I woke up the other morning with some more public speaking tips in my head.  In actual fact, it was three words, which when I thought about them, for me summed up nicely what public speaking is all about.  They are: competence, likeability and delivery.  This means that the speaker needs to be competent in the subject matter being spoken about.  It also helps the audience if the speaker is likeable.  Thirdly, the delivery of the material is all too important.  An exciting delivery will excite the audience and make them listen.  No matter  how good the words or the content are, if the delivery is not interesting, the audience will switch off.

So, in summary, remember these three words - competence, likeability and delivery.

For more public speaking tips, information on courses and one-to-one coaching, please contact Vanessa Ugatti on 01202 743961 or v.ugatti@watchoutworld.net or go to www.watchoutworld.net.

More public speaking tips for you.  When working with a client recently on a two-minute pitch, the KISS principle came to mind.  Keep it short and simple.  This is so true in public speaking.  Long-winded sentences and complicated phrases are difficult enough to understand when reading.  When speaking, they become a nightmare for the audience.  So keep your sentences short.  In any case, they have far more impact, are easier to deliver for the speaker and much easier for the audience to digest.  Just remember Barack Obama’s inaugural speech and the famous line “Yes we can.”  It was short - just 3 words and 8 letters.  It was simple and it inspired the audience.

So always, always, keep it short and simple. 

For more public speaking tips, information on courses and one-to-one coaching, please contact Vanessa Ugatti on 01202 743961 or v.ugatti@watchoutworld.net or go to www.watchoutworld.net.

I have some more public speaking tips for you here, well one anyway. 

When speaking in public, you need to both care and not care about it.  You must care about your message, care about how you deliver it and care about your audience.  This is vital.  What you must not do is care about what the audience thinks of you or the message.  It is up to the audience to decide whether the message means anything to them and whether they decide to take action as a result of your words.  That is absolutely their choice, not yours.

I would add, though, if you truly believe in what you are saying and you deliver it in an authentic and passionate manner, a majority of the audience will gain something from it at the very least.

In a nutshell, care about your message, your delivery and your audience - do not care about the results - you cannot be responsible for what others think and do - only they can!

For more public speaking tips, information on courses and one-to-one coaching, please contact Vanessa Ugatti on 01202 743961 or v.ugatti@watchoutworld.net or go to www.watchoutworld.net.

Of all the public speaking tips, passion has to be one of my all-time favourites.  Speaking passionately means speaking fearlessly, letting go of all negative thoughts and feelings.  Passion creates energy and is like fuel to a fire.  Speaking passionately does something magical to the words - it gives them a life of their own - they become a living being.   Speaking with passion also ignites the passion in your listeners and helps them to feel motivated, inspired and connected.  Speaking with passion means that you allow the words to come through you - you are the channel - and they are received in a purer more positive fashion.  If you are passionate about your subject and you deliver passionately, your audience can’t fail to love you. 

So in essence, speaking with passion means speaking from love.

For more public speaking tips, information on courses or one-to-one coaching sessions, please contact Vanessa on 01202 743961.

I love giving people public speaking tips as I want to help them improve how they present themselves and their businesses.  Many people who attend networking events still do not know how to deliver a one-minute pitch effectively. 

A definite no-no in public speaking is to read from a script.  This indicates one of a number of issues which are going on:

poor preparation - the person doesn’t know what they want to say.  If you have insufficient time to prepare then you have two options - 1) don’t speak at all 2) keep it extremely simple and 3) use cue cards with key words

a lack of confidence

Either way, what happens is the audience doesn’t believe what you’re saying because what you are saying and how you are saying are unlikely to be congruent.

In summary, never read from a script - it will likely do you more harm than good.

For training, coaching or more public speaking tips, call Vanessa on 01202 743961.

Today I delivered a 10-minute talk at 4Networking in Southampton which was all about a simple ten-step process to achieving your goals, no matter what they are.  The ten steps are: Ask, align, accept, begin, breakthrough barriers, believe, courage, committment, coaching and determination.

Having a coach work alongside you will help you with confidence building and will ensure that you will achieve that goal.  You can do whatever you want to do - having a coach just makes it much more doable.

So whatever your goal might be, do give me a call on 01202 743961 to discuss.

Last Thursday evening, I went to my first official African drumming lesson.  It was absolutely fantastic.  It is a perfect way to de-stress as the repetitive beat is hypnotic and keeps you in the present moment.  This means that for once the troublesome mind is still and the heart is allowed to feel.  I guess it’s a type of meditation and of course it’s a well known fact that sound is very healing.  There were only 6 of us and yet there was a wonderful sense of connection in the room and a lot of smiling faces.  I can’t remember feeling as happy as that since my first biodanza claass.

If you wish to find out more about this enjoyable pastime, go to www.noahafromusic.com.  Give it a go.

Today’s public speaking tips are all about having a positive mental attitude.  If you are going to give a presentation, a speech or a talk, a positive mental attitude is a vital ingredient of speaking in public.    Why would anyone want to put themselves in a position of feeling nervous before standing up?  That is simply crazy.  Yes but, do I hear you say?  I’m not confident.  Well, let me tell you the reason why you are not confident.  It’s because you keep telling yourself that you’re not confident.  Stop telling yourself that. 

Let me explain.  The subconscious mind is like a 5-year old child and brings up past thoughts willy-nilly, most of which are frightening.  However, there’s some really good news.  It’s this.  YOU DON’T HAVE TO BELIEVE THOSE THOUGHTS.  That’s it.  You don’t have to believe them.  When you stop believing those thoughts, they will disappear.  So if a negative thought comes up, notice it, and then let it go.  Noticing it without judgement will weaken it.  On the other hand, if you judge it and therefore judge yourself to be wrong or bad, you are giving it energy and this will keep it firmly in place.

So, start by telling yourself that you are confident, until you believe that.  It’s exactly the same process, only in reversal. 

If you want more public speaking tips, please call me on 01202-743961.

Today’s public speaking tips are all about authenticity.  Authenticity means being Yourself.  That’s Yourself with a capital Y and not a small y.  If you’ll pardon the pun, why do I say that?  Yourself with a capital Y is the confident part of you who knows what you’re talking about and is able to do it.  yourself with the small y is the insecure part of you which says that you are no good at speaking in public, it’s frightening, you will forget your words or any number of other negative ideas you may have about yourself.

So why is authenticity necessary?  Because authentic speakers are perceived by the audience as being sincere,  honest, likeable and real.  Being a good presenter or speaker does not mean that you have to be a slick presenter.  In fact, slick may be perceived in a negative way by your audience.  If they perceive you in a positive light, then they will listen to you.  And if they listen to you, that’s a good start.

Authenticity literally speaks for itself.  So, if you want to become a more authentic speaker, please go to my website and check out my one-day seminar in Speaking with Confidence. http://www.watchoutworld.co.uk/pages/speaking_with_confidence.html

Today’s public speaking tips are all about overcoming nerves.  In surveys, it has been said that public speaking is the number one fear - even above death.  So people would rather die, than stand up in public and speak.  Surely that is rather extreme, as most often, it is the thought of public speaking which is creating the problem, rather than the speaking itself. 

It is said that we have something like between 50 - 80 thousand thoughts a day and, for the most part, these are thoughts which we have had many times before.  So, imagine that you have had a bad experience in the past in relation to speaking in public - it could be as far back as early childhood at school.  Each time you have to speak in public, the thoughts around the first occasion when it didn’t go well will come from your subconscious mind into your conscious mind. 

At this point, you have a choice.  The choice is whether you believe that thought or not.  The majority of people do believe their thoughts, which in the case of negative ones, is the wrong thing to do.  So, what if next time the thought came up that you don’t like speaking in public, or it’s scary, or something bad will happen, you just acknowledge the thought and let it go.  What will happen then?  You will have started the process of re-programming your mind for different results.

And if you want more help, please call me on 01202 743961.