Having delivered hundreds of presentation skills courses and assessments since 1999, written over 100 articles and a book on the topic, Trudi and I understand the most common pitfalls that most aspirant presenters plunge into regularly. Many of these pitfalls apply to experienced presenters too. Those who present regularly may think they’re fine, but those that haven’t bothered to critically hone their skills could also be falling short.
Fear of public speaking stems from the very basic need to feel accepted. We want to be seen to be doing well and we fear making fools of ourselves. In order to overcome this fear, most presenters do indeed spend a good deal of time preparing for their presentations, but their time allocation is heavily […]
The closer you are physically to a “speaker in action” the easier it is to tell whether or not he or she is nervous. The tell-tale signs present vocally and/or physically, are numerous and occur individually or in “clusters”. Some examples are shallowness or shortness of breath, a quivering or high pitched voice, rushing, repetition […]