I’m not sure what was in the air that day. But the first time I got engaged was while boarding a flight from Dublin to Barcelona with my family for a sun and sea holiday in Spain. And even though I was just a 6-year-old and my bride to be Niamh was older than me, by 4 days, I don’t remember us thinking about whether we might be a tad young to tie the knot. But I do have a vague recollection of a discussion about how the fact we were first cousins might mean we’d need to get approval for our matrimonial plans from the Pope or a very high-ranking Cardinal, at least! However, we clearly pushed su ..read more

When called upon to give talks or presentations, have you often felt like you’ve just engaged in mostly one-way communication – since you were the one who did most all of the talking? A huge proportion of executives who come to me for public speaking coaching clients tell me that’s exactly what they’ve thought time and again about their speaking experiences. And many go further by describing just how uncomfortable and anxious this makes them feel. But and as common as this sensation may be, you really never want to feel like a one-way traffic merchant when speaking. No matter how much chutzpah ..read more

When it comes to finding tips and inspiration for more powerful storytelling, there’s much you can learn from legendary moviemakers like Francis Ford Coppola – who directed extraordinary and still lauded masterpieces like the Godfather movie series (1, 2 and 3), Apocalypse Now, Dracula, and more. And here are two quotes from Francis that speak to principles he used to enhance his storytelling that you could easily adopt to instantly boost your corporate storytelling impact: Think personal for greater attention and connection “Everything I do is personal. I have never made a movie that didn’t h ..read more

Adding to my recent post about how to boost your emotional impact, resonance, and connection when making virtual presentations at online meetings and events, here are three more easy and ‘non-content’ based tips that’ll make your video talks even more engaging #1 Get the right look to connect How do you react if you’re speaking with someone who doesn’t look you the eye as you chat? Not well, right? And that’s not surprising since you are hard-wired to rely on eye contact to tell you when you can trust others and if they are ‘interested in’ or ‘friendly towards’ you. And not only will you be ir ..read more

At one level, giving online presentations at a business meeting or event should be so easy. After all, you don’t have to invest time, energy, or money to travel anywhere. You merely need to open a computer, check your WIFI is on, click a few buttons to log into Zoom or some other virtual meeting platform, look at your inbuilt camera or webcam, smile, and ‘hey presto, you’re ready to give a live talk’. But, and maybe this won’t shock you if you’ve been finding yourself attending a gazillion online events in recent months, truth is: Most people find online meetings suck! And if you’re thinking ..read more

Faced by a crisis (and this coronavirus is a hum-dinger that’s affecting every corner of the globe), it’s human nature to want to hunker down to protect ourselves and those who are important to us from harm until the storm has passed and things seem safe again. After all, self-preservation is a basic instinct. But that same instinct can get you into trouble when leading others if it leads you to think about hiding bad news, blaming others, or even sugarcoating the truth – because you worry about how people may react towards you and how might get translated into negative consequences (at a pers ..read more

Ever wondered how long your talks should be? Or how long you can speak before running the risk of losing (and likely not recovering) audience attention? At one level these may seem like ‘how long is a piece of string?’ questions, but, truth is: They’re really “I wouldn’t start from here’ questions. Before casting a thought to whether any talk is too long, always start by asking this:  ‘What do you want to achieve with your speech?’ Just because you could hold the stage for a longer period of time doesn’t mean you should. Day in and day out, millions of potentially super presentation ..read more

Dry mouth, a pounding heart, hard to breathe, dizziness, butterflies in your stomach… …How often do you any experience any or all of these if asked to give a talk or presentation? If you said ‘often’, you’re not alone. Truth is, speaking nerves are entirely normal regardless of who you are. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about high-flying leaders, subject experts or world-famous political orators (and incidentally I include some old-school speaking super-stars like Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and President John F Kennedy in this mix)… …It’s hard to wrangle yo ..read more

You have spent hours preparing that important talk you need to give at a board meeting or a high profile event. You’ve done your homework and you’re sure you’ve developed killer material for your audience – which they should find both fascinating and compelling. And you’ve practiced what you plan to say so many times you could recite your speech in your sleep. Fantastic. So, is that it? Are you good to go? Perhaps not. Have you also thought about any sentences that will be uttered about you before you say your very first word? “Ladies and Gentlemen, our next speaker…”. Any ch ..read more

What should a body to do if stuff happens to you while you’re trying to give a talk that could easily put you off your game? You know those Murphy’s Law occasions where all of a sudden your technology won’t work, you’ve just noticed that you loaded the wrong slides, an alarm or some other commotion goes off near your room, you get distracted by something and now you have zero clue what you’ll say next? Yikes. And while I can tell you that these things are far more common place than many speakers realise, that’d be cold comfort to you if you’re the one holding a microphone on stage wh ..read more