Delivery: How to lift a speech from the page
“Put me up on stage in front of a microphone to speak off the cuff, and I do great,” one of my workshop participants said not long ago, as we talked about speech delivery. “But give me a written speech to read and I just go dead,” he added,...
Getting better feedback
“Could you read this?” a friend asked me, handing over the manuscript for his novel. “I’d love your feedback.” So I did. I read all 200 pages and made detailed notes about story, character and voice. How the dramatic structure needed...
Challenge, call, recipe, reward: How to write the conclusion of your speech
Conclusions are one of the hardest parts of a speech to write. Here’s an approach to bringing any speech to a graceful end with an inspiring call to action.
Don’t make your audience unsubscribe from your speech
I just sent this in response to “Why are you unsubscribing from us?” (on the third screen you had to click through to unsubscribe): The constant stream of “ALERT!” “URGENT” and other messages just got too much. If everything is urgent, then nothing is. I know the data...
Nine deadly (boring) sins: Will your speech put your audience to sleep?
There are conference keynotes, presentations and panels that leave you breathless and excited, inspired to go forth and do something momentous. And then… there are the other ones. The sad fact is a lot of conference content just isn’t all that good. I can...
Why, yes — I’d LOVE to speak at your event
Public speaking and speechwriting: the essential guides
Looking for advice on public speaking, speechwriting and leadership communications? Here are some of my most comprehensive posts, on topics that people ask me about most often.
