Practice often to become a confident speaker

This Monday I delivered a technical speech to secure help to implement a data project for the organisation I lead. Technically, the speech was good, my objective was clear and so was the central idea at its core. However, a couple of things didn’t go as planned and I ended up learning valuable lessons from … Read more

What is your presentation seeking to achieve?

This post is part of a series of posts aimed at PMO professionals ahead of my keynote Public Speaking Demystified at the Future PMO Conference on October 17th in Hammersmith. In an earlier post in this series, I mentioned the importance of having a foundational idea behind every speech or presentation. While having a clear and well-structured idea … Read more

So you want to become a great speaker?

“Over 90% of people aren’t serious about developing themselves.” This is what a past World Champion of Public Speaking said to me in passing some months ago. This remark may seem negative but I think its entirely true. I have often seen aspiring speakers in Toastmasters who had high goals and aspirations but never lived … Read more

What’s your objective when you speak?

During the hundreds of Toastmasters meetings, I’ve attended since joining in 2013, I’ve witnessed over a thousand speakers delivering speeches on pretty much any topic. Nevertheless, only a minority of speeches stand out in my memory as memorable speeches. Those that do have one powerful characteristic in common, the speaker had crystal clear objectives in … Read more