Speaking Tip: Why Should Your Audience Care?

Ed Tate, CSP (and 2000 World Champion of Public Speaking) is a terrific speaker and mentor.  He is not afraid to cut to the chase when working with speakers. While sitting in on one of his live coaching sessions, I saw him stop a speaker 30 seconds into her talk and...

Shake ’em Up, Wake ’em Up When Speaking

Recently, I was talking with Denise, a coaching client who lives in Vancouver, Canada. She is often speaking about a challenging subject: living with HIV. We were discussing the emotional impact her topic has on others. “Michael, many people don’t want to...

How To Sell In Less Than 30 Seconds

Can you really sell a product, service or idea in 30 seconds? With the rare exception, the answer to that question is “NO.” The title of this post is intentionally misleading. The word ‘sell’ has many different connotations, many of them negative. The intention here...

Speaking with Inspirational Images

If you’d been sitting with me at the association meeting at which I’d be speaking, you might have felt the same way when the envelopes were passed around. As the representative from a local food pantry walked to the front of the room, I must confess, my thoughts...

How to Keep Their Interest in Your Stories

A Slight-Edge Principle to Grab and Keep Audience Interest in Your Stories Have you ever watched a movie or listened to stories that were either boring, or just plain bad, but, felt compelled to stay all the way to the end? If so, there’s nothing wrong with you...