Public speaking

Have you ever had to prepare a speech, but had no idea what to say?

When preparing a speech, do you have trouble putting your ideas together?

Do you ever have writer's block?

At a recent dinner with friends the conversation turned to TV ads. Every time they mentioned an ad, they would talk about the funny elements and laugh about them. My wife and I are not big TV watchers; we felt out of sync.

This week I went to many parties where I had the opportunity to make some observations about humour. Although these observations occurred during a party, they can also be applied to your next speech.

Humour is something that is difficult to succeed at every time. However, if you apply the following tips, you have a better chance of making people laugh.

One of the things your audience will greatly appreciate is your level of familiarity with your equipment, when you do your presentations. By "equipment" I mean projector, microphone, computer, etc.

This week, I will talk a bit about using a projector. Here are some tricks that will help you to improve the quality of your projections during your next presentation.

It was a hot June afternoon, the sun was shining, and the crickets were singing. My wife Johanne, and my three children decided to take a dip in the pool. At that time, my daughter Manu was four years old. My eldest, Aléko was six years old and Vivi, the baby, was less than two years old.

You may have noticed my prolonged absence this summer. Well, I hope you did! Was it because of summer vacation? Was it because I had nothing more to say about public speaking? No on both counts.

In response to my survey, 50% among you indicated that you felt a lot of anxiety at the thought of delivering a speech.

How can this be improved upon? A good place to start is by asking yourself the following question: "Why am I so anxious?" The answer can often be summarized as follows: you're expecting a disaster!

Often, when you need to make a speech, it is to ask something of your audience. Sometimes you want to ask for their time, sometimes their money, sometimes you want information.

Have you ever done a speech or presentation and while you were speaking, certain people started to look at their watch, others were yawning enough to swallow an elephant, and still others — horror! — were actually sleeping?

This week I had the opportunity of hearing former U.S. President Bill Clinton speak. He gave a great, uplifting speech and he was a pleasure to watch.

Before he began his speech, Mr. Clinton took a few moments to remind us of some of the tenets of modern day public speaking. I think they deserve mention here.