This is episode four of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, I gave you ten things you can do when preparing or delivering these presentations that will help you keep calm and poised. I also talked about how, in shortlist presentations, it is important to "dig your well before you're thirsty," so to speak. High-level sales presentations have a tremendous amount of pressure, which causes a tremendous amount ...

This is episode three of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, I briefly overviewed the five biggest secrets I've discovered about these high-level sales presentations. These secrets are the things that have allowed us to win over 80% of the interviews that teams that I have coached have been on. This week, I will give you ten things you can do when you are preparing or delivering these presentations that will hel...

This is episode two of our 12-week series on how to win shortlist presentations or other types of group sales presentations. Last week, I explained what these presentations were and how I first got exposed to them. Just as a review, a Shortlist Presentation or Shortlist Interview is a very high-level sales presentation. Companies will often submit a proposal to a potential customer or client. The potential customer or client will weed through all of the proposals to create what they call a "s...

This week, we start a new series on how to win Shortlist Presentations or Shortlist Interviews. Basically, this is a very high level sales presentation. Companies will often submit a proposal to a potential customer or client. The potential customer or client will weed through all of the proposals to create what they call a "shortlist." Then, the remaining companies will often each get a shot to come in and pitch themselves to the customer. If you think about it, this type of presentatio...

One of the real fears that many speakers have is that they don't feel like they are an "expert" on the topic. It actually leads to what some people call imposter syndrome.In this episode, I'm going to help you reduce that anxiety. Especially in the business world, if you are the person speaking, then, most likely, it is because you know more about the topic than anyone else in the room.Great speakers are great speakers because they are world leaders in everything. They are great speakers beca...

This is part four of a four-part series on how to make your presentations more interesting. So far, we spent the first couple of weeks cover my seven "impact ideas" which are fun things to add into presentations to jazz them up. Last week, we cover audience participation. In that episode I covered a few mistakes that presenters make when they try to get the audience to interact as well as my best secrets to get the audience to open up in a positive way. This week, I cover what I cal...

This is part three of a four-part series on how to make your presentations more interesting. This week, we cover audience participation -- how to get your audience to help you deliver your presentation. When you do audience participation well, you can really elevate your presentations!In the last couple of weeks, I mentioned that there are two major components of a fantastic speech. First, you have to have good content that the audience wants or needs to hear. And second -- and this is t...

This is part two of a four-part series on how to make your presentations more interesting. If you recall, last week, I mentioned that there are two major components of a fantastic speech. First, you have to have good content that the audience wants or needs to hear. And second -- and this is the part that many presenters overlook -- you have to have entertainment value in your presentation.You can have great content, but if your content is boring, no one will really hear you. So, last we...

We've spent the last few months covering ways to reduce nervousness and the last couple of weeks uncovering a few low-risk venues to practice presenting. For the next few weeks, I'm going to show you how to make your presentations more fun and interesting.There are two major components of a fantastic speech. First, you have to have good content that the audience wants or needs to hear. Second- and this is the part that many presenters overlook- you have to have entertainment value in your pre...

This is part two of a two-part series about low-risk venues where you can practice public speaking. In the introduction last week, I mentioned that the absolute best place to practice public speaking is in a public speaking class with a great coach. A good public speaking class is a controlled environment, so the risk is very low. However, over the years, I've come across a bunch of other low-risk venues to practice public speaking. Last week, I covered a number of low-risk virtual ...

One of the most common questions that I get as a public speaking coach is, "Where can I go to practice speaking?" It is usually a good idea to practice your presentation skills somewhere that is more low risk than in front of a big client, or your boss, or the board of directors.Obviously, I'm pretty biased, but with good reason. I believe that the absolute best place to practice public speaking is in a public speaking class with a great coach. A good public speaking class is a controlled env...

We just finished a series on public speaking fear and how to reduce nervousness during a speech. This week, I discuss how to better prepare for your presentation.For most people, the absolute most nervous part of the speech -- the place where they feel the most uncomfortable -- is right as they step foot in front of the audience.That nervousness builds to a crescendo up to that point. So, in this episode, I give my favorite tips for reducing presentation jitters from that day to a few minutes...

This is part 3 of a three-part series on public speaking fear. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, I started by explaining the difference between glossophobia and public speaking fear. In those episodes, we basically discovered that glossophobia is an unreasonable fear of public speaking that keeps people from presenting in the first place. Last week, I covered a simple four-step process that will help you eliminate this fear. This week, I'll give you ten tips to help you impl...

This is part 2 of a three-part series on public speaking fear. If you've been with us for the last few weeks, I started by explaining the difference between glossophobia and public speaking fear. In those episodes, we discovered that glossophobia is an unreasonable fear of public speaking that keeps people from presenting in the first place. Last week, I covered part one in this series about where public speaking fear comes from. We covered a number of different activities that presenter...

In the last couple of episodes, I covered the difference between Glossophobia and just normal, everyday public speaking nervousness. In the episode, I'm going to delve more deeply into where public speaking fear comes from. I'll talk a lot about triggers that make people more nervous when they stand up to speak because if you know what is causing your fear, you can better eliminate it.Because of all the info, I'm breaking this into two sessions. Then, in the third week, I'll give you my ten s...

In the last episode, I covered the difference between Glossophobia and just normal, everyday public speaking nervousness. In summary, everyone gets some nervousness when they stand up to speak in front of a group. However, a phobia is an irrational fear. So, if the fear is extreme or irrational, your fear may be a full-blown phobia. On this episode, I'm going to give you some tips that will help you reduce or even eliminate this fear. If you do these things, you can calm your nerves...

For the next couple of weeks, I will cover a quick series on Glossophobia and public speaking fear. This week, I explain the difference between the two forms of presentation jitters and give you a few tips to help. Then, over the next couple of weeks, I'll cover more details on things that you can do to calm your nerves and become a more poised and confident public speaker.By the way, the episode is sponsored by FearlessPresentations.com. So, if you are looking for a faster way to reduce...

We are continuing our series on how to create great presentations. If you remember last week, I mentioned how one of the major ways to reduce public speaking fear is to design a fantastic speech. If your presentation is not that good, you will definitely be way more nervous when you present.Last week, I talked about how to deliver business proposals or sales proposals to customers or people outside of your company. Those speeches can be nerve-racking because a great speech can open a lucrativ...

For the last few weeks, I've covered a number of topics about how to create great presentations. And on social media, I've received a few questions like, "What does a presentation design have to do with public speaking fear?" The answer is simple. If you try to deliver a terrible speech to any audience, you'll be way more nervous. However, if you design a fantastic speech, you may never even get nervous in the first place. If your audience likes and respects your content, they will overl...

For the last few weeks, I've covered techniques that you can use to design better presentations. We talked about ways to start a speech first. Then, we covered how to design a good presentation. Next, we covered how to end a presentation. For the next couple of episodes, though, I'm going to share a few secrets about designing presentations that may also come in handy.Today, I'll give you a very simple three-step process to help you make your presentations more persuasive. This simple pr...

For the last few episodes, I've shown you how to start a speech, how to design a speech, and, last week, how to end a speech. But before we end this series, I wanted to cover one often-overlooked part of creating a compelling presentation.Today, I'm going to show you how to introduce yourself to an audience so that your presentation starts off on the right foot.Remember, when you are speaking to a new audience, they don't know who you are, what you want from them, or why in hell they should e...

This week, we're continuing our series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback, which will boost your confidence. A couple of episodes ago, I showed you a few fun ways to start a speech. Last week, I showed you a simple way to design a speech so you don't have to memorize the presentation word-for-word. And today, I'll cover a few ways to end your speech so you leave the audience...

Last week, we started a new series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback, which will boost your confidence. Last week,, we covered seven ways to start your speech. Today, we'll cover a simple three-step process for designing a great presentation. When we teach presenters how to reduce nervousness when they speak, a major component of the process is designing a great speech in the...

This week we're starting a new series on how to design presentations that are more engaging for your audience. When your audience enjoys your speeches, they will give you positive feedback. When that happens, you confidence will go up. In this session, we'll cover a few different ways to start a presentation effectively. What most presenters find is that once they say the first couple of sentences, their nervousness drops pretty dramatically.  These seven presentation starters will help you...