Art of Oratory

Open Your Speech with a Startling Statistic

One in five Americans reads below a fifth grade level! The average person spends two years of their life on…

11 months ago

Open a Speech with Questions

One simple way to open a speech is with questions—usually three. How will you captivate your audience at the beginning…

11 months ago

Nervous? Don’t Picture the Audience Naked!

Who came up with that piece of advice? Unless you’re speaking at a super-model convention, don’t picture the audience naked.…

11 months ago

Need Their Attention? Train Your Audience

I watched a speaker disperse the audience into discussion groups of four people … And then struggle to get them…

11 months ago

Manage an Unruly Audience

Hopefully, you’ll never face a hostile or unruly audience but it’s worth thinking about how you’d handle one. If members…

11 months ago

Let Your Audience in on Your Unspoken Thoughts

Sometimes we say one thing when we want to say another. Maybe you need to reject someone but you want…

11 months ago

Interview Prep

I’ve appeared as a guest on many podcasts. My hosts are almost always astonished when I refer them to the…

11 months ago

In Public Speaking, Being Theatrical is Authentic!

So many speakers—even professional ones—are afraid to be “theatrical.” They worry that will be inauthentic or phony. A speaker I…

11 months ago

I, We, and You

We talked about the I-infection—about people who talk incessantly about themselves. I did this and I did that. That gets…

11 months ago

How to Structure a Speech Part 3: Create the Opening

In part 1 we defined the transformation. By knowing how we want our audience to think, feel, or act differently…

11 months ago

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