Women often believe they need to assume an overly authoritative and professional demeanor to be taken seriously. The problem is that audiences can interpret this as patronizing or chilly, and perceive you as having a superior attitude. The last thing you want is a negative...
Many women are reluctant to speak if they haven’t reached the top of their field or don’t have a mission. They also tend to have an aversion to the idea of “selling.” But the old-fashioned way of selling doesn’t work for anyone. The best way...
At a recent workshop, a participant was overcome with emotion when speaking about her father and how they started working together. She apologized. Yet the authenticity she displayed made her content come alive and captured the attention of everyone in the room. When we have the...
One of the biggest mistakes of a speaker is rehearsing their presentation in their heads and not out loud. We've had clients say they froze when they delivered their speech, because the sound of their voice was different than when they rehearsed it. You simply can not...
Too many women avoid public speaking because they tell me they're not an "Expert." The truth is experts tend to be boring to listen to, can drone on too long and fail to engage an audience. They educate rather than persuade. Add to that, we don't do...
Every time I conduct a training or coach an individual, the issue always comes up about how much detail to include. Whether you're delivering an elevator speech (self introduction), pitching for new business, or speaking on your topic area, you need to decide what is relevant...
Last Friday I spoke on storytelling to women professionals at Comerica in Irvine. Then I traveled to Beverly Hills to address CPAs at the CalCPA Women's Leadership Forum. The theme of this keynote was workplace communication, but I focused specifically on the communication issues that hold women...
We never advocate people "wing it" when it comes to practicing their presentations. But if you over-rehearse, or always do it the same way, you can sound canned and memorized. Here are some tips. First, devise an outline as opposed to writing out every word. We...
What speaker habits are hard to break, like introducing yourself or saying "good morning" at the very beginning of a presentation?...
Women professionals will sometimes come to me and say "I want to be more polished and perfect when I speak." We need to change that thinking. Audiences don't respond to a polished speaker, because they don't seem genuine or authentic...