Blog
Feeling ‘Chicken’ About Speaking? Try This….
How to Manage Speaking Nerves One of the most common questions I hear is: “Michael, how do I get rid of my nerves?” I understand the purpose of the question, but it's the wrong one to ask. My response is always, “You don't want to get rid of nerves.” Some of the...
How to Deliver a Presentation – Don’t Be a Polished Speaker
How is Furniture Polish Relevant to Being a Speaker? What is this picture? You're right, it's a can of furniture Polish. What does this have to do with speaking? Many years ago when I first started speaking to audiences, I was convinced that effective speaking...
Networking Tip – How To Make a Positive Impact in 13 Seconds
The Pain of Traditional Networking Picture the scene. You're at a networking event. It’s time for each attendee to stand up and introduce himself. The first person stands up and says, “Hi. I’m John with Acme Financial. We offer life insurance, IRAs and tax planning...
Presentation Tip – Are You Making This Common Rehearsal Mistake?
A Common Presentation Rehearsal Mistake Imagine you’re practicing a presentation. Five minutes into your rehearsal, you get interrupted. After dealing with the interruption, you go back to your talk. Where do you restart your practice? If you’re like most people,...
Use These Questions to Connect With Your Audience
Why Use Questions to Connect? A common challenge for most presenters is how to capture their best ideas that will quickly gain audience attention. An obvious reason for this is that people are easily distracted today. We must capture their attention with our first...
Communication Skills – How a Wounded Soldier Connected With Me
How do you connect with an audience when you don’t seem to have anything in common with them? I was reminded of this question a few months ago when I was invited to Tampa, Florida to do some work with one of my past clients, retired Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel...
How to Keep Your Audience From Getting Lost in Thought
One of the most important lessons we teach speakers is this: Your goal is to change the way audiences Think, Feel or Act. One of the biggest mistakes speakers make is that they often cause people to think too much. Huh? Isn’t that a contradiction? At first glance,...
How to Help Your Audience See the ‘Big Picture’
Audiences often have ‘blind spots’ about the topics we speak about. One of the roles of speakers is to help audiences see the world in a different light.
Speakers: Make an Impression – Ignore This Myth
Why Speakers and Storytellers Need to Ignore This Common Myth Ron and I were chatting over breakfast. He said, “I was recently told that speakers should never talk about themselves on stage.” This was the fourth time in a month someone had said that to me about...
How to Make Audiences Think ‘I Want That’ Every Time You Speak
How to Create Impact Every Time You Speak. Want to compel audiences to seek you out after you speak? Then use the sixth and final step of scriptwriter Michael Hauge's proven storytelling process. The formula introduces: The Setup in which you introduce a compelling...
The Magic Number for Public Speaking Success
A Simple Lesson From the World Championship of Public Speaking It was the night before the World Championship of Public Speaking. If you're not familiar with this competition, think American Idol for speakers. It's an annual contest hosted by Toastmasters...
Use Tension to Increase Audience Attention
Create Deeper Levels of Audience Engagement In the last three posts, you've read about how to set up your story to and create audience interest. Introduce a compelling character in relatable circumstances. Then show your hero pursuing a worthwhile goal. These steps...
Create Deeper Connection in Your Story
"In your story, give listeners the emotional experience of working with your company or your product — and succeeding!” ~ Michael Hauge In the last two blogs, you read about the first two steps of Michael Hauge’s story creation process: 1. Talk about the everyday...
Create Edge of Their Seats Moments in Your Stories
How to Tap Into Your Audiences Emotions With Your Stories Last week you read about the first step of Michael Hauge's process - the Setup in your stories. This process is highlighted in great detail in Michael's Book 'Storytelling Made Easy.' Today, you'll pick up the...
How to Create Stories Like Hollywood
How to Tell Stories That Create an Instant Bond Michael Hauge is a long-time screenwriting and story consultant in Hollywood. Each month, I have the privilege of co-hosting a webinar with Michael. We teach storytelling skills to speakers. Actually, Michael teaches...
He truly has a gift in connecting with the heart of each person he works with and helping them to unleash their story into their talk. All of the speakers raved about his work with them. Each of them has had broad experience in speaking, but they all felt that working with Michael raised the bar on their ability to speak. You can listen to all of his speakers, Anthony Munoz, Richard Bernstein and Graeme Joffe, at http://www.tedxcincinnati.com/talks/.”
Allison Wonders Gars
Speaker Coach Manager, TED x Cincinnati
“Investing in Michael is one of the best investments I have ever made. I speak on the subject of diversity in the workplace, which can at times be a difficult topic to discuss.
Michael taught me a repeatable process that allows me to create a foundational concept, a logical structure, an opening that grabs the audience’s attention, and a conclusion that encourages my audience to take action that will save them time and money.
I found Michael easy to work with, flexible with his schedule, and a wealth of information about the art of speaking. If you need to improve your presentation or speech, I highly recommend you consider hiring Michael. It is one of the best investments you can make in your own growth.”
Natalie Holder
Founder, QUEST Diversity
“Michael has completely opened my eyes! I’m performing at an entirely new level. I went into my last event with the utmost confidence thanks to him. He even called me the night before with a few last-minute reminders! If you speak for a living — if your revenue depends on your ability to communicate, you NEED Michael Davis!”
Brennan Scanlon
Co-Executive Director, Business Network International
Panic to Power
Swift and Simple Strategies Anyone Can Use to Overcome Fear and Anxiety About Public Speaking.
Inject More Humor
Secrets for Using Laughter to Connect Deeper with Your Audiences
Evaluate to Elevate
Discover the keys to delivering evaluations that lift others to higher levels of accomplishment
THE Book on Storytelling
Discover How to Develop and Deliver Business Stories That Increase Your Impact, Influence and Income
Go Ahead and Laugh!
A Serious Guide to Speaking with Humor.
Michael’s mission is to help leaders, managers and sales professionals communicate with more confidence, impact, and influence. This passion is born from his own communication difficulties early in his career.
Fortunately, he discovered that public speaking is like riding a bike, swimming or driving a car - it’s a learnable skill. Once he discovered this ‘secret’ he became a voracious student of the craft. He took courses, studied some of the world’s best speakers and storytellers and continues to study presentation and business storytelling skills.
He is hired by companies and organizations, leaders, managers and sales professionals, and TEDx speakers to help them become more confident, impactful and influential communicators.
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