After a student gives a class presentation, I’ll sometimes conduct a quick poll. I’ll ask the entire class: on a scale of 0-10, how nervous did the speaker appear? The audience might give the speaker a 2 or a 3. But the speaker? A nervous speaker might rate themselves a 7 or 9. That’s a …

As a public speaker, you’ll want your audience to understand you. You’ll want to be clear. To gain insight about your speech clarity, try this insightful and easy exercise. Take the one-minute “speech pace” exercise I posted last week. Then, upload your one-minute video sample to YouTube. Within a few moments of uploading your video, YouTube …

I designed an exercise to give public speaking students insight into the concept of pace. If you’re curious about your own speaking pace, you can complete this exercise in minutes. Try it alone, or as part of a class (or party?) activity. Step One: The script below contains 170 words. Read it to yourself, so …

People say they’re scared of public speaking, but are they really? I see these people speak in public all the time. They’re relaxed, confident — and they seem to be enjoying themselves. Take a friend of mine. Let’s call him Greg, because that’s his name. Greg insists he’s terrified of public speaking. Yet, I’ve seen …

A colleague told me about a women’s self defense class she was taking. She shared some surprising information she learned. For me, the information was surprising on two levels. The first level was the actual new information about women’s self defense I learned. My colleague said, “If you’re being attacked, my instructor said you’re supposed …

I’m going to lay a head trip on you. Check this out. If you’re feeling nervous or scared before your next presentation, think about this: “…why not re-frame that term ‘I’m nervous and scared of public speaking’ into ‘I am excited about presenting to my audience’?” It’s a small change, but it’s effective. Try it out …

I keep a daily journal in Scrivener. I’ve been writing in a personal journal every morning for decades now. Yet I only started using Scrivener for my journal since October 2015. At that time, I looked for an online template to use, but I couldn’t find one. Undaunted, I kept writing in Scrivener every morning. I refined my …

I’m a cheerful person. But I don’t like positive thinking. It makes me cringe. Instead, I try to spend some time every day engaging in negative thinking. For me, it’s a joyful meditation. “What’s the worse that could happen?” is a question I ask myself every day. And then, I imagine it. I take some …

  I came across a stranger with a dog a few months ago. As we walked toward each other on my empty street, I grinned. “Cute dog,” I said as we grew closer. “Thanks,” she said. “It’s not mine, though. I’m dogsitting for a friend. Hey, do you know any good places to walk around …

As an intelligent business person, you might think you are excellent at answering simple, direct questions. But are you? Take this easy, 5-question quiz to find out: 1. A venture capitalist asks how much your new service costs. You: A: Explain how you and your team arrived at the various price points. B. Respond, “$79 …