Tools and Resources Articles

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Greg Ward @ Sunday, 16th November 2008 @ 12:32 PM

MC'ing events and conferences at the top professional level is a real blast. The fundamental key is to make everyone else look like stars...then you'll shine along with them. Forget the 'Do's and Don'ts' lists - think positively, and just do the 'Do's'! Do: Research the event. The more information you have, the more relaxed you will be and prepared for eventualities. Is this an annual event? If so, what did last year's MC do? If i... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Tony Jacowski @ Thursday, 17th April 2008 @ 5:32 AM

The best thing is that it doesn't matter how experienced or inexperienced you are. The only thing that you need to emphasize is your speaking ability. The better you speak, the better you will be paid. The more you establish yourself as an expert speaker, the more opportunities are bound to come your way. Listed below are some ways that will help you further your career goals by using professional speaking: -The Simple Fact: It is obvious that whenever you speak, people lend... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Lee Heather @ Monday, 7th April 2008 @ 10:07 PM

One of the questions I most ask people who come to me for personal coaching to increase their public speaking skills is this. "Did you warm up before speaking". And most of them just stare at me as if I am completely mad and don't have a clue what I am talking about. I then explain that even professional singers and professional actors and athletes all warm up before going on stage or performing in some way. Why should it be any different for public speaking? The one f... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Lee Heather @ Wednesday, 2nd April 2008 @ 10:39 PM

We all know that public speaking is one of the most feared endeavors for many, many people especially when we are not called on to do it very often. There are many ways to combat public speaking nerves but for some reason the very people who are the most scared do the least to get over this fear. There is one main thing we have to remember when we have this type of fear. It does not allow us to think straight because all or most of our brain activity moves to the rear of the brain where out ... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Rickie Smith @ Tuesday, 21st August 2007 @ 7:57 PM

Humor in public speaking is the most widely used tools when giving your target audience something to take with them. Remember, this is the whole point of public speaking. Whether you give them something entertaining or persuasive, you will want your audience members to be able to say that they learned something or that they haven't wasted their time listening to you. Even if you provide them with just some new and interesting facts you will You will find that it can be difficult to break... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By J. Douglas Jefferys @ Saturday, 10th June 2006 @ 6:19 AM

The following comprise the rules of presentation visual design that, if heeded, will almost always assure that your audiences will be able to follow your ideas every step of the way. Of course, you must keep in mind that visual design is only one-third of the package required for a successful presentation, the other two being content and delivery. Like a fine dining experience that requires equal parts food, service and atmosphere to really work, the visual design part of the presentat... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By J. Douglas Jefferys @ Wednesday, 7th June 2006 @ 9:25 PM

Your job as a presentation designer is to make ideas into visual images. For your presentations to work, the visual images must convey exactly what you want to say and require the least possible effort on the part of your audience to “get it”. The difference between a visual that works and one that fails is good design. To appreciate of how good design adds to the quality of our lives, it helps to look at some examples of truly bad design that we all deal with on an everyday ba... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By J. Douglas Jefferys @ Tuesday, 6th June 2006 @ 9:25 PM

The only way to assure your presentation audience will stay with you every step of the way is to maintain proper eye contact throughout your presentation. Proper eye contact involves delivering your presentation as a series of one-on-one conversations with each member of the audience, and holding eye-contact with members through to the end of a thought or complete sentence. Most presenters hold eye contact with any one person no more than one second – to effectively bond with your audience, y... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Jason Johns @ Friday, 7th April 2006 @ 12:44 PM

A survey of America revealed that people are more frightened of speaking in public than of dying! How incredible is that? To be more frightened of talking to a few people than of having your life ended. It’s particularly surprising when you realise just how easily you can overcome your fear of public speaking. Using a program such as Unlimited Confidence can teach you tools to overcome this fear and be able to speak out when you need to. When you talk about public speaking... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Sanyika Calloway-Boyce @ Thursday, 23rd February 2006 @ 2:02 AM

The secret is in creating an outline for the book that will help you “fill in the blanks” rather than wonder what to write about along the way. So, if you haven’t started writing your book I have good news… The fastest way to get going is to decide on your chapter topics/titles first before you try to figure out exactly what you want to say. If you have a problem figuring out what you want to name the chapters, just focus on the topic of the chapter and from there write a brief e... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By Saleem Rana @ Saturday, 28th January 2006 @ 5:21 PM

Making money is easy when you move to cause rather than living out effects. Let me draw a simple analogy to clarify my point. Imagine standing before a huge waterfall. You’re thirsty and the water is fresh, clean, and pure. You can take as much as you like. How much can you take home with you? It all depends on the size of your container. You can take a thimble, a small cup, a gallon bucket, a barrel, or even a tank tru... more...

Speaking » Tools and Resources | By J. Douglas Jefferys @

Question: How do you know if an engineer is an extrovert? Answer: He looks at your shoes when he talks to you! I am allowed to say that, coming from a family of engineers, but it’s exactly to the point of this month’s column on the art of successful presentation design and delivery. At the heart of all successful presentations is a presenter who maintains proper eye-contact with members of the audience at all times. Microsoft estimates that with over 300 million copies of Power... more...