Free articles

Are You Sticking Your Foot In Your Mouth When You Open It?

Before reading the newsletter, I encourage you to view the following videos. The first one is an interview with Caroline Kennedy. The following two links are similar in content, but the second one has a slight twist. You only need to listen to the first 30 seconds of each to get the point:

Beginning a speech: the good and the ugly

The opening of a speech is one of its two most important parts. There are many great ways to begin, and for each great beginning, there is an equally awful opening. So in today's newsletter, we will look at five awful ways to begin a speech, and counter them with 10 great ways to begin instead.

Here are five awful ways to begin a speech:

The fourth component of public speaking

Public speaking involves three components:

  • The logical component, which deals with the content of your speech. This component addresses issues like structure, facts and statistics, how many points you will cover, and so on.

Do You Communicate Like an Instruction Manual?

If you had been in my shoes, you would have been as frustrated as I was. Imagine that your barbecue burner is no longer working correctly. When you turn it on, only half of the grill becomes hot. The rest is as cold as a dark February night. What would you do? Right! But let's say you couldn't afford to go to the restaurant every day to have someone cook your meals for you, what then?

A Simple Way To Increase Your Public Speaking Effectiveness

Think back to all of the stories of your childhood. Almost everyone has heard about "Little Red Riding Hood." What's the moral of that story? Listen to what your parents tell you or something bad will happen to you.

How about "The Three Little Pigs?" Work hard, don't be lazy or something bad will happen to you.

And so on.

Leadership lessons on a vacation trip

Summer is upon us, and it's time to relax, enjoy the weather and have some fun. So for this newsletter, I'm going to try something a little different. And to do so, I need to tell you a bit about the beginning of my summer.

The Audience Is On Your Side

One of the reasons people dislike giving speeches is that they are afraid of what the audience will think about them, or what the audience will say about them. Has that ever happened to you?

The Great Debaters

It's not often that a movie adequately captures the power of a great speech. Sometimes it feels too syrupy (as in many sports movies); sometimes it seems forced (as in many political movies); sometimes, though, they get it just right.