The Public Speaking Blog started out with a personal agenda. It was meant to be an archive of speaking tips that I have gathered from books or learnt from experts; purely for my own perusal. Yet today, it has evolved into a public speaking resource site visited by over 1000 visitors monthly, with a record high of 35,486 hits this month. The blog is visited not only by Singaporeans but also by an international crowd. In fact, a good 15% of the readers here - that’s like around 675 people - belong to USA, UK, Malaysia, Vietnam, Spain and Mauritius.

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I received the following presentation slides from a friend of mine a couple of hours back. Some of you may have seen it before, credits to the Internet. However I urge you to go through them again. Hidden beneath these slides are a couple of presentation principles that are worth examining. Besides…the poignant message behind the slides warrants a second or even third viewing.

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Tiger Woods, the best golf player in the world, spend hours every day perfecting his swing. James Galway, the flutist superstar, starts his day by playing the scales. Mark Brown, world champion of public speaking of 1995, is re-doing his basic speech manual that all Toastmasters start out with. What does this tells us?

They have wayyyyyyyyyyy too much time to waste…

You know I am kidding (grins)

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Last September, I conducted my first public speaking workshop upon request from my peers. It was six hours long and during the time frame, I shared everything I knew about public speaking with them. Questions were answered. Doubts were cleared. Demonstrations were given. I taught them how to “eliminate” their stage fright (there is a reason why it is in double quotes…), I gave them a truck-full of speaking strategies that they can use to impress and inspire their audience. I enlightened them about what the audience really want in the speaker. But most importantly, the participants left the workshop invigorated and confident, all excited about their next public speaking opportunity. Like any true blue Singaporean, our workshop ended with a sumptuous dinner at Novena (where they sell the famous chicken rice!)

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Finally… a post to punctuate the awkard silence which is making me extremely uncomfortable as well. I am been conducting training and giving talks every single day since last Wed which explains the blog drought. Even my mum is complaining that she hasn’t seen me for days… (you know how mums exaggerate) And it doesn’t help that I have a final year project deadline to meet (yes people, I am STILL studying…) plus a speech contest to prepare. That’s right, the season of contesting is back again and boy am I excited! My speech is still in the making so I shall give you an update in time to come.

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Here’s an article from my friend Paul Evans, executive creator of Instant Speaking Success. His company has helped over 35,000 speakers avoid the fear and strengthen their skills. I like this article a lot, not only because it is witty but it makes lots of sense. Enjoy!
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Like most pubic speaking consultants, I usually hammer all the reasons a person should not be afraid of presenting. However, the more coaching I do, the more I realize the fear is legit. People should be afraid of getting in front of a group.

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It lies in this Greek word - Synaesthesia

…which means the merging of all senses.

I got this from reading a business book titled “There’s a customer born every minute” by Joe Vitale. On top of relishing the secrets of one of American’s most well known businessman P.T. Barnum, there are two particular sections that I want to point out. Chapter 12 of “How Barnum got rich after going broke” illustrates the clout of the spoken word. In this chapter, Joe revealed techniques that Barnum employed to become a powerful, persuasive and charismatic speaker. Priceless! The other section is Appendix III that features Barnum’s speech on The Art of Money Getting. The information is all good and dandy but it is his style that is worth examining.

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