Monthly Archive for October, 2012

Crafting a presentation is hard work, and as a presenter, you must make many tough decisions. How long should you present? How many slides should you create? How should you organize the speech?

What if there was a template you could use to help you with all of these decisions? There is such a template, and it is growing in popularity. Read on to find out more about Ignite!

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The Naked Presenter: Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides is the latest in a series of best-selling presentation books by Garr Reynolds (of Presentation Zen fame). While his previous books inspired his readers to craft better visuals, this book teaches readers how to deliver more naturally.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

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Six Minutes began 5 years ago, with a speech critique about a novel presentation style. Hundreds of articles, thousands of subscribers, and millions of visitors later, we’re still going strong thanks to you, our readers.

To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we have compiled our 50 most popular speaking articles.

Please share this article with others, and save or bookmark it to return again and again to enjoy the best of Six Minutes. Thanks for reading!

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[…] an iron curtain has descended across the continent.

On March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill delivered one of his most famous speeches. Though he was not the first to use the phrase “iron curtain”, this speech brought the phrase into common usage and is thought by some to mark the beginning of the Cold War.

In Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, William Safire writes:

This is a Beethoven symphony of a speech. […] this is the most Churchillian of Churchill’s speeches.

This speech analysis article examines how to use charisma tactics in speech writing. It is the latest in a series of speech critiques here on Six Minutes.

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Update

The reader survey and book contest mentioned below are closed, and we are busy studying the results to learn how we can make Six Minutes better. Some of the key insights are shared here.

Though the survey is closed, we are always interested in feedback from our readers. Please tell us what you like and what you don’t about Six Minutes via our contact form, anytime.


We want to make Six Minutes more relevant to your speaking needs.

To do that, we need your help.

Would you please take a few minutes to fill out a short survey?

  1. Your responses are completely anonymous.
  2. It will take just 2 or 3 minutes to complete.
  3. You will be entered in a draw to win a speaking book of your choice (any book we have reviewed, provided it is still in print). For every 100 responses, we’ll choose another winner, up to a maximum of 5.
  4. Your input will help us make Six Minutes better for you.

To enter the draw, all you have to do is:

  1. Complete the survey, and
  2. Leave a comment on this article, or send a message on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ so we know who you are and which book you’d like.

Thanks!

When you think about charisma, who do you think about? Bill Clinton? Martin Luther King Jr.? Steve Jobs?

What about you? Do you have charisma?

Many speakers and non-speakers hold the belief that charisma is an innate gift — either you are born with it, or you aren’t.

But can you learn charisma? Recent research suggests that you can!

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Six Minutes weekend reviews bring the best public speaking articles to you.

This review features topics including:

  • using quotations;
  • storytelling;
  • message sharpening;
  • weasel words;
  • Q&A strategies;
  • a free download;
  • and more!

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