Fearless Presentations

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,...

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 wi...

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...

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. Ent...

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 p...

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...

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 conf...

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 Som...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Last week I started a two-part series on how to make a presentation more interesting. If you recall from the first episode, I mentioned that you can be the most charismatic and confident speaker on the planet. But if your presentation is boring or complicated or uninteresting, your skill as a speaker won't matter. So last week, I gave you the first three presentation enhancers. This week, I&a...

I know that most people who listen to or download the show are looking for ways to reduce nervousness and feel more confident when they speak. However, there is a HUGE part of the presentation process that often gets overlooked that is critical to help you communicate better and more confidently. You have to be saying something that your audience finds interesting. You can be the most charismatic...

One of the biggest causes of public speaking fear and nervousness is having too much time in between each speech. I mentioned last week that if you only drove a car once a year, each time you got behind the wheel, you'd be nervous. If you are a comfortable driver, it is because you get behind the wheel pretty often. It is the same with public speaking. The more often you present, the more com...

One of the biggest causes of public speaking fear and nervousness is having too much time in between each speech. For folks who only give a single presentation each month, once every few months, or once a year, there is a good chance that each time you stand up to present, you will be nervous. If you only drove a car once a year, each time you got behind the wheel, you'd be a nervous wreck (n...

We often hear the term "Know Your Audience," but what does that really mean? In this episode, I  take you through a step-by-step process to help you customize every speech to the needs of the specific audience you are presenting to. Basically there are four things you need to know about your audience to be able to design a presentation that they want to hear. I spend the first half or mo...

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...

This week is part 2 of a 2-part series on public speaking fear. Last week, I showed you where this fear comes from. We also cover five things that people do to try to reduce the nervousness that actually causes more nervousness. This week, I first show you how to lower the risk of failure when you stand up to speak. Then, I'll cover a 4-step process to help you eliminate public speaking fear...

This week, I start a 2-part series on public speaking fear. In most of our episodes, we either cover ways to reduce nervousness or present more effectively so the nervousness is less distracting. In these two episodes, though, I'm going to cover what this nervousness is, where it comes from, why most training and coaching backfires and actually causes more nervousness, and how to reduce this...

We talk a lot in the podcast about ways to reduce nervousness and become a better presenter. However, one of the big parts of making a speech is the ability to create presentations that (1) the audience likes and wants to hear, and (2) are interesting and easy to understand. On this episode, I'm going to show you the "secret sauce" to designing fun and interesting presentations. Thi...

This week, I explain the difference between the different formats of public speaking training in 2023 . You can listen to podcasts like this one, gain incites from online presentation classes, watch videos on YouTube or Rumble, get a public speaking coach, or even attend a public speaking class. With all of these different options, which will give you the best result? In this episode, I explain th...

My guest today is Tom Jackobs, an expert at helping companies and sales teams use success stories to attract customers and clients. And he shares with me how he used public speaking to take a start-up from zero customers to millions of dollars in revenue each year using public speaking as the main marketing apparatus. We also talk about how inserting stories into your presentations can reduce nerv...

For the last couple of weeks, we have been covering different types of persuasion speeches. A couple weeks ago, I gave you a three-step process to win audiences to your way of thinking. Last week, we covered how to put together a sales presentation. This week, we will show you how to present a proposal to management. For instance, if you have identified a problem or opportunity for your company, y...

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...