Remember giving speeches in high school? How you hated standing at the podium in front of your friends? How you were sure they’d laugh at you, point out all your weaknesses, or just plain ignore you? You’d think these experiences of fear, dread, and severe nervousness would be a thing of the past for speakers as they enter their professions of choice. Not always. One bad public speaking experience can really stick with us, sometimes for years.  I often hear stories about a terrifying experience from a client’s early days that continues to re-surface. The person can’t shake the feeling that…

When you tell a story during a presentation, which slide is on the screen as you tell it? The truth is, I have a love-hate relationship with slide presentations. Microsoft launched Power Point in 1990, almost 26 years ago. The business world has changed dramatically as a result of this tool, for better and for worse.  As speakers, we’ve been conditioned to have some tidbit of information “up” for every moment we talk. Why? It’s simple. 1) This reduces the already intense nervousness we feel; slides give the audience something else to watch. 2) With slides already prepared, we tell…

Last week I took questions at the end of a talk on Storytelling in Business. One woman raised her hand and asked, “Why do so many speakers ramble? Why do they sometimes go on and on … and on?” She had obviously been held captive – on numerous occasions – by speakers who have committed such a crime.  Her question was punctuated by the collective groan I heard from the rest of the audience. They’d been there too. We all have. And the answer was simple. “There’s only one reason why a speaker goes on and on pointlessly,” I said.…

I just spent 2 days at the Career Thought Leaders Conference in Denver and presented alongside a talented group of business owners. When I was in the audience, I was able to engage in one of my favorite activities: Watching speakers, and finding their strengths. The speaker lineup was excellent overall. Here’s a rundown of 5 elements that mark excellence in public speaking, and who displayed them in spades at CTL 2016. Presence: Vaneese Johnson, The Boldness Coach, has a presence most professionals strive for years to achieve. It’s a natural gift, and she comes to the stage with a strong voice,…

Join us at Liberty Common High School this Saturday, March 5th from 9am-12pm for the First Annual Spring Colloquium! We’ve lined up 20 presentations on a wide variety of subjects including black holes, the Thirty Years’ War, the history of the color red, and I’ll be speaking on the art of storytelling at 11:15 a.m. Don’t miss it! See www.libertycommon.org/spring for location, speaker bios and talk summaries. Cindy Skalicky, M.A.: The Ageless Art of Storytelling LCHS parent and owner of On Point Communications, LLC, Cindy Skalicky will analyze the art and function of storytelling. Using one of her On Point coaching tools, she…