over their faces. This stoic crowd has no patience for speakers who waste their time. And their demeanor is showing that fact right now. You need the best way to start your presentatio...

Are your Zoom meetings kind of… well… blah? Want to make them more fun, engaging, 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. On this episode, we cover 7 simple things you can do to make your Zoom meeting...

I was shocked at the huge list of dumb exercises to improve presentation skills on the internet. When I say “dumb,” I mean don’t try those tips. They will not work. In fact, they will likely make you even more nervous. So in this episode, I’m going to dispel some of the worst exercises and give you a few really simple things that you can do to become a better public speaker. So get rid of the tong...

Want to calm down before a presentation? Even if you don’t regularly experience the fear of public speaking, just before you start a speech, it is easy to feel anxious. This initial nervous energy can cause a speaker to have a shaky voice, dry mouth, or sweaty palms just before a presentation. The good news is that this experience is very common. Most of the time, if you start your presentation we...