Giving A Toast In Both Informal And Formal Settings

Toasts can happen in both an informal and formal setting

As speakers we are all well aware of what it means to give a speech in a formal setting. These are the events where an audience has assembled, there is a stage, you take the stage, and everyone understand the importance of public speaking and listens to what you have to say. When it come … Read more

How Can A Speaker Be Funny Across Cultures?

Being funny is hard, being funny across cultures is really hard

As speakers we all understand just how tricky humor can be to deal with. If we want to make things just a little bit more tricky, we can introduce the challenge of trying to deliver a speech to people who belong to a different culture than we do and all of a sudden the whole … Read more

How A Speaker Should Accept An Award

There is a right way and a wrong way to accept an award

We all like to to be recognized for our accomplishments. What this means is that when we have done something that is memorable, people like to give us awards to celebrate our accomplishments. These are fantastic times – in front of our coworkers, peers, and potentially even our family members and friends, we get to … Read more

How A Speaker Can Moderate A Panel Discussion

A panel discussion is all about finding a way to exchange ideas

For some odd and strange reason, people seem to think that just because we can do a good job of giving a speech we’d also be able to moderate a panel discussion. You know what I’m talking about: one of those events where you get a group of people up on a stage and have … Read more

Humor Is Something That Can Be Learned

The best way to be funny is by not trying

Just about everyone who has ever given a speech knows that humor is a very powerful tool. If you can get your audience to laugh with you, then you will have used the importance of public speaking and grabbed their attention and they will pay attention to what you have to say. Some people seem … Read more

Picking What You Will Talk About

Here’s how to brainstorm for your next speech topic

I’d like to be able to tell you that every time that you get asked to give a speech, you’ll be told what the people running the show want you to talk about. However, as is the case with all such things in real life, it never seems to work out this way. Instead, somebody … Read more

What’s The Best Way To Start A Speech?

Your best chance to capture an audience happens in the start of a speech

When we are creating a speech, we’ve got a lot of work to do in order to capture the importance of public speaking. There’s the opening, the middle, and the ending. Each one of these parts is important. However, we might be able to say that the opening is just a little bit more important … Read more

Master The Elevator Speech Pitch

Elevator speeches don’t always have to be given in an elevator

So here’s a quick question for you: have you ever head of an “elevator pitch”? If you haven’t, then perhaps I should introduce to you what it is and why it should be important to all of us. The thinking behind an elevator pitch is exactly what its title implies. The thinking is that if … Read more

Positioning Your Message So People Say Yes

When we speak, we really want to get a yes from our audience

Note: This week’s post has been written by Jeff Tippett. Jeff is an author, owner of a public affairs + communications firm and professional speaker. He’s an expert on persuasive communications. Before we look at some strategies to help you position your message for a favorable response, I encourage you to first look inside yourself. … Read more

What Do You Need To Know Before You Give A Presentation?

Congratulations! You understand the importance of public speaking and so you’ve been asked to give a speech. Oh, wait. Just exactly what are you going to be talking about? Who will you be talking to? Where is all of this going to be taking place? Clearly there are a number of different questions that you … Read more