My daughter teaches third grade. The last two years she taught four year old preschool and next year she’ll be teaching Kindergarten. At those ages children are still learning how to modulate their voices. It’s not unusual for my daughter to remind the children to use their inside voices when things get a bit loud. […]

There’s an old story about a young preacher newly installed at a small rural church. One Wednesday a snowstorm blew in and blanketed the small town. Living in the parsonage next door the pastor dutifully trudged to the church for the Wednesday evening service, expecting to find it empty. To his surprise an old farmer […]

This post is admittedly about an item of personal preference when it comes to public speaking. To share my bias right up front, I’m a no notes if possible kind of guy. I don’t go without them completely all the time, but my preference is to avoid notes. There a couple of reasons for this. […]

Click here to get this week’s fresh opener. It’s another short drama sketch that opens the topic of fiscal responsibility and financial management. If you ever work with financial planning or want to talk with folks about being responsible with the money they have, this opener will prepare your audience for what you have to […]

I was at a weekend event for teens once when the featured main stage speaker blatantly broke a cardinal rule of professional public speaking. He was fun and engaging. The kids seemed to like him and I thought his message was fairly good. But at some point he looked at his watch and realized he […]

Last week the annual Grammy Awards show was broadcast. One of the co-hosts was LL Cool J and the day after the event Jimmy Kimmel roasted him for a little tic that he spotted. This clip is hilarious but it highlights the point I’m making today.  We all have little tics when we speak in […]

Jim Catlin is a friend of mine and an excellent presenter. He recently commented on one of my posts that he regularly watches himself on tape to refine his skills. This is a habit that every person wanting to excel as a presenter should adopt. Unless you’re a pure, unrepentant narcissist watching yourself on video […]

One of the biggest rookie mistakes when on stage in front of an audience is rushing. Even if you enunciate clearly, if you talk too fast the audience won’t follow you. It is not only appropriate to build silence into your presentations, it’s necessary if you want the audience to assimilate what you’re sharing with […]

This week’s free opener is another short drama sketch. This time it’s set in a gym as Vince and Scott finish up their workout. The point is that any attempt to feel good about ourselves through outward appearances is not only futile, but doomed to failure. Recently a reviewer of one of my books on […]