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Emotional connection is the magic carpet that carries information to a listener’s memory. A speaker’s highest priority is to make that connection. Without it, content is either not heard at all or is not remembered. Recently I watched a good speaker sacrifice her connection with an audience because she felt her . . . → Read More: A Speaker’s Magic Carpet
Last week I spoke to a group of high school teachers who wanted to help their students give better presentations. When I talked about gaining the trust of the “security guard” in a listener’s brain, one teacher spoke up: “You say the below-conscious brain is concerned with survival and needs to know . . . → Read More: Audience Engagement
It was getting dark on a bitterly cold winter afternoon in Winnipeg. I was sixteen and returning home from an after-school piano lesson that had not gone well. Standing at the bus stop, chin tucked in and shoulders hunched in the heat-conserving posture that most Canadians adopt for five or six months . . . → Read More: Smile!
My husband’s son, Dave, owns a successful company that distributes high-tech computer components. He loves technology. He loves his job. He is so full of energy you can almost see sparks flying off him. He believes completely in the value of his products. I know very little about the world of high-tech . . . → Read More: Authenticity and Passion
We’re in the middle of a series of articles looking at ways to make friends with the “security guard” in your listener’s brain. That’s the gut-level, largely unconscious reaction your listener feels toward you, starting from the very first impression. If you can get a person’s unconscious protective system, their security guard, . . . → Read More: Telling Tales
Your two most effective tools for making friends with the security guard in your listener’s brain are direct eye contact and a smile. Used together, they are an unbeatable combination. By “security guard”, I mean the partnership between the brain stem (instinct) and the limbic system (emotions) – a partnership . . . → Read More: Look Your Listener in the Eye
Continuing with our series on how to get past the security guard in your listener’s brain, today we’ll talk about speaking with a vibrant voice and clear diction. When I ask audiences and workshop participants, “What’s the most boring element in a boring presentation?” the immediate answer, without exception, is “monotonous voice”. . . . → Read More: Vibrant Voice In my last article I described how the below-conscious levels of our brain act as a security guard, choosing either to pass incoming information on to our thinking brain or to block it. That below-conscious (instinctive and emotional) brain bases its choice, to a huge extent, on whether the speaker looks, sounds and feels . . . → Read More: Think “Carriage”, Not “Posture” There you stand at the front of the room. There sits your expectant audience, and the gap between you and them can feel as wide as an ocean. It’s up to you, the speaker, to bridge it, because only when you do will you have the full attention of your listeners. The question is, . . . → Read More: Six Ways to Get Past the Security Guard
In a speaking engagement, it can happen that one or more people in the audience do not respond in a way that you would like. They might be typing on their smart phone or scowling at you from the front row. Do not assume these behaviours are about you! An incident . . . → Read More: Disconnect from Anyone Else’s Opinion |
SPEAK UP! A Performer's Insights into the Art and Skill of Public Speaking
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