Blog

People often tell me that when it comes to public speaking, their mind goes blank – or they’re worried that their mind will go blank. What is it about “mind blank” ? In most parts of your life, your mind functions perfectly well. If you go to make a cup of tea, you don’t suddenly have a mind blank about where the teabags live, or how to get the milk out of the fridge. If you’re chatting with a friend in a café you don’t suddenly forget everything that you were going to say. S

Is it really that important what you do with your hands when you speak in public? Whenever I’m coaching people to be confident when they speak in public, they frequently have an issue or concern they have about their body language. They often tell me, “I don’t know what to do with my hands”, or “I just feel like I'm standing there with everyone looking at me”, or they tell me they know that they fidget but somehow can’t help it. The vulnerability of standing in front of other

If you’re not yet confident at public speaking, you probably haven’t had a good enough reason to change – yet… It’s often said that you can do anything if the “why” is big enough. This tiny statement speaks powerfully to the motivation that drives us to do anything. Why bother taking professional development exams? Why bother training for a marathon? Why put yourself through an excruciating trip to the dentist? The answer to all of these is the same: The drive for the result

When I’m leading a workshop in confident public speaking, attendees are quick to tell me how nervous they feel when speaking in public (and they may even feel that they will never get over it). It’s like some big hurdle to cross. And by telling me how nervous they feel, they have somehow unloaded a burden. Then, I ask attendees to really think about their starting thought… Imagine this scenario – you’ve been asked to give a presentation at work and you’ve had a growing anxiet