Many of us are intimidated by video cameras. Some are more nervous speaking to the camera than they are speaking to a live audience. We can use this fact to our advantage. With the proliferation of video cameras and smart phones with video capability most households have multiple video devices. You can buy a small video adapter to mount your smart phone to any standard tripod base. They cost less than $20.

You don’t need a studio setup with lights, microphones, etc to do it. You can lean your smart phone against something on your dresser and record.

Once you have your recording view it with a constructive eye, not a critical eye. Don’t forget to look for your strengths. Identify the things that you do well, that make your style unique and focus on leveraging them in future speeches.

Video is one of the more powerful tools available for overcoming your anxiety and developing your unique speaking style.

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

Want to learn the 5 Tools (you already have) to become a confident, engaging and effective speaker? Click the link for FREE video training. The Speaker’s Tool Box

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave me a comment or suggest a topic for a future blog.

Engaging our audience can be a challenge for many speakers and presenters. One of the most effective tools that we have in our Speaker’s Tool Box to do that is eye contact. Learning good eye contact techniques can be a game changer for a speaker/presenter.

Good eye contact techniques can keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation. There a couple of things to keep in mind. you don’t want to favour one part of the audience over another and you certainly don’t want to focus too much on any one person. Your eye contact should be balanced across the entire audience. Scan from left to right, front to rear and alternate. As you scan pause for a second and focus on an individual. If you are speaking to a large audience others around that person will think you are looking at them. This will create the perception of eye contact. If your audience is large it will be impossible to make eye contact with everyone. So it is important that you create the perception.

Some audience members will drift from time to time. Eye contact is an effective way to bring them back into your conversation. This is a time when you would attempt to make eye contact with a specific individual and it may require a couple of seconds. It is important that you don’t spend too long and risk losing other audience members. Once eye contact is established you know they are back into your presentation.

Are you leveraging this power tool?

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

Want to learn the 5 Tools (you already have) to become a confident, engaging and effective speaker? Click the link for FREE video training. The Speaker’s Tool Box

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave me a comment or suggest a topic for a future blog.

“It’s not the notes that make the music. It’s the pause between the notes.” Proper use of the pause can make your speech or presentation come alive. It can give it a uniqueness and help your audience to understand your message. At the same time it allows you the opportunity to observe your audience to determine if they are getting your message or not. It lets you “listen with your eyes”.

The pause is absolutely critical for story telling and in particular telling jokes. A well placed pause can make your message more memorable. A pause after telling a joke or sharing a piece of anecdotal material will allow your audience the opportunity to laugh and or reflect. It will allow you the opportunity to take the non-verbal feedback and let you decide what you will say next next and how you will say it.

If you’re not thinking of the pause when you speak you are missing a very important tool in your Speaker’s Tool Box.

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

Want to learn the 5 Tools (you already have) to become a confident, engaging and effective speaker? Click the link for FREE video training. The Speaker’s Tool Box

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave me a comment or suggest a topic for a future blog.

Humour can really set you apart from the norm. It can bring life to your presentation. The good news is that you don’t need to be a stand up comic to make humour work in your speech or presentation. It is a great way to keep and retain audience attention. If they are laughing you know they are listening.

Everyone appreciates a good laugh. I use humour in just about every presentation I give. Often it os subtle little quips that are usually unplanned and in the moment. Other times it’s a humorous story and sometimes it is actually a joke. In all situations I make sure that it is supporting my message and not detracting from it. In order to do this I will frequently setup the story or joke to help the audience link it to the message I am drawing attention to.

It does take time to develop a natural style. Everyone is different. Be patient with yourself. Experiment and figure out what works for you. All of the best speakers have humour as an integral part of their material.

Humour is an effective way to make your presentation more interesting and memorable.

It’s one of the tools in your Speaker’s Tool Box

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

Want to learn the 5 Tools (you already have) to become a confident, engaging and effective speaker? Click the link for FREE video training. The Speaker’s Tool Box

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave me a comment or suggest a topic for a future blog.

Through my coaching program I have seen two consistent challenges that my clients deal with when it comes to public speaking. The first one is a lack of confidence and the second is an inability to let their personality come through in their public speaking.

It takes time to attain true confidence when speaking in public. You have to speak as often as you possibly can so that you can become more comfortable and confident. One thing you can do, from the start, is focus on creating the perception of confidence. This can be done in many ways. It can be done by leveraging the tools that you have available in your Speaker’ Tool Box. In particular use your body language, gestures, facial expression and general posture to convey a sense of confidence. Don’t draw unnecessary attention to your nervousness by saying things like “I am really nervous” or “this is my first time speaking in public” and don’t apologize to the audience ie “I am sorry I am not very comfortable with this”. these types of statements only serve to draw attention to your nervousness. In these situations it is better to be like the duck; calm and collected on the surface and paddling like the devil underneath.

The second challenge is letting your personality come through in your speaking. I am always encouraging my coaching clients to let their personality show when they speak and I always will draw attention to the times and moments when they do so that the behaviour is reinforced. Some of the best ways to show personality is by using facial expression and vocal variety. Personality could be revealed in other ways. It could be that you have a unique sense of humour or just a sense of humour. If you do let that show. Don’t let it dominate, however leverage it to help develop your unique style.

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

If you are dealing with a large audience then it is likely that vast majority of your audience’ communication will be at the non-verbal level.

The use of video on the internet has exploded! There are a lot of factors to consider; type of camera, microphone, cables, adapters, software editing, posting to the web. The list is quite long and the choices can be overwhelming. The best thing to do is get started. Don’t try to learn everything before you start. Start and learn as you go.

Many of us are timid about putting ourselves ‘out there’. While there is potential for hundreds or thousands to view your video, the reality is that at the start there will only be a handful of viewers. Your initial videos will feel awkward and you may be critical of them. Some of them may surprise you. When I look back on the videos I posted a couple of years ago I am sometimes pleasantly surprised at the quality of the video and the message. Sometimes we can be our own worse critics.

When it comes to equipment you don’t need to be sophisticated. Todays technology makes it so easy to shoot good quality video. If you have a smart phone you are good to go. Most smart phones shoot at 720p or 1080p. Both are acceptable HD quality. At a bare minimum you can hold the camera out with your arm and shoot your video message. If you want to improve on that buy a selfie stick. You can purchase one for less than $10. You can purchase a tripod and adapter for less than $40.

If you are shooting your video outdoors one thing you will need to consider is wind. Wind noise can obliterate your audio. There are options for dealing with that and they can be pricey.

If you are shooting your video indoors lighting will be a consideration. Make sure you have sufficient light. Shooting in poor lighting situations will compromise your video quality.

The real secret is to start now with what you have. You will be amazed by how much you will learn from ‘just doing it’.

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

Want to learn the 5 Tools (you already have) to become a confident, engaging and effective speaker? Click the link for FREE video training. The Speaker’s Tool Box

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave me a comment or suggest a topic for a future blog.

There is a difference between goals and challenges. Goals are the more formal things we want to do or achieve in our personal and business life. They are the things we need to do to succeed. It could be get a degree. Do a training program. It might be setting financial goals. Goals are usually more complex than challenges. They could have multiple steps. They might require a complex plan for achieving them. Overcoming my speaking anxiety was a goal I set for myself several years ago. Achieving that goal has had a tremendous impact on my life. Goals are the things we have to do in order to succeed.

Challenges are the things we want to do. They could be related to improving our quality of life, achieving new skills, etc. I am learning to play the fiddle. It is an instrument that has been played at least 3 generations of my family. It is not something that I have to do. It is something that I want to do. I am gleaning a lot of satisfaction as I gradually improve. Another instrument I would like to learn is the mandolin and I would like to do art lessons. These are great examples of things I would like to do. I will decide when I can fit them into my life. They don’t take priority over my goals. My challenges add joy and contentment to my life.

Do you have something that you want to do. Then challenge yourself to do it.

Now go out and Make Your Voice Heard!

Want to learn the 5 Tools (you already have) to become a confident, engaging and effective speaker? Click the link for FREE video training. The Speaker’s Tool Box

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave me a comment or suggest a topic for a future blog.