Your presentation and your PowerPoint display.......

The big news is:  Your PowerPoint deck of slides is not your Talk!  Is not your Talk!
There will come a day when you are about to speak at to an audience and for some reason you are not able to use your PowerPoint deck!

Here's some tips:

What is your purpose?
Who is the Audience?
What do they know already?
What can you share with them?
What do you want them to do after you have spoken?

Now start with a very simple mind map.
List the points you want to cover.
Then divide those points into three columns - give each column a heading.  (for example,
past /present /future, or
problem/solution 1, solution 2, or
global/national/local.

You now have the basic content of your talk.  (For a recommended full structure of your talk, check my blog post of :

Sunday, October 9, 2016  Public Speaking - How to Structure your Presentation

When you have finalised your structure, you can think about the PowerPoint slides you will need.

Generally speaking, use slides to illustrate the points you make in your talk.  And, only ones that you can't describe in your own words.  Big graphics and absolute minimum text.  

And, you CANNOT, MUST NOT, repeat, word for word, any text that is on your slides. Paraphrasing is permissable.  As well, next on slides is abbreviated - never spelled out in correct grammar!  You don't need the helping words - like an, of, the,  etc.

The reason for this is - you don't want to be speaking to the audience - and then showing a slide that takes more than a minute to read!  If you have 10 to 15 slides (far too much) why would you want to take the focus off yourself as presenter for an aggregated half of your talk!  The speaking platform is a very powerful space.  Connect with your audience as much as possible.

You are the star of the show!  The slides are not your talk - they are your support.  

Public Speaking and Confidence

2017 - Bring it on!

Here we are - the second month of  the new year - 2017!  Have you ever known such a tumultuous start to a new year?

I've begun coaching my new 2017 clients and resumed with ongoing clients, including some returning to refresh their skills for upcoming speaking roles. Underlying everything we learn together is our uptake of the one ingredient that can make a huge difference to our lives.

That ingredient is CONFIDENCE! 

Your level of confidence as a speaker is profoundly visible in your personality, your voice and your body language.

Confidence.  How can you find it?  Where do you get it?  Why do you need it?

Think of the wide range of skills you have acquired in your life.  Learning to study in your chosen discipline or trade, playing a sport, playing a musical instrument .  How did you acquire these skills?  You found a teacher or coach, you learned the techniques; and you practised them.  And very likely you are still practising and refining those skills!

It's the same with public speaking.  You find a coach, you learn the techniques; and then you practise like mad! 

Your confidence grows

     as you understand your positive and negative self-talk.

     as you understand the parameters of your unique voice

     as you learn how to structure the content and purpose in your speaking roles

     as you create habits that turn nervous energy into positive energy

     as you learn to enjoy your speaking roles!

As a public speaking coach I have one absolute statement for you:

"There is nothing that will take you to where you want to be in life than the ability to think on your feet, choose the right words and speak with CONFIDENCE!"