Fearless Presentation

In his episode, we're going to talk about filler words and how to reduce the negative fillers that can be annoying. Fillers come in a few different formats. Some are just sounds. These fillers are the ones that, when we do them, we tend to get more nervous because we think the audience is judging us.These are the ers, the uhms, the youknows, etc. How to stop saying Um is one of the most common public speaking concerns. Um is a filler word. And filler words are a natural part of everyday conversation. A surprising fact, though, is that you'll actually sound strange (or even fake) to your audience if you don't use any filler words.However, there is a negative impact of using too many of these vocal fillers. If um, you say um, too many um, ums in your speech, the repeated use over and over will become a distraction. This excessive use of these filler words has the potential to detract from your message.A funny example of this was in the movie, We're the Millers. Scottie P., the young girl's date, keeps using the phrase, “You know what I'm sayin'” over and over. And, Jason Sudeikis' character calls attention to each of these verbal crutches in a very funny way.The good news about Scottie P. is that what makes this scene really funny is that most people don't use these filler phrases in everyday conversation. They show up more often when we are speaking in front of a group or delivering a formal presentation. If you understand why that happens, you can fix this bad habit very easily.The best speakers in the world have trained themselves, over time, to minimize their use of fillers. (Notice that I said minimize, not eliminate.) Excessive use of um and other filler noises can frustrate the audience and make the speaker less credible. With a bit of practice, though, you can use fewer filler words as well.Full Show Notes at How to Stop Saying Um When Presenting(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-stop-saying-um-when-presenting/)

On this episode, I cover seven easy ways for ESL presenters (presenters who present in English but English is their second language) to reduce nervousness. If English is your first language, don't worry, because most of the tips will help you as well. In fact, the first four of the seven tips are things that anyone can use to reduce public speaking fear.The remaining three tips are ones that are specific to ESL presenters (or presenters who are delivering presentations to international audiences.) One of the major benefits of reducing public speaking fear if English is not your first language is that your accent will, theoretically, be less pronounced as your nervousness goes down. In the episode, I explain why this happens and how to make it happen if you find that audiences have a tough time understanding you when you present.Full show notes are at We Help ESL Presenters Give Confident Presentations in English(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/a-step-by-step-way-to-help-esl-presenters-give-confident-presentations-in-english/)

In his episode, I'm getting back to our roots -- so to speak. The topic is How to Overcome Stage Fright. In the past, we've covered different forms of this performance anxiety, like Imposter Syndrome, and I've covered how to reduce public speaking fear on a number of episodes. Stage fright is slightly different, though. It can come from public speaking fear or other types of stage performances like singing, playing music, acting, or performing in sporting events.While doing the research for this episode, I made an interesting discovery that I'll reveal to you at the end of the show. Here's a hint, though, if you try to take a shortcut to overcoming this fear, you might make your stage fright worse.Enjoy the three easy steps to eliminating stage fright. And if you enjoy the show, make sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave me a review on your podcast app. Full Shownotes: How to Overcome Stage Fright(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-overcome-stage-fright-in-three-easy-steps/)

If you are scanning the internet for PowerPoint tips, it's most likely because something has happened recently that wasn't ideal. Perhaps you stood up in front of a group and forgot what you were going to say. Or, maybe, you got tongue-tied during the delivery. Or worse, your audience looked sleepy-eyed or even walked out of the room while you were speaking.These are all symptoms of related to a few of the biggest PowerPoint mistakes that almost every presenter makes at some time in their speaking career.But if you avoid these mishaps, you'll make a better connection with your audience. In fact, even if you don't consider yourself a great speaker, if you just eliminate these mistakes from your preparation, you'll deliver better presentations than 90% of business presenters out there.Shownotes: PowerPoint Tips-The 10 Biggest PowerPoint Mistakes and How to Fix Them(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/power-point-tips/)

This is lesson number 12 of our 12-lesson series on how to win group sales presentations. One of the myths that we tackled in one of the earlier episodes was that the PowerPoint slideshow itself is the shortlist presentation. That one mistake can cause teams to lose the high-level sales presentation more than any other mistake. What we started with last week was a different concept. I began to show you how to create the verbal presentation first. This means that you want to figure out what you want to say first and then create your slideshow last.So, on today's episode, I'm going to show you how to turn that presentation outline that we created a couple of weeks ago into a fantastic and appealing presentation. We are going to do that with what I call our Impact Ideas. Counting the Case Studies that we really expanded upon weeks ago, there are a total of five Impact Ideas. These items will really make your shortlist presentation come to life and make you and the content that you cover more memorable.Then, finally, we'll show you how to create your visual aids -- which may or may not end up being a PowerPoint slideshow.Also, in the last couple of minutes of this session, I'll give you a few of my final thoughts. I know that we've covered 12 different steps in this process. And at this point, you may be thinking, "This sounds very complicated." The exact opposite is true, though. This process will save you so much time. It will also drop the stress level of your presenters a lot. The first time going through the whole process, it can be time-consuming. You have to get each presenter really good at determining what the absolute-most-critical, most-important things are to the audience. You also have to get your entire team to get really, really good at telling captivating success stories.But once you get your team skilled in these areas, the actual designing of a new shortlist presentation is very, very fast. For instance, I've been able to get experienced teams (meaning teams that have already done at least one shortlist presentation with me before) ready to present in a single three-hour morning.The process is very fast once you get the basics down. And hopefully, by the end of this episode, you'll be able to see that very easily.

This is lesson number 11 of our 12-lesson series on how to win group sales presentations. So far, we've covered a lot of the foundational concepts of group selling skills and ways to get buying committees to buy from your team after you get shortlisted. Just as a 30,000-foot recap, we started by covering many of the myths about shortlist presentations. One of those myths is that the slideshow is the presentation so you should start by designing your shortlist slideshow. That one mistake can cause teams to lose the high-level sales presentation more than any other mistake.Instead, you want to design the presentation -- design what your team will say -- first. Then, after you have a clear presentation designed, create your slideshow to enhance what is being said in the presentation.We also covered the power of case studies and success stories in a shortlist presentation. The best evidence that you can help this buying committee is past experience on similar projects. When you get really good add adding specific case studies as evidence that you can help this committee, they will trust your team more. These success stories also build rapport with the audience and reduce the nervousness of your presentation team. We also covered how important it is to research the buying committee. The more you know about what they want, the easier it is to design a targeted shortlist presentation. Then, finally, last week, we covered how to create a succinct presentation outline. This is your blueprint for a successful shortlist presentation.Now that we have a great presentation outline, in this episode, we're going to help you help your SMEs (your Subject Matter Experts) design their component parts of the presentation. In this process, you have to be a great coach. You have to help them design a very concise presentation-within-the-presentation. And the backbone of each of those mini-presentation will be... wait for it... Fantastic case studies.So, we are going to help your presentation team members create a mini-presentation within the big presentation. And we'll follow the same strategy that we used last week to help them create a compelling speech-within-a-speech, so to speak.We'll also show you how to help them turn that outline -- that blueprint -- into a compelling presentation by adding in case studies.Then, next week, in the final episode, we'll show you how to help them jazz up the entire presentation with what we call our "Impact Ideas." These are ways to enhance the presentation to an even higher level.I know that, counting these last two lessons, we will have covered 12 different steps in this process. And, at this point, you may be thinking, "This sounds very complicated." The exact opposite is true, though. This process will save you so much time. It will also drop the stress level of your presenters a lot. The first time going through the whole process, it can be time-consuming. You have to get each presenter really good at determining what the absolute-most-critical, most-important things are to the audience. You also have to get your entire team to get really, really good at telling captivating success stories.But once you get your team skilled in these areas, the actual designing of a new shortlist presentation is very, very fast. For instance, I've been able to get experienced teams (meaning teams that have already done at least one shortlist presentation with me before) ready to present in a single three-hour morning.The process is very fast once you get the basics down. And hopefully, by the end of this episode, you'll be able to see that very easily.

This is episode 10 of our 12-episode series on how to win group sales presentations. So far in the first 9 episodes, we've covered a lot of the foundational concepts of group selling skills. And we've spent a lot of time on how valuable case studies or success stories are in winning a committee over to hiring your team. In the last episode, I showed you how to pick the best presentation team. Then, we covered how to research the buying committee so that we can create a presentation based on specifically what they want us to cover. If you haven't listened to the last episode, make sure to do that before you listen to this one and what we cover next week.In these two episodes, we are going to pull together all of the foundation information from the first nine episodes and show you how to design a compelling shortlist presentation. This process will likely be totally different from the way you have designed these presentations in the past. This week, I'm going to help you design a comprehensive presentation outline. Then, next week, I'll show you how to coach and help your presentation team design each component part of the speech so that everything they create is focused on the overall presentation outline. Basically, we will help you determine what you will say -- first. Then, after you have a fantastic presentation that is compelling and makes the buying committee want to choose you, then -- and only then -- will we create the slideshow. Most presentation teams have their marketing people jump in right away and start by designing the slideshow -- the visual aids. That is the absolute biggest mistake you can ever make when creating a high-level sales presentation. So, today, I'm going to give you a better alternative.We'll cover how to create a great outline -- a roadmap for the presentation. Then, next week, we'll cover how to get your SME (your Subject Matter Experts) to wow the committee with their experience and expertise. Most likely, we will also cover session 12 next week. That will be the final part, where we put the entire process together into a Wow-worthy shortlist presentation.

This is episode eight and nine of our 12-episode series on how to win group sales presentations. So far, we've covered a lot of the foundational concepts of group selling skills. And we've spent a lot of time on how valuable case studies or success stories are in winning a committee over to hiring your team. Today's episode will be split into to parts. First, I'll give you some tips on how to pick your presentation team and how to divvy up roles for each speaker. I'll also cover the absolute biggest mistakes that presentation teams make. Just a hint... The biggest one is putting a qualified SME (subject matter expert) in front of a buying committee without any basic presentation or sales training.Then, in part two, I give you some tips on how to research the buying committee. Next week, we'll cover how to design a custom presentation based on what the committee wants or needs to hear from you. The better research you do beforehand, the better the committee is going to like what you say and how you present. But you can't wing it. You have to do some research.In the last part of this episode, we'll show you how.

This is episode seven of our 12-episode series on how to win group sales presentations. Before the Christmas and New Years break, the last couple of sessions were about inserting case studies into your presentation as evidence that your potential clients can get what they want if they do what you want. I introduced a concept that I call an action/benefit statement. Just as a review, you'd tell a compelling case study. Then, add a call to action at the end. This call-to-action is another one of those breadcrumbs I've talked about in past sessions. You're leading the committee down a path. Finally, you tell the audience how they will benefit if they take this action. For instance, an action/benefit statement might sound like...When you hire our team, you'll have fewer change orders which will lower the overall cost of the project.Or, by having me as your project manager, you'll have fewer delays in the project.Today, I walk you through how to perform well during the Q&A session of the interview. This is the part of the presentation where you can really set yourself apart from the competition in a positive way. The good news is that the backbone of answering a question is to respond with a shortened version of a case study followed by the call to action and benefit that we talked about before the holiday.This response is very, very easy to master. And when you and your shortlist team use this technique, the committee will see you as a team of experts who really know there stuff.

This is episode six of our 12-episode series on how to win group sales presentations. For the last couple of weeks, we talked about how a case study is a story or example of how you've helped other clients solve similar problems to what this client has. And we showed how these stories help you show your experience to the buying committee throughout your presentation. We also showed how these stories capture attention, make your data memorable, build rapport, build credibility, build more of a team atmosphere, and help your presenting team reduce nervousness.So, you want to make the case studies the backbone of your shortlist presentation. Today, I show you how to take one of these case studies and show you how to make short persuasive messages out of them. This technique will be important when we get to the question and answer sessions -- by the way, we'll cover that next week. But this simple addition to the stories allows you to sprinkle calls to action throughout your presentation so that you are throwing breadcrumbs out to the committee. The goal is to get the committee members to follow these persuasive breadcrumbs until they come to the natural conclusion to hire you and your team.

This is 2nd half of episode five of our 12-episode series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, we talked about how a case study is a story or example of how you've helped other clients solve problems similar to those of this client. They are also fantastic ways to make details in your presentation memorable and a great way to build rapport with the selection committee.In fact, the only thing that makes you different from your competition is your experience. So, getting really good at delivering fantastic case studies during your presentation is the most important thing you can do to increase your closing ratio on these high-level sales presentations.In part two of this episode, we'll show you how these case studies help you build credibility with the committee. They also build more of a team atmosphere. And then, finally, I'll show you how these additions to your shortlist presentation or interview presentation are a fantastic way to reduce public speaking fear. Your presentation team is going to be nervous. So, as the leader of the presentation, you want to give your team members ways to feel more comfortable when they are presenting in a high-stakes presentation. Having them tell about past experiences in a story format will help dramatically.

This is episode five of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, we talked about how you can change the way that you introduce each team member when you present so that you edify each other and build their confidence.This week, we're going to cover how to get really, really good at delivering case studies. If you remember back in the very first episode, I talked about how most presentation teams create a bullet point called "our experience." In this session, I show you how to make the entire presentation about your experience. However, this way, you'll show how your team's experience can help the buying committee solve problems.Basically, what we are calling a case study is a story or example of how you've helped other clients solve similar problems to what this client has. They are also fantastic ways to build rapport, build credibility, and make your presentation more memorable. So these stories have a fantastic selling power for you.In fact, the only thing that makes you different from your competition is your experience. So, getting really good at delivering fantastic case studies during your presentation is the most important thing you can do to increase your closing ratio on these high-level sales presentations.

This is episode four of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, I gave you ten things you can do when preparing or delivering these presentations that will help you keep calm and poised. I also talked about how, in shortlist presentations,  it is important to "dig your well before you're thirsty," so to speak. High-level sales presentations have a tremendous amount of pressure, which causes a tremendous amount of nervousness and anxiety. If you throw an unseasoned presenter into a pressure cooker without any help, you can really hurt that presenter (and your team.)But that is one of the biggest mistakes that I see over and over again.This week, we will cover how to do the team introductions. I cover a few ways to introduce your team so that you actually look like a cohesive team. The main thing that is important to understand about shortlist presentations is that they are sales presentations. The technical presenters often forget this. They will want to score points in their introductions by just giving a laundry list of each team member's accomplishments.However, your shortlist presentation should focus on how you can solve problems for the committee. So, your introductions should be focused on how your experience can help the committee.And, if you want to really elevate your presentation, you can have your team members introduce each other. This was a technique that we discovered accidentally. But, once we tried it, we have used it in every single presentation since because it works so well.

This is episode three of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, I briefly overviewed the five biggest secrets I've discovered about these high-level sales presentations. These secrets are the things that have allowed us to win over 80% of the interviews that teams that I have coached have been on. This week, I will give you ten things you can do when you are preparing or delivering these presentations that will help you stay calm and poised. However, early on in this session, I tell a quick story about how important it is to "dig your well before you're thirsty," so to speak. High-level sales presentations have a tremendous amount of pressure, which causes a tremendous amount of nervousness and anxiety. If you throw an unseasoned presenter into a pressure cooker without any help, you can really hurt that presenter (and your team.)So, these ten tips can help reduce tension and nervousness. But you'll get a lot better results if you train your potential presenters well before they are under the heat lamp.

This is episode two of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, I explained what these presentations were and how I first got exposed to them. Just as a review, a Shortlist Presentation or Shortlist Interview is a very high-level sales presentation. Companies will often submit a proposal to a potential customer or client. The potential customer or client will weed through all of the proposals to create what they call a "shortlist." Then, the remaining companies will often each get a shot to come in and pitch themselves to the customer. We talked about how this type of presentation can be nerve-racking even if you are a confident speaker.This week, I briefly overview the five of the biggest secrets I've discovered about these high-level sales presentations. These secrets are the things that have allowed us to win over 80% of the interviews that teams that I have coached have been on. Next week, I'll give you ten things you can do when you are preparing or delivering these presentations that will help you keep calm and poised. So we have a lot of ground to cover!

This week, we start a new series on how to win Shortlist Presentations or Shortlist Interviews. Basically, this is a very high level sales presentation. Companies will often submit a proposal to a potential customer or client. The potential customer or client will weed through all of the proposals to create what they call a "shortlist." Then, the remaining companies will often each get a shot to come in and pitch themselves to the customer. If you think about it, this type of presentation has a number of very unique challenges. First, the stakes are really high. Some of these projects may be worth millions of dollars. So if the team does well, they may close a really big contract. And if they do poorly, they get excluded from that same contract. So, even if you are a confident speaker, this type of presentation can be nerve-racking.The next big challenge is that most of the presenters who deliver these presentations are technical experts -- they are NOT skilled presenters or salespeople. For instance, if the project is a building project, the presenters are often mechanical engineers, architects, or construction superintendents. Or if the project is a technical project, the presenters may be engineers or people who write and edit code for a living. Many of these presenters have never delivered any type of business presentation before. And this first one has a ton of pressure.On this episode, I tell about how, over the last 20 years, I and my team accidentally became experts at this unique type of presentation. Then, in the next few weeks, I'm going to reveal a few secrets that will make this type of presentation much easier. I'll show you have to reduce the nervousness and tension. We'll also show you how to master Q&A sessions and be more persuasive. Then, in the final sessions, I'll show you step-by-step how to design a really good shortlist presentation that will make the audience want to hire your team.

One of the real fears that many speakers have is that they don't feel like they are an "expert" on the topic. It actually leads to what some people call imposter syndrome.In this episode, I'm going to help you reduce that anxiety. Especially in the business world, if you are the person speaking, then, most likely, it is because you know more about the topic than anyone else in the room.Great speakers are great speakers because they are world leaders in everything. They are great speakers because they have found ways to give critical information to their audiences in ways that the audience members can easily retain that information.Guess what?You can too. 

This is part four of a four-part series on how to make your presentations more interesting. So far, we spent the first couple of weeks cover my seven "impact ideas" which are fun things to add into presentations to jazz them up. Last week, we cover audience participation. In that episode I covered a few mistakes that presenters make when they try to get the audience to interact as well as my best secrets to get the audience to open up in a positive way. This week, I cover what I call the "Secret Sauce" to a great presentation -- Analogies, Similes, and Metaphors. When you insert this small parts of speech into your presentations, they add flavor and fun. And the more technical your presentation, the more important these things are.They can make even the most difficult and technical speech easier for the audience to understand.

This is part three of a four-part series on how to make your presentations more interesting. This week, we cover audience participation -- how to get your audience to help you deliver your presentation. When you do audience participation well, you can really elevate your presentations!In the last couple of weeks, I mentioned that there are two major components of a fantastic speech. First, you have to have good content that the audience wants or needs to hear. And second -- and this is the part that many presenters overlook -- you have to have entertainment value in your presentation.You can have great content, but if your content is boring, no one will really hear you. So far in the series, we covered seven "impact ideas" that you can use to spice up your presentation.Each of these seven presentation impact ideas can be used strategically through different types of presentations to build credibility and make your content more fun and entertaining.This week, though, we are going to spend some time on audience participation. If you are delivering a persuasive speech to a smaller group, this addition to your presentation is like gold. In fact, presenters who get really good at audience participation can actually get their audience to prove to them what they are trying to prove to the audience.Keep in mind that this is a very high-level type of addition to your presentation. I go into some depth with this one, because it has a high propensity to backfire on the presenter. So, if you are new to presenting, this might be a tip that you hold off implementing until you get some practice. But for those of you who want to elevate your presentation, this is one of those skills that separates the amateur presenter from the more elite presenter.

This is part two of a four-part series on how to make your presentations more interesting. If you recall, last week, I mentioned that there are two major components of a fantastic speech. First, you have to have good content that the audience wants or needs to hear. And second -- and this is the part that many presenters overlook -- you have to have entertainment value in your presentation.You can have great content, but if your content is boring, no one will really hear you. So, last week, we covered a few "impact ideas" that you can use to spice up your presentation.This week, I show you a few simple ideas about how to build credibility by name dropping -- no it probably isn't what you think. I will also show you how to use non-PowerPoint visual aids. And finally, we'll get you to add a little showmanship to your presentations.Then, in the next couple of weeks, I'll cover audience participation and analogies. These final two impact ideas are really important if you want to be a great presenter.

We've spent the last few months covering ways to reduce nervousness and the last couple of weeks uncovering a few low-risk venues to practice presenting. For the next few weeks, I'm going to show you how to make your presentations more fun and interesting.There are two major components of a fantastic speech. First, you have to have good content that the audience wants or needs to hear. Second- and this is the part that many presenters overlook- you have to have entertainment value in your presentation.You can have great content, but if your content is boring, no one will really hear you. So, for the next few weeks, I'm going to give you some of my top ways to make your presentations more interesting.

This is part two of a two-part series about low-risk venues where you can practice public speaking. In the introduction last week, I mentioned that the absolute best place to practice public speaking is in a public speaking class with a great coach. A good public speaking class is a controlled environment, so the risk is very low. However, over the years, I've come across a bunch of other low-risk venues to practice public speaking. Last week, I covered a number of low-risk virtual venues where you can practice speaking in front of a group. Virtual venues can be great for fine-tuning your message and learning to be concise. And, in most cases, you can practice and get your message perfect before unveiling it to the public.This week, I give you some of the best low-risk venues to practice in front of a live audience. The live audience is crucial for gaining public speaking confidence because most of your confidence will come from seeing that positive visual feedback from the audience. When you communicate well, your audience will give you positive expressions. Those little nods when they agree with you and smiles when you make them laugh are critical to overcoming public speaking fear.

One of the most common questions that I get as a public speaking coach is, "Where can I go to practice speaking?" It is usually a good idea to practice your presentation skills somewhere that is more low risk than in front of a big client, or your boss, or the board of directors.Obviously, I'm pretty biased, but with good reason. I believe that the absolute best place to practice public speaking is in a public speaking class with a great coach. A good public speaking class is a controlled environment, so the risk is very low. Also, you get practice presenting in front of real people. That is an important part of the learning process.However, over the years, I've come across a bunch of low-risk venues to practice public speaking. So, over the next couple of episodes, I'll give you this list.That way, you'll have a bunch of different options to choose from. Pick the one or two venues that you feel will give you the best practice.

We just finished a series on public speaking fear and how to reduce nervousness during a speech. This week, I discuss how to better prepare for your presentation.For most people, the absolute most nervous part of the speech -- the place where they feel the most uncomfortable -- is right as they step foot in front of the audience.That nervousness builds to a crescendo up to that point. So, in this episode, I give my favorite tips for reducing presentation jitters from that day to a few minutes before you take the stage. 

This is part 3 of a three-part series on public speaking fear. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, I started by explaining the difference between glossophobia and public speaking fear. In those episodes, we basically discovered that glossophobia is an unreasonable fear of public speaking that keeps people from presenting in the first place. Last week, I covered a simple four-step process that will help you eliminate this fear. This week, I'll give you ten tips to help you implement this four-step process more easily. These ten public speaking tips can help you reduce nervousness and present with more poise and confidence. So, if you want to finally reduce your public speaking fear, these ten simple tips can really help.

This is part 2 of a three-part series on public speaking fear. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, I started by explaining the difference between glossophobia and public speaking fear. In those episodes, we discovered that glossophobia is an unreasonable fear of public speaking that keeps people from presenting in the first place. Last week, I covered part one in this series about where public speaking fear comes from. We covered a number of different activities that presenters do to reduce nervousness that actually causes nervousness. For instance, relying on notes to deliver a presentation or memorizing a presentation will make you more nervous.Today, I'm covering a simple four-step process that will help you eliminate this fear. And then next week, I'll give you ten tips that will help you more easily implement this four-step process.

In the last couple of episodes, I covered the difference between Glossophobia and just normal, everyday public speaking nervousness. In the episode, I'm going to delve more deeply into where public speaking fear comes from. I'll talk a lot about triggers that make people more nervous when they stand up to speak because if you know what is causing your fear, you can better eliminate it.Because of all the info, I'm breaking this into two sessions. Then, in the third week, I'll give you my ten simple tips that will help you eliminate public speaking fear. So, enjoy this fantastic series.

In the last episode, I covered the difference between Glossophobia and just normal, everyday public speaking nervousness. In summary, everyone gets some nervousness when they stand up to speak in front of a group. However, a phobia is an irrational fear. So, if the fear is extreme or irrational, your fear may be a full-blown phobia. On this episode, I'm going to give you some tips that will help you reduce or even eliminate this fear. If you do these things, you can calm your nerves and become a more poised and confident public speaker -- even if your public speaking fear is extreme. Unlike most phobias, glossophobia doesn't need medication or therapy. It can be conquered with practice and coaching -- as long as that practice and coaching builds self-confidence during every step along the way.

For the next couple of weeks, I will cover a quick series on Glossophobia and public speaking fear. This week, I explain the difference between the two forms of presentation jitters and give you a few tips to help. Then, over the next couple of weeks, I'll cover more details on things that you can do to calm your nerves and become a more poised and confident public speaker.By the way, the episode is sponsored by FearlessPresentations.com. So, if you are looking for a faster way to reduce public speaking fear or become a more persuasive speaker, We have 2-day public speaking classes coming up in Miami, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Phoenix, Tampa, Atlanta, and Houston. For details, go to fearlesspresentations.com.

We are continuing our series on how to create great presentations. If you remember last week, I mentioned how one of the major ways to reduce public speaking fear is to design a fantastic speech. If your presentation is not that good, you will definitely be way more nervous when you present.Last week, I talked about how to deliver business proposals or sales proposals to customers or people outside of your company. Those speeches can be nerve-racking because a great speech can open a lucrative door and a bad speech can shut one.This week, I'm going to give you a few tips about how to deliver a similar type of speech to management. So, if you come up with a great idea that you want your leaders to embrace, the tips in this episode will help a lot.Even if you are the leader, the tips in the episode will also help in situations where you are presenting to other leaders in your own organization or even outside your organization.Enjoy this simple four-step process to help you deliver a proposal to management with confidence!

For the last few weeks, I've covered a number of topics about how to create great presentations. And on social media, I've received a few questions like, "What does a presentation design have to do with public speaking fear?" The answer is simple. If you try to deliver a terrible speech to any audience, you'll be way more nervous. However, if you design a fantastic speech, you may never even get nervous in the first place. If your audience likes and respects your content, they will overlook a lot of minor glitches.The opposite is true as well. If your presentation stinks, every minor glitch in your delivery will be exaggerated. Last week, we covered a simple three-step process to help you deliver more persuasive speeches. This week, I will elaborate on that topic a little more. We will focus on a specific type of persuasive presentation - a proposal speech.This can cover any type of business proposal, including sales presentations, presenting your ideas in a staff meeting or team meeting, or even something as simple as trying to get your boss to change vendors.Remember that for most people, keeping the status quo is less risky than trying something new. So, these types of presentations need a little more finesse than just a normal informational presentation.In this episode, I'll take you step-by-step through the process.

For the last few weeks, I've covered techniques that you can use to design better presentations. We talked about ways to start a speech first. Then, we covered how to design a good presentation. Next, we covered how to end a presentation. For the next couple of episodes, though, I'm going to share a few secrets about designing presentations that may also come in handy.Today, I'll give you a very simple three-step process to help you make your presentations more persuasive. This simple process works very effectively if you are trying to sell an idea or a product to your audience.

For the last few episodes, I've shown you how to start a speech, how to design a speech, and, last week, how to end a speech. But before we end this series, I wanted to cover one often-overlooked part of creating a compelling presentation.Today, I'm going to show you how to introduce yourself to an audience so that your presentation starts off on the right foot.Remember, when you are speaking to a new audience, they don't know who you are, what you want from them, or why in hell they should even listen to you. In this short session, I'll give you one of the best ways to establish your credibility to a new audience without sounding like you're bragging. In fact, if you do this really well, your audience will want to pay attention to the rest of your speech.

This week, we're continuing our series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback, which will boost your confidence.A couple of episodes ago, I showed you a few fun ways to start a speech. Last week, I showed you a simple way to design a speech so you don't have to memorize the presentation word-for-word. And today, I'll cover a few ways to end your speech so you leave the audience wanting more from you. Remember that the last thing you say in your delivery will be what your audience remembers. In this episode, I'll show you a few ways to help your audience retain the most important items from the speech. We'll also cover a few ways to end your speech so that the audience sees you as a credible authority on the subject.Keep in mind that different speech ending techniques can have totally different value for the audience. So, pick a speech ending that best helps your audience get the most value from your presentation.

Last week, we started a new series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback, which will boost your confidence.Last week,, we covered seven ways to start your speech. Today, we'll cover a simple three-step process for designing a great presentation. When we teach presenters how to reduce nervousness when they speak, a major component of the process is designing a great speech in the first place. For instance, what most people do is write out everything they know about a topic. Then, they make bullet points in a slideshow that cover every minute component of this knowledge. Really, though, these bullet points end up just being cheat notes for the presenter. This is a terrible way to organize a speech. The process also increases nervousness exponentially.The process I cover in this episode is really simple and works in 90% of the presentations I've seen in my career. First, I'll help you narrow down your topic to just the things that the audience is most interested in right now. Next, I'll help you create just a few bullet points based on what is most important to the audience. Then, finally, I'll show you how to reinforce each point with content that is easy to deliver without memorizing a bunch of stuff.Use this process to design your next speech, and you'll get a lot of positive feedback from your audience!

This week we're starting a new series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback. When that happens, you confidence will go up.In this session, we'll cover a few different ways to start a presentation effectively. What most presenters find is that once they say the first couple of sentences, their nervousness drops pretty dramatically. These seven presentation starters will help you win your audience over—even in the first couple of minutes of your presentation.By the way, the episode is sponsored by FearlessPresentations.com. So if you are looking for a faster way to reduce public speaking fear or become a more persuasive speaker, We have 2-day public speaking classes coming up in Chicago, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, and Miami. For details, go to fearlesspresentations.com.

Last week, I recovered a few tips for better virtual training sessions where your entire group is participating through Zoom or Teams. This week, though, I'm covering tips to help you lead better hybrid training sessions. These are sessions where some of your team is sitting in a room with you while you teach, and others are participating virtually.This type of workshop delivery is more challenging, but over the last few years, we've come up with a few simple tips to ensure everyone attending the meeting has a better experience. And, in the last 10 minutes of the episode today, I will tell you about a piece of technology that will revolutionize these types of meetings for you. So, stick around until the end. This product is a real game changer in hybrid meetings.Show Notes: Tips for Hybrid Workshops (Both In-Person and Virtual Attendees)

The last few weeks I've been traveling around delivering a series of in-person training sessions all over the world. And I noticed that when I'm delivering this training in major urban areas like Washington DC, Chicago, New York, and the like, inevitably, my client will turn on a Teams meeting or Zoom meeting as I'm setting up. In many of these cities, coming into the office is still somewhat optional. These poor meeting organizers are trying to include virtual team members in their training sessions as well.So, this week, I want to go back and review a few tips we came up with during the pandemic that help make instructor-led virtual training sessions more interactive and meaningful. Then, next week, I'll show you how to best organize a hybrid meeting where some people are in-person and some are virtual.Virtual, instructor-led training is here to stay. In the past few months, many instructors and trainers have had to adapt to a virtual world. Trainers who embrace virtual platforms and adapt the best have an advantage over those who don't. So, I thought it might be a good idea to cover a few Virtual Instructor-Led training best practices. So in this session, I'm going to cover a few tools and tips for virtual instructor-led training. In addition, I'll start with exactly what virtual instructor-led” training is and how it is different from other types of training.Virtual Instructor-Led Training Tools and Tips.In this episode, we cover a few tips and best practices for your virtual training sessions. The closer you stick to these guidelines, the better your training sessions will be.Just as an FYI, though… These are tools and tips for virtual training sessions. If you are organizing a virtual staff meeting or just need to “get your team on the same page,” you only need one tip. Keep the virtual meeting short. Virtual staff meetings should take 15 minutes to 30 minutes — tops. The moment you cross that 30-minute mark, retention, and morale both go down exponentially.With that being said, if you are teaching or training a group over Zoom or Teams, these tips can help you increase retention and morale.Show Notes: Best Practices and Tips for Virtual Instructor-Led Training

STEVE MULTER is a veteran corporate spokesman and trainer for more than 100global brands, including Cisco, Panasonic, Siemens, Fujifilm, HP, NTT Data, and Bayer. He is known as the chief storytelling officer for these and other brands. I wanted to have him on as a guest to give us a few tips on how to become better storytellers and use stories as a way to communicate more effectively and create more persuasive presentations.During the interview, Steve explains what a corporate story is. He also explains how the stories that we tell in presentations are almost identical to the marketing stories that big marketing companies develop for huge brands.You can visit https://corporatestorytelling.com/guide and enter code soldtold23 to download the publication, 5 Paths to Passionate Storytelling eGuide. You can also sign up for Steve's Tuesday Tips & Tricks.

Do I need to get a presentation skills coach? Well, unfortunately, the answer is probably… It depends. A public speaking coach can be very helpful in certain situations. However, in many cases, a public speaking coach can also be a complete waste of time and money. (The process may actually make you more nervous as well.)In this episode, I cover the pros and cons of public speaking coaching. I give you a few circumstances where hiring a good public speaking coach can be very helpful. We will also cover the situations where a presentation coach can be detrimental. Next, I'll give you a few ways to find a high-quality speech coach. Then, finally, I will share with you a list of skills where presentation and executive coaching are most helpful.The Pros and Cons of Public Speaking Coaching.You have a lot of options for different types of presentation training. The most common way to acquire practical tips is by reading posts or books and/or watching videos online. This option is very cost-effective. (In most cases, it is free.) The downside of this type of training is that you won't get feedback or coaching. So, quite often, this type of training can take a long time. You can also develop bad habits that may be more difficult to correct later.However, if you hire a good public speaking coach, feedback is built into the process. For instance, a coach can help you design a sample presentation. Then, you can practice delivering that presentation in front of the coach. Your coach will give you feedback so you can improve your delivery. So, when you hire a public speaking coach, you can speed up your learning process quite a bit. Your presentation coach may have years of experience mastering the skill that you want to improve in. This shortens your learning curve.Show Notes: The Pros and Cons of a Public Speaking Coach

Today, I'm covering the importance of proper room setup and how the room that you present in will either make you more nervous or help you deliver a better presentation. The way that you set up the room before you even say a word has a lot of impact on how well you present. It also will determine how you can interact with your audience.The main thing, though, is that if your audience is comfortable, they can help you present better. If they are uncomfortable, or worse, if you make them participating in your presentation hard, the audience will not be on your side.If you ever saw Men in Black with Will Smith, there is a scene where he goes for the MIB interview. All the interviewees are sitting in egg-shaped chairs. They then have to take a test. And for the next couple of minutes, they all try to take the test without a table. It's pretty funny, but it is also a good lesson about how important your room and venue are to the success of your speech.Proper room setup for a presentation can actually improve your performance in front of a group.The downside is true as well. Improper conference room setup can actually make you more nervous and make delivering the presentation more difficult.This post has two parts. Part one is about The Different Conference Room Styles. In that section, I'll give you different conference room setup options with pros and cons of each. Then, in Part Two, I'll give you the Best Practices for How to Set Up a Conference Room and how to set up a meeting room. These best practices will help you avoid some of the big mistakes that presenters make when they set up the tables, chairs, and audiovisuals for meetings.

On this episode, I'm going to cover a few of the biggest myths about public speaking. These are some of the things that well-meaning friends, family, and even coaches will suggest to us that are absolutely wrong. So, if you are doing any of these things, you may actually be causing yourself to be more nervous when you present.There are a number of myths about public speaking out there. Well, it's time to set the record straight. ANYONE can be a fantastic, world-class speaker. It just takes a little bit of training, a little bit of coaching, and a little bit of practice. By the way, it doesn't take years of study and practice. And it also doesn't take thousands of dollars of investment.One of the hardest things to get across to new presenters is the immutable fact that just about everything that you have ever learned about public speaking and creating good business presentations is flat-out WRONG! I like to tell people to do the exact opposite of everyone else, and you'll do a lot better as a presenter!So, in this episode, I debunk some of the biggest whoppers that are told about public speaking. Once you understand how wrong these public speaking myths are, it is much easier to reduce the fear of public speaking. You'll also avoid terrible habits that actually increase public speaking fear.If you find yourself doing any of these things, make sure to stop. You might be increasing your presentation jitters.Show Notes: The 5 Most Common Myths About Public Speaking Debunked

On this episode, I'm going to cover the dreaded errs and uhms. Yup, those filler words that High School teachers and Toasting Clubs try to eliminate from the speeches of their students and members. However, I think you will be shocked to learn that just about everything that you have ever learned about those errs, uhhms, and other filler words is just flat-out wrong.So stick around, and I will share with you a few truths about this symptom of nervousness.Filler words are a natural part of everyday conversations. In fact, if they aren't there, you'll sound strange (or even fake) to the audience, so you don't want to eliminate the filler words altogether. However, that doesn't mean they have to be a major part of your speeches and presentations either. Overuse of filler words has the potential to detract from your message, so as you become more and more comfortable speaking in front of a group, it might be a good idea to fine-tune your message by reducing these distractions. The best speakers in the world have trained themselves, over time, to minimize their use of filler words. (Notice that I said minimize, not eliminate.) Excessive use frustrates the audience and makes the speaker less credible. With a bit of practice, you can also minimize filler words.Show Notes: How to Stop Saying Errs, Uhhms, and Other Filler Words in Speeches.

Have a team that needs to build communication skills as a group? Well, just as an FYI, business presentation training is quite different from university-level public speaking classes or what you might pick up at a tasting club. For instance, a good presentation that you deliver for your friends or coworkers may actually backfire if you deliver the presentation to senior executives.In this post, I'll cover a few best practices for organizing fantastic business presentation skill training classes. Effective presentations don't happen by accident. And, when you get a bunch of “Type A” personalities who all have experience leading presentations trying to work together to organize a single speech… Well… Let's just say that the results can be a little frustrating.Different personalities have different strengths. So, when you organize corporate presentation training sessions, you want to make sure to help each participant maximize his or her strengths. But you also have to help your presenters create a clear message that is focused on the same outcome.Here is a checklist of a few of the best ways to deliver presentation skills training for a business team.Show Notes: Business Presentation Training for Your Group

This week, I'm going to give you my secret to delivering boring presentations. In fact, this secret is the absolute most important thing that you have to know to have every audience fall in love with you as a speaker.I'll give you a hint... There actually is no such thing as a boring speech or a boring topic. There are only boring speakers. But you don't have to be one of them.Enthusiasm and Energy is the absolute most-important skill in public speaking. If you take only one piece of advice about public speaking, make sure that it is this pearl of wisdom.If you focus on this one simple thing, the number of times you say “uhm” won't matter. In addition, if you focus on this one thing, your gestures and not knowing what to do with your hands won't matter. If you focus on this one thing, then the occasional loss of train of thought won't matter. In fact, if you focus on this one simple thing, you can break just about every rule that public speakers are supposed to abide by, and you will still win over your audience.Enthusiasm and Energy Make a Boring Speech More Interesting.This one simple rule has transformed countless mediocre speakers into good speakers, scores of good speakers into great speakers, and numerous great speakers into world-class speakers.This simple rule that can make or break a speaker is… ENTHUSIASM.Show Notes: Make Boring Speeches More Interesting

This week, I'm going to give you a few simple ways to create some very effective presentation handouts. A couple are really easy and can be used effectively for internal presentations. The last one is the technique that I use when I create workshops and training programs. It takes a little more time but can elevate your presentations dramatically.One of the most often overlooked parts of a presentation is the presentation handouts. So, in this post, we'll give you a few examples of presentation handouts that you can create very easily and add impact to your speech.Good speakers and lecturers usually give presentation handouts to accompany their speeches. As a result, a great presentation handout can make your speech more memorable. It gives your audience the freedom to listen to your presentation instead of frantically taking notes.The handouts you provide also help them remember the key points and highlights from your presentation, making your talk even more valuable. People are grateful for good handouts and will remember you long after the talk ends. Finally, your handout can be used as an exceptional marketing piece. If it is good enough, your audience members will both keep it and share it with others.To Download the Examples of Presentation Handouts Handout click here.

This is part two of a two-part series on Glossophobia -- the fear of public speaking. Last week, we talked about what this phobia is and what causes it. This week, I will give you a few of my best tips to overcome this fear -- even if you fall into the camp of having a full-blown phobia of public speaking.How to Overcome Glossophobia (An Irrational Fear of Public Speaking)1) Start Small.How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. If your fear is intense, there is no need to schedule a high-level presentation in front of 1000 people right away. Instead, start by speaking up more in staff meetings, at church, or join a social organization. Set a goal for each interaction. For instance, if you never speak up in staff-meeting, just set a goal to share a single idea with the group. Then, over time, increase the goal. Next week, add two ideas, etc.2) Look for Opportunities to Present, and then Be Courageous.You will never conquer any fear if you simply avoid the situations that cause the fear. Instead, look for opportunities to speak where the consequence of failure is pretty low. For instance, you can offer to speak at career day at your child's school. (If you totally bomb this presentation, so what?) Then, be courageous. I talked in the article 7 Qualities of a Great Speaker about the difference between Self-Confidence and Poise. Self-confidence comes from having a series of successes doing something. Poise, however, is where a speaker is not confident but performs courageously anyway. The more of these courageous successes that you can string together, the more self-confident you will be.3) Document What You Did Well.The reason that our presentation skills classes work so well is that our instructors help each student document what they do well in each presentation. For instance, the instructor will teach the student a way to make part of his/her presentation easier, show the student how to do it, and then when the presenter succeeds, the instructor reinforces that success. You can do the same after each of your presentations as well. Immediately after presenting, make a list of some of the things that you did well in the speech. Turn off your internal critic for a while. (All of us are our own worst critic, so you will have to fight this.) Then, before your next presentation, refer to the items on your list. These lists will help you reduce the phobia and build confidence over time.4) Practice in a Controlled Environment.If you want a faster way to conquer glossophobia, join us in one of our fear of public speaking workshops. One of the great things about being in a controlled environment like a class or workshop is that the risk of failure is reduced to just about 0%. The only way to conquer glossophobia is to string together a series of successes that outweigh, in our minds, the causes that we talked about above. As each participant masters each part of a fantastic presentation, the fear is reduced exponentially. In fact, in many cases, the growth is so fast and so dramatic that the irrational fear is replaced by confidence. The process isn't foolproof, and it isn't easy. However, it works almost 100% of the time!Show Notes: How to Overcome Glossophobia (An Irrational Fear of Public Speaking)

Want to know how to overcome glossophobia? Does stage fright sometimes make you pass up opportunities in your career? Do you feel like you have an irrational fear of public speaking? You are not alone!Glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is very common. I've been in the presentation skill industry for decades now. During that time, I realized that the statistics about this fear were confusing. Some studies say that as few as 7% of the population has glossophobia. Other surveys claim that over 95% of people experience this fear.However, the statistics depend on the definition of Glossophobia that you are using.Show Notes: How to Overcome Glossophobia 

This week we're getting back to how to reduce public speaking fear. And on this episode, I give you the four main causes of public speaking fear. Once you understand why you are feeling the way you are, it becomes a lot easier to reduce that nervousness.As I cover each of the four causes of nervousness, I'll give you my best techniques for eliminating that particular cause. Here Are Some of the Causes of the Fear of Public Speaking and How to Overcome These Fears.Once you understand the root cause of your anxiety, you'll often immediately begin to experience less fear. A lot of the fear comes from imagining the worst-case scenario in our heads and then psyching ourselves out before we ever even get in front of a crowd. The major thing to remember, though, is that all of the most confident speakers in the world started out as nervous speakers. Many of them felt the same physical symptoms of nervousness that you are feeling. They overcome this fear. You can too!Here are the main causes of public speaking fear that we see most often. If you are experiencing any of these fears, click the link to access additional information about how to overcome that specific cause of performance anxiety.Lack of Experience Speaking in Front of a Formal Audience.A Concern that Others Are Judging You.Insufficient Preparation (Or Just Thinking that You Haven't Prepared Enough.)Past Negative Experiences or a Prior Traumatic Experience.Full Show Notes: What Causes the Fear of Public Speaking?

A couple of weeks ago, I started a series on how to get paid to speak. I mentioned that a professional speaker is just a person who gets paid to give a presentation. So, teachers, trial attorneys, salespeople, and really any supervisor or manager who leads internal presentations are professional speakers. They all deliver information in presentations or briefings that their audiences need in order to solve a problem. But almost all of them give away this important information for free. So, in this series, I'll show you that the information that you have is very valuable. And by just changing a few things, you can build up your credibility as an expert to generate additional streams of income. Last week I gave you a five-step process to create good content to speak about. This week, I will back up a little and show you how to identify what to speak about if you want to get paid to speak.Show Notes: Get Paid to Speak: How to Make a Fortune Speaking for a Living (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-make-a-fortune-speaking-for-a-living/)

Last week I started a series on how to get paid to speak. And if you are a new listener to Fearless Presentations, you might be thinking, how can I get paid to speak if I'm scared to death to stand up in front of a group? If that is the case, just go back to some of the earlier episodes for tips on how to reduce nervousness. In this episode and the next couple, I'm going to show you how you can cash in on one of the highest-paid professions in the world.Last week, I mentioned that a professional speaker is just a person who gets paid to give a presentation. So, teachers, trial attorneys, salespeople, and really any supervisor or manager who leads internal presentations are professional speakers. They all deliver information in presentations or briefings that their audiences need in order to solve a problem. But almost all of them give away this important information for free. So, in this series, I'll show you that the information that you have is very valuable. And by just changing a few things, you can build up your credibility as an expert to generate additional streams of income. Today, I'll give you a five-step checklist to accomplish to get other people or groups to pay you to stand up and speak to them.By the way, if you are enjoying the episodes, I need a favor from you, please. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave me a review wherever you download the podcast. Your subscriptions, downloads, and review help us keep the content of the show free because it allows us to reach a bigger audience.Show Notes: How to Get Paid to Speak (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/want-a-career-as-a-public-speaker-ways-to-build-public-speaking-credentials/)