Does the question “what are your strengths and weaknesses?” send shivers down your spine? In interview and networking situations, selling yourself is important. You need to be able to communicate your skills and expertise clearly. You may not get this exact question, but articulating how your particular skillset will add value is likely to come […]
The dynamics of speaking
Recently in feedback on a speech, an evaluator likened vocal variety to horse riding. How changes in speed can be thought of as galloping, cantering, trotting. I appreciated the analogy as a way of making a concept more lifelike and understandable. It made me think about vocal variety further throughout my daily activities. I don’t […]
Controlling nervousness
One of the questions most frequently asked about public speaking is how to overcome nervousness. A quote I really connect with I read in a book by Paul McGee, The SUMO Guy, a favourite speaker and author of mine. It goes “you can’t get rid of the butterflies, but you can teach them to fly […]
Setting the stage for speaking success
You could have an amazing presentation, but if the set up of your speech is off, it could derail your impact before you’ve even begun. To achieve speaking success, ensure you have prepared, not just your speech, but also your stage. Setting the scene One key thing I’ve learnt since joining an advanced speakers group […]
Choosing your feedback
Feedback is one of the most valuable resources we have in developing. Learning how to use it wisely is a skill in itself. Feedback is after all only one person’s opinion and one person’s opinion may not be representative. Accepting that you’ll never please everyone is an important lesson in not driving yourself crazy with […]
Personality Perspectives on Public Speaking
My last blog was on leaving your comfort zone in general and how this might be different for introverts and extroverts. I wanted to explore the theme of comfort zone in the context of public speaking. Public speaking is often seen as way outside of an introvert’s comfort zone. Extroverts are classed as more natural […]
Projecting not shouting
Quiet is the name of Susan Cain’s seminal book on introverts. Anyone who identifies as an introvert has inevitably been asked “why are you so quiet?” at some (in reality probably many) points in their life. Introverts think before speaking, so don’t just say whatever is in their head, often hesitating to say anything at […]
Slowing down
A typical Toastmasters speech is between five and seven minutes long. When I first started out in Toastmasters, I would write around 800 words and delivering this length of speech would take around six minutes. Now, if I write more than 700 words for a speech, I’m in serious danger of going over the time […]
Memory skills : skills memory
Just before I started to learn the piano in 2018 (a life-long goal), I picked up my flute for the first time in more than 15 years to try to remind myself how to read music. I found that the ability to play some pieces came back far quicker than I had anticipated. Knowing how […]
Communication Congruence
If you’ve ever done some kind of communication training, you’ve probably heard some discourse on the relative importance of the content of what you say, how you say it (tone of voice) and what your appearance conveys (facial expression and body language). You may have seen this chart: This is based on research by Professor […]
