Many speakers are guilty of making faulty assumptions about their presentations, and their ability to deliver them well. Sometimes even seasoned speaking professionals like me fall victim to this behavior.
How about you?
In this article, you will learn:
Think of a group of people whose careers or circumstances require them to work well with one another: athletic teams, orchestras, or emergency room workers. If individual members “do their own thing,” the entire group suffers.
When you’re asked to present as part of a panel of experts or a team making a sales pitch, you might think that there is safety in numbers and that you need to prepare less than if you were speaking on your own.
The truth is that, for your audience, a group presentation is only as strong as its weakest presenter. Here’s how to help your team create a strong and unified group presentation.
Ed: A few weeks ago, Becky Blanton wrote to me saying: “I used your site to help me prepare for my TEDGlobal 2009 talk! It was a godsend literally. […] I would love to ‘give back’ by writing about what I learned from other TED talkers and my TED experience.” This is Becky’s educational and inspirational story.
As a speaker, one major milestone you face is your first highly public speech. Most of you won’t have to give that first talk at a TED conference as I did. However, if you do, it helps to remember that the things which make TED talks great can make all talks great.
Some speaking sins, like the occasional “ah” or “um”, will not doom your presentation. With good content, you can earn forgiveness from the audience for those sins.
Other speaking sins are so grave that when you commit them, your speech or presentation is certain to fail. This article reveals the seven deadly sins of public speaking.
Have you heard this claim?
“Practicing makes me robotic. My speeches are better and more natural if I just work from my outline.”
This may be acceptable for scenarios where you don’t care about the result, but in all other cases, it’s hogwash.
The eighth in the Speech Preparation Series, this article provides practical ideas for maximizing the benefit from your practice time.
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