Fearless Presentations

Want to eliminate the fear of public speaking? Two decades ago, we created the Fearless Presentations ® class to help people eliminate public speaking fear . After training over 20,000 class members, our instructors have discovered a few simple truths about stage fright and speech anxiety. Once you understand these secrets, you too really reduce this fear. Below are a few facts about public speaki...

When people ask me how many slides should I use in my presentation, I typically reply very cautiously. Most people make a huge mistake when designing a speech or presentation. They start by designing their slideshow. Then, later, they figure out what they want to say. This technique is backward. Instead, you want to figure out what you want to say first . Then, after you have designed a great pres...

The absolute best way to reduce the fear of public speaking is to just improve your presentation skills. Think about it. Anytime you get really good at doing something, your confidence in that area will soar. When we teach the Fearless Presentations course, we spend the first couple of hours helping the audience members get comfortable. Then, the remaining three-fourths of the class focuses on imp...

This week, I've got a guest interview with Elsewine Rietveld who is an expert on reducing nervousness when creating video recordings. Just so you folks know, I had been a professional speaker for over 20 years before I started this podcast. Even with that kind of experience, the first few recordings were nerve-racking. I wished I had known Elsewine back then. By the way, she just released her...

Your host, Doug Staneart of Fearless Presentations explains what it means to Know Your Audience. Listen to any speaking coach, go to any Toastmasters, attend any presentation seminar, you will hear a single phrase over and over. “Know your audience.” Sounds really good too. When we hear the phrase, we think, “Well, of course. That makes sense.” But what exactly does “know your audience mean?” Is t...

In this episode, host Doug Staneart interviews J. T. Compeau, CEO of The Content Interpreter.  J.T. works with thought leaders, C-suite members, and entrepreneurs as a speechwriter and presentation consultant. Across industries, skill sets, and stories, he works with clients to extract their greatness and infuse it into their content. In the interview, Doug and J.T. discuss J.T.'s background...

Make Your Presentation Handouts Look Professional without a Graphic Designer Last week was part one of How to Create the Perfect Presentation Handout. In that article and podcast, I gave you three easy ways to create helpful handouts to accompany your in-person presentations. This week, I’m going to show you how to style your presentation handouts so that they look really professional. The good ne...

Have you ever wondered how to create the perfect presentation handout? You’ve been asked to give a speech, and you’re excited to give the best presentation possible. You put all kinds of preparation into putting together an amazing presentation and finding the perfect examples to prove your points. Your presentation is infused with memorable anecdotes, terrific insights, great visuals, and even a...

A Step-by-Step Process to Help You Answer Job Interview Questions When Under Pressure. The best way to answer a job interview question is to answer quickly, then give an example from your experience. Remember, you are the expert on yourself. In addition, the interviewer wants to see if you have the experience to help his or her team solve problems. So, each of your interview answers shows how you...

Want to establish solid trust and rapport during a job interview. Prospective employers will first weed through a lot of resumes. Then comes the hard part. Because next, they want to see if the candidate is a good fit within their team. The job interview is the main way they determine this. In this session, I’m going to show you ways to relax and take charge of the interview. In fact, I’ll also sh...

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...

This is part 2 of a 2-part series on how to use presentations and speaking to find new customers and clients. I know what some of you are thinking… “You said we would get new clients by speaking. However, very little of what you have covered so far has ANYTHING to do with speaking. What gives?” The often overlooked part of being a great speaker is to master your craft first. You can be a great spe...

Ways to Get Clients for Your Business by Speaking to Groups If you happen to be a great speaker, you have a number of ways to get clients for your business by speaking. (By the way, if you aren’t a great speaker yet, keep tuning in, because we can help with that.) The most important thing to keep in mind is that your goal is to build your authority on a specific topic. Once you do that, you will c...

This is a fun interview with Dr. Benjamin Ritter who started an entire consulting business from scratch using just seminars that were open to the public. If you want to learn how to use speaking and/or creating seminars to build your authority in your industry, make sure to listen to this episode! Connect with Dr. Ritter on his website at https://www.liveforyourselfconsulting.com/

This is part 2 of a 2-part series on Train-the-Trainer programs. In the first episode, we talk about how to uncover the quality of a train-the-trainer process before investing in it. On this session, we talk about the steps involved in training your trainers using the process. Train Your Trainers Using the Train-the-Trainer Model. That last story leads us into the next part of the train-the-traine...

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...

Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline In the post, How to Design a Speech Quickly , we gave a few tips to create a quick presentation outline. In this session, we add a little more detail about how to make your presentation more persuasive. This simple, three-step process will help you persuade event the toughest audiences. Change from Feature/Benefit to Problem Solver. Identify the Three Most Importa...

On this episode, I interview Cody Lowry who is a best-selling author and the founder of a successful advertising agency. However, Cody is actually more famous for being able to talk his way into meetings that are typically pretty hard to get. For instance, he tells us how he had a couple of extra days in New York, so he decided to audition for Saturday Night Live. He actually got the audition less...

“I don’t present very often, so how do I prepare for a presentation?” That is, by far, one of the most common questions that we get as presentation skills coaches. In fact, most public speaking fear comes from situations where presenters just don’t speak very often. They have a hard time building up momentum. For instance, if you only drive a car once every couple of years, you will likely be nerv...

This is episode #151, and this week, I interview Claire Chandler and Ben Baker. They are the authors of the new book Leading Beyond a Crisis. Ben's background is in creating a brand for yourself and your company, and Claire started out in human resources and has spent the last few years helping companies attract high-level employees and retain them. The topic they wanted to cover, though is h...

6 Years to a Million Dollars & 6 Months to $2 Million In this episode, I’m going to pull back the curtain and show you a few of the key things that happened in the early years of my company. It took me six years of training and learning before I felt comfortable enough to start my own company. Then, my new team and I spent another six years building a million-dollar per year income. However, w...

How do I build a million-dollar company? Better yet, how can someone build a multimillion-dollar public speaking company? Well, although I have done both of those things, I wouldn’t suggest anyone try to do what I did. I made every mistake in the book. In fact, every mistake showed me what “not to do.” Then, I’d use that lesson to get me closer to what “to do.” By the way, the reason that I am not...

This is part 2 of a multipart series.  Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway — From Timid to Fearless in One Year Coach Dykes kept his word. I got an excellent education… And I had to pay for it myself. My college days often looked something like this… 4:30 AM in the gym lifting weights and running. 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM Class. Since I was paying for my school on my own (I was still really poor), I took as m...

Doug Staneart — President and CEO of The Leader’s Institute ® and Creator of the Fearless Presentations ® Public Speaking Training Programs. This is my story of triumph over public speaking fear. I overcame being an incredibly shy kid who got beat up and bullied in grade school to become an NCAA football player . My first formal presentation in the business world was such a failure that it cost me...

I interview Tiffany Foote, a public speaking coach who helps people reduce nervousness when they have to speak in front of groups. Tiffany specializes in helping Millennials who have to present in front of their bosses or executives. For many of us, when the pressure is on, we tend to feel more nervous and anxious. She talks about how real leaders are not the people who are fearless. They are the...