If you are not ready to watch the video at the moment, here's the script:

We are all experiencing a new 'normal' as we deal with the Covid-19 virus. I want to share a couple of thoughts and suggestions.

First of all take care of yourself and your...

Your success as a speaker depends in large measure on your skills as a listener.

‘What? I’m the speaker. I’m talking to the audience. They’re listening to me. What am I supposed to be listening to?’

Oh, there’s...

Many speakers dream of the chance to give a TED talk, standing in front of an audience of 1400, following in the footsteps of such acclaimed performers as Sir Ken Robinson and Jill Bolte Taylor.

Chris Anderson, the CEO of TED, says he thinks of a...

Our courses and books and blogs are full of great advice for improving your speeches and presentations: tell more stories, use more pauses, be more conversational, make strong eye contact, don’t overload slides with text.

But please...

Are you rehearsing the authenticity out of your presentations? Dr Nick Morgan, a preeminent communications coach and occasional contributor to this blog, thinks it’s possible.

Nick tells the story of Carol, VP of sales, tasked with inspiring...

A lot of the words we fall back on when we’re making a presentation or speech, especially if we feel under pressure, don’t actually serve any useful purpose. In fact they are obstacles to understanding and barriers to engagement.

What...

If you are called on to make many speeches or presentations, we have some great food-for-thought for you from a speech by singer/songwriter, author and social media activist Dave Carroll.

Dave, the guy who had that viral blockbuster United...

If you were drowning, you’d shout ’Help’.

You’re unlikely to say ‘Your assistance is required due to my imperiled state’.

Yet, often, we send bunches of words to do what one could achieve: have a meeting...

How do you judge a speech, particularly a political speech? By what it achieves at the moment of delivery? Or should history be the true judge?

Recent events in Washington had Eliot Cohen pondering this question in an article last week in The...

A painting on a wall of a butterfly made me think of the good and not-so-good aspects of making a presentation or speech.

When it goes well, we are the magnificent butterfly: delicate but powerful, spreading our wings and being the best we can be....

Today’s quick quiz question: who recently said: “Speeches make me nervous. I’ve always been really tentative.”

OK, if you answered Brad Pitt, award yourself an Oscar.

Brad Pitt is no stranger to making speeches. This year...

A couple of months ago I was taking part in a workshop with that wonderful Newfoundland writer, Donna Morrissey. A novel-writing class with the award-winning author of Sylvanus Now, The Fortunate Brother, and Kit’s Law, was pretty daunting -...