Fearless Presentations

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...

This week, I'm going to cover a simple three-step process to help you design a persuasive presentation . Most persuasive speech techniques -- especially the ones that are taught in high school and often at the university level, actually make people want to play devil's advocate and even argue with the presenter.  So in the session, I'm going to give you a time-tested technique that...

This week, I interview Kelsey Greenwood who is a professional speaker and consultant who just wrote a fascinating paper on five simple ways to overcome stage fright. If you are experiencing nervousness when you stand up to present, these tips can help you easily reduce that nervousness. The first couple are both mental things that you can do to prepare yourself before you speak, and the last three...

Imposter syndrome is a term used to describe the feeling of inadequacy, self-doubt, and lack of confidence that many people experience in their professional or personal lives. It is the feeling that you are a fraud, that you are not good enough, and that your accomplishments are simply the result of luck or circumstance rather than your own abilities. The good news is that while imposter syndrome...

Doug Staneart — President and CEO of The Leader’s Institute ® and Creator of the Fearless Presentations ® Public Speaking Training Programs . Last week I began a two-part series on the step-by-step process that I went through to overcome public speaking fear. I covered the first four life lessons that helped me get there. Most of the tips in the last session were things that I learned early in lif...

Doug Staneart — President and CEO of The Leader’s Institute ® and Creator of the Fearless Presentations ® Public Speaking Training Programs . My public speaking class members often ask me questions like, “Do you still get nervous when you speak?” “How did you become a professional speaker?” And the most common, “You were a nervous speaker… How did you overcome your public speaking fear?” The answe...

A few weeks ago, I gave you a few of my favorite ways to start a presentation. Then, for the last few weeks, we have covered several ways to make presentations more interesting. This week, I give you a few of my favorite ways to end your presentation with a bang. You want to make the last thing that you do or so in your presentation memorable so that the audience leaves the room seeing you as a qu...

Storytelling in Speeches-The Easiest Way to Reduce Nervousness During a Speech 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...

The 5 Steps of Storytelling During a Presentation. Follow these Tips to Become a Better Storyteller. In this episode, we cover the Five Steps of Storytelling that we have identified in our presentation skills class . These best practices will help you organize your stories better. Remember that audience members have a short attention span. Good storytelling, though, can help you capture and hold t...

Looking for how to write a speech in a few simple steps? Over the last 20 years, our instructors have dissected thousands of speeches. In that time, we’ve been able to identify simple things that can easily make or break a presentation. We’ve assembled a simple, step-by-step process that explains how to write a speech quickly and easily. In fact, once you understand the concepts below, you can use...