Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by BrainPickings “The best speakers are those who make their words sound spontaneous even if memorized.” The art of giving a great presentation has occupied humanity for as long as recorded history can trace, from the great oratory schools of Ancient Greece to the TED era. In How to Use the Power of the Printed Word (public library) — the same treasure trove that gave us Kurt Vonnegut’s...
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Lead With Joy: How To Have More Impact While Loving What You Do
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sabina Nawaz posted at Forbes.com Abelio is the CMO of a US Fortune 500 company. When his sister was diagnosed with a serious illness, Abelio decided to relocate to Colombia to help her. He had the full support of his CEO and his team for the move. But managing an organization, dealing with his peers and customers across international borders and managing his mostly US-based team remotely...
How to Lessen the Sting of Criticism
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Denise Green of Brilliance Inc. Fragile Beginnings Recently, a client of mine told me he was a little embarrassed about taking criticism personally. He felt that, at his level in the organization, he should have tougher skin, so to speak. I asked him, “So, do you think you’re unusual for taking criticism personally?” I assured him that every client I’ve ever worked with, no matter how...
Avoid a Presentation Meltdown
Apparent teleprompter issues saw the ‘Transformers’ director, Michael Bay, walk off the stage during Samsung’s CES 2014 show. YouTube / CNET – via Iframely It’s all very well to be prepared for a talk or presentation, but if something goes awry (a cell phone rings, the wrong slide pops up, you forget your place, etc), it’s easy to panic. It can happen to the best of us! See our post on When Things Go Wrong...
Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Jean Hamilton of Speaking Results Many years ago, as I stood in front of an audience hearing my voice quiver, feeling my hands shake, and thinking at any moment my mind would go blank, I fully understood why fear of public speaking is often ranked as people’s #1 fear. It was impossible for me to tap into my true power as a speaker, when I had to...
George Plimpton on the Art of Public Speaking and Stage Fright
This is a terrific article by Maria Popova, George Plimpton on the Art of Public Speaking and How to Overcome Stage Fright from brainpickings.org – enjoy! “No speech was ever too short,” a duo of legendary admen famously advised, and Plimpton agrees: He wrote this the year TED was founded and, like any great oracle of culture, he intuited the format-meme that TED would eventually rein in, arguing for the supremacy of the 20-minute...
Four Ways To Break Through Your Fear And Self-Doubt
by Terry Gault When I read this piece from Forbes offering 4 simple approaches to move beyond one’s fear and self-doubt, I knew that I wanted to share it here with our readers. They offer the following 4 suggestions and offer up broad examples: 1. Take a No-Excuses Approach 2. Feel the Fear—But Do It Anyway 3. Be Willing to Stretch Beyond Your Comfort Zone 4. Take Decisive Action These same 4 steps are important...
Spotlight: Social Anxiety
by Terry Gault If you avoid social situations due to anxiety, you may have Social Anxiety Disorder. Read on – this is a useful article by the Chicago Tribune. It’s natural to feel some nervousness in certain social situations, such as talking in front of others, confronting a problem with someone or being among strangers. But social anxiety disorder goes beyond this, causing an excessive anxiety or fear of activities and situations in which...
Public Speaking Tips
10 good public speaking tips from Psychology Today: 1. For many speakers — and especially for introverts — preparation is key. Take your time crafting the speech so that it flows logically and is illustrated with stories and examples. Practice it out loud, until you’re comfortable. If it’s an important speech, videotape yourself. The main reason public speaking can be uncomfortable is that you have no idea how you’re coming across. If you went to...
The Scary Layer Underneath Vulnerability: Shame
by Terry Gault In 1993, I was cast in the title role of an adaptation of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” the poetic philosophical treatise of Freidrich Nietzsche. With 5 weeks left, we were still working on refining the script to its finished form. The language was dense. The play was rich in metaphor and symbolism. I knew the part would be daunting but I’d already played Hamlet. I figured, “This can’t be harder to do than...
