Fearless Presentations
283 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★ - 84 ratingsWant to eliminate public speaking fear and become a more poised and confident presenter and speaker? Fearless Presentations is the answer. This podcast is based on our famous two-day presentation skills class offered in cities all over the world. Each week, we offer free public speaking tips that help you develop the skill to present with poise when you deliver presentations. This is the fastest, easiest way to eliminate public speaking fear.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (Oct 3, 1863) [with Commentary]
November 21, 2022 13:00 - 11 minutes - 7.62 MBHappy Thanksgiving. And for those of you outside of the United States, happy third week of November. I wanted to take a break from the normal public speaking tips and share with you this week one of Abraham Lincoln's least quoted speeches but the one that has a significant impact on US citizens every November, his Thanksgiving proclamation that created the holiday. Where did the Thanksgiving Holiday come from? Yes, the pilgrim created the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth. And yes, President ...
Eliminate Public Speaking Fear in 3 Easy Steps
November 14, 2022 13:00 - 15 minutes - 11 MBWhen folks ask me what I do for a living, I answer, “I help people eliminate public speaking fear.” It is always fun to watch the looks on their faces when they process what I said. Inevitably, I will typically get a response like, “You do what?” or “How do you do that?” The process is really simple. In fact, anyone can reduce public speaking anxiety if they follow this process. Over the last 20 years, our great public speaking class instructors have perfected the best ways to reduce anxiet...
Present Like You Are an Expert--How to Have Your Audience Perceive You as the Expert
November 07, 2022 13:00 - 18 minutes - 13.1 MBThis week, I'm going to cover how to make that mental shift to where you begin to see yourself as the expert when you present. Just so you know, one of the major sources of nervousness and fear comes from people standing up to speak and fearing that the audience is going to figure out that they are not the real expert or that they are not as much of an expert as their boss or coworkers or other people who do what they do. Once you realize that if you are the person speaking, it is because yo...
Exercises to Improve Presentation Skills | Become a Better Public Speaker
October 31, 2022 14:00 - 18 minutes - 12.5 MBI was shocked at the huge list of dumb exercises to improve presentation skills on the internet. When I say “dumb,” I mean don’t try those tips. They will not work. In fact, they will likely make you even more nervous. So in this episode, I’m going to dispel some of the worst exercises and give you a few really simple things that you can do to become a better public speaker. So get rid of the tongue twisters and vocal warm-ups. Stay tuned for a few way more effective ways to become a good pu...
How to Calm Down Before a Speech
October 24, 2022 22:00 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MBWant to calm down before a presentation? Even if you don’t regularly experience the fear of public speaking, just before you start a speech, it is easy to feel anxious. This initial nervous energy can cause a speaker to have a shaky voice, dry mouth, or sweaty palms just before a presentation. The good news is that this experience is very common. Most of the time, if you start your presentation well, the level of nervousness will drop very quickly. However, sometimes when people feel that s...
How to Reduce the Fear of Public Speaking and Coach Others
October 17, 2022 12:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MBAre you a nervous public speaker? A majority of the population has some type of fear of public speaking. Ironically, a great deal of this nervousness or anxiety comes from well-meaning friends or coworkers who are just trying to help. When we see a friend struggling, we naturally want to help. So, we might offer a little constructive criticism as a way to help a new presenter improve his/her public speaking. However, these “helpful” pieces of advice can actually have an extremely negative e...
Make Your Presentation Audience Focused
October 10, 2022 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBThis week, I'm going to show you how you can make your audiences pay attention to your entire speech. If you use this strategy, you'll get the audience on your side right away and avoid situations where the audience tries to test you or put you on the spot. The strategy will also save you a TON of time and make delivering your presentation much easier as well. Make Your Presentation Audience Focused Face it, most people hate meetings. They don’t want to sit through boring presentations, ei...
How to Find Great Venues to Practice Your Presentations Part 2 of 2
October 03, 2022 12:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBThis week, I'm going to show you how you can begin to develop your public speaking skills in low-risk public speaking venues. These are the tips I give to people after they come through my presentation classes if they want more practice. As I give you these venues, though, I have organized them in a step-by-step process. For instance, last week, I gave you a list of online venues that I ordered from least risky to most challenging. If you go through the earlier virtual venues first, you'...
How to Find Great Venues to Practice Your Presentations Part 1 of 2
September 26, 2022 12:00 - 31 minutes - 22 MBI often get a common question after people attend our 2-day presentation class. “Now that I feel more confident, where do I go to practice to continue to get better as a speaker?” “How can I continue to grow as a great speaker?” The best way to continue to grow is with continued and consistent use of your presentation skills. If you take a public speaking class and then don’t present again for a year, your new skills wither away. In fact, one of the reasons why people come to a public spea...
5 Strategies for Creating TED Talks to Make Your TED Talk Go Viral
September 19, 2022 12:00 - 12 minutes - 8.93 MBCongratulations! You’ve been invited to give a TED talk. This non-profit talk series is the gold standard of speeches, so you should be honored to be on the event’s roster. Not to mention how great it will look on your resume and website. You’ve undoubtedly been chosen because you’re an expert in your field, be it medicine, literature, pop culture, gerontology, or careers, but it’s not the topic that will have your audience hanging onto your every word. No, it’s more than that. Attendees wil...
Want to Be a Professional Speaker-Be a Problem Solver First with Grant Baldwin
September 12, 2022 13:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBIt is a great honor for me to have Grant Baldwin of The Speaker Lab on the show today. Grant helps people break into the professional speaking industry and shows them how to find clients and get paid when they speak. Grant founded The Speaker Lab years ago and is also the host of The Speaker Lab podcast. His specialty is helping presenters create speeches that help their audiences solve problems. In the interview, he actually throws me for a loop a little. Since he has a hit podcast, I assu...
One of the Greatest Speeches in American History
September 05, 2022 12:00 - 9 minutes - 6.36 MBThis special holiday episode is a continuation of our holiday series on great speeches in American history. What better way to honor and celebrate the holiday than by critiquing one of the greatest, well-known speeches? Before we begin analyzing The Gettsyburg Address, let’s dive into the history and math to put it into context. David Wills invited Abraham Lincoln to give this speech as a way to honor and memorialize those who had fallen during the Battle of Gettysburg. Why were Americans...
The Causes of the Fear of Public Speaking and How to Overcome Them
August 29, 2022 12:00 - 13 minutes - 9.31 MBIn this episode, we will cover a few of the common situations that occur that lead to experiencing public speaking fear. As I cover each one, I will also give you a few simple things that you can do to counteract each of these causes. So if you ever feel nervous when you stand up and speak in front of a group, these tips can really help. The Causes of the Fear of Public Speaking and How to Overcome Them You’re an expert in your field, and you know what you’re talking about. After all, you...
The Presentation Skills Checklist
August 22, 2022 12:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBIn this episode, I share with you my presentation skills checklist that you can use when you are being asked to deliver a speech. It is kind of like a checklist that pilots use in order to lower the risk of failure. You can use it the same way. Make sure you do each of these simple tasks before you speak, and your risk of flubbing a speech shrinks, and your opportunity to perform well in front of the group increases dramatically. This presentation skills checklist can make designing and del...
5 Ways to Promote Yourself as a Professional Speaker (Part 2 of 2)
August 15, 2022 12:00 - 10 minutes - 7.28 MBWe just finished a five-part series about How to Start a Public Speaking Career. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to that series, it will help you understand the concepts that we talk about here much more clearly. 5 Ways to Promote Yourself as a Professional Speaker In this session, we are going to cover how to promote yourself as a professional public speaker. In the earlier sessions, we talked about how to get experience speaking within your current industry. Some of the ideas were ...
5 Ways to Promote Yourself as a Professional Speaker (Part 1 of 2)
August 08, 2022 12:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MBWe just finished a five-part series about How to Start a Public Speaking Career. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to that series, it will help you understand the concepts that we talk about here much more clearly. 5 Ways to Promote Yourself as a Professional Speaker In this session, we are going to cover how to promote yourself as a professional public speaker. In the earlier sessions, we talked about how to get experience speaking within your current industry. Some of the ideas were ...
Start Your Own Public Speaking Company from Scratch
August 01, 2022 12:00 - 25 minutes - 17.5 MBThis is part five of a five-part series about how to start a public speaking career. In the past episodes, we focused on how to use public speaking within your current career, both as an income stream and as marketing. We also covered a session on how to become a professional speaker for an established speaking company. In this episode, I cover a few step-by-step items that will help you create your own presentation company or speaking career from scratch. If you want to be a professional p...
Become a Certified Speaker for an Established Presentation Company
July 25, 2022 12:00 - 26 minutes - 18.5 MBWe are continuing our series on How to Start a Public Speaking Career, and in this session, we will show a shortcut by working for an organization that is already established. While the first episode mentioned a wide variety of approaches, one of the advantages of working with an established company is that the company the speaker is representing has already done the hard work. They have already created the content, vetted the content, and created a customer base. The downside is that the sp...
How to Start a Public Speaking Career
July 11, 2022 12:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBFor the last couple of episodes, I talked about how lucrative a professional speaker career is. Last week, I gave you a few things that have to be in place before you will have a lot of success speaking for a fee. This week, I'm going to pull back the curtain and show you a step-by-step process of how to start a professional speaking career. By the way, if you don't think of yourself as a professional speaker but you have a following or a way of doing something better, the ideas in this ep...
How to Become a Professional Speaker (Part 2)
July 04, 2022 17:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBThis is part two of our two-part series on How to Become a Professional Speaker. Last week, I explained a few different types of professional speakers. This week, I give you five attributes that pretty much have to be in place to get people or organizations to pay you to speak. Hone Your Craft Before Dabbling in Professional Speaking -- Basically, get good at something else first. No one is going to pay you to speak if you haven't first been successful at something. Create a Magnetic Perso...
How to Become a Professional Speaker
June 27, 2022 12:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBIt’s easy to develop a career as a public speaker if you’re already a celebrity. If your last name is Trump or Schwarzenegger, you will have no problem getting people to pay you to speak. However, that is not the only way to become a professional speaker. In this post, I will share with you a few tips about how to become a professional speaker. By the way, if you have a famous last name, it may not matter what you speak about. (People just want to say that they saw you in person.) You will ...
How a Presenter Can Deliver Bad News with Poise and Control
June 20, 2022 12:00 - 11 minutes - 7.61 MBSometimes when I'm teaching classes, participants really love how with a few simple modifications, even the most boring or technical presentation can become a fantastic persuasive message. In fact, last week, we covered some of these simple modifications. The big quest that comes up, though, is "What happens if you have to deliver a negative message?" In the past few months, inflation has skyrocketed, gas prices are so high that the cost of everything is going up, and since the pandemic mon...
Creating a Persuasive Speech or Sales Presentation (with a Few Examples)
June 13, 2022 12:00 - 14 minutes - 10 MBThe persuasion technique in this episode will help you create an amazing persuasive speech outline. In fact, these sales presentation examples can be used in a number of different ways. “Wait… sales presentation? Oh, I’m not a professional salesperson. This may not work for me.” Whether you are a salesperson or just trying to persuade coworkers to accept your ideas, this process is important to success. By the way, this technique works both in written format and in a speech. The best way t...
Presentation Coaching-Do I Need a Public Speaking Coach?
June 06, 2022 12:00 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBIn this episode, I'm going to explain the pros and cons of public speaking coaching. Sometimes, when I suggest to people that presentation coaching may not help them, they are a little taken back. "Wait Doug, aren't you a public speaking coach?" Yes, I am, but I very rarely work one-on-one with a single person in a coaching session. In this episode, I'm going to explain why. Also, if you have been listening to the podcast as a way to reduce nervousness, I'll also explain why that may not b...
A Few Simple Tips to Help You Eliminate Glossophobia
May 30, 2022 12:00 - 12 minutes - 8.55 MBThis is part 2 of a two-part series on Glossophobia (an irrational fear of public speaking.) In this episode, we cover a few simple tips to help you overcome glossophobia. 1) Start Small. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. If your fear is intense, there is no need to schedule a high-level presentation in front of 1000 people right away. Instead, start by speaking up more in staff meetings, at church, or join a social organization. Set a goal for each interaction. For instance,...
What Is Glossophobia and How Is It Different from Public Speaking Fear
May 23, 2022 12:00 - 18 minutes - 12.6 MBWant to know how to overcome glossophobia? Does stage fright sometimes make you pass up opportunities in your career? Do you feel like you have an irrational fear of public speaking? You are not alone! Glossophobia or the fear of public speaking is very common. I’ve been in the presentation skill industry for decades, now. In that time, I’ve come to realize that the statistics about this fear are confusing. Some studies say that as few as 7% of the population has glossophobia. Other surveys...
Public Speaking Training, Classes, Coaching, and Workshops Which Public Speaking Training Is Best
May 16, 2022 12:00 - 13 minutes - 9.58 MBIn today's digital world, there are so many ways to come by great public speaking types and presentation training. Here on Fearless Presentations, we have over 200 podcast episodes, and over 400 YouTube videos on our YouTube channel, and we have also published HUNDREDS of free presentation skill articles on our blog at Fearlesspresentations.com. These resources are all free to the public. However, some people prefer a more structured approach like an online public speaking training course....
101 Public Speaking Tips - Part 4 of 4
May 09, 2022 12:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBThis is part 4 of a four-part series covering the 101 best public speaking tips. We are going to the last 25 today. In this episode, I will continue with a list of some of the best places to practice your public speaking skills. (As we progress further down the list, the locations will become more lucrative for you when you speak to these audiences.) Then, I will cover a few best practices for group presentations (especially group sales presentations.) The last major section of presentation...
101 Public Speaking Tips - Part 3 of 4
May 02, 2022 12:00 - 19 minutes - 13.1 MBThis is part 3 of a four-part series covering the 101 best public speaking tips. We are going to zoom through another 25 or so tips today. In this episode, I'm going to continue our series on 101 public speaking tips that you can use as a roadmap to improve your presentation skills. I have to go through them at lightning speed. though. So, if you want more information about any of these tips or you want to see all of them visually, just click the link in the show notes. Last week, I finis...
101 Public Speaking Tips - Part 2 of 4
April 25, 2022 12:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MBIn honor of our 201st episode last week, I started a four-part series covering the 101 best public speaking tips. So if you missed last week, make sure to catch up before listening to this episode. We will zoom through another 25 or so tips today. These are public speaking tips 25-50. I cover a few ways to use stories to reduce public speaking fear. Then, I cover 20 or so of the best ways to add impact to a great presentation including audience participation tips and ways to add showmanship...
101 Public Speaking Tips - Part 1 of 4
April 18, 2022 12:00 - 19 minutes - 13.8 MBThis is the 201st episode, so for fun a couple of years ago on my 101st episode, I started a series of 101 public speaking tips. So, in the 201st episode, I'm going to deliver those 101 tips a second time. (My humor knows no bounds.) So for those of you who listen to the podcast and say, just give me the tips without all the fluff, these are the episodes for you! This episode covers public speaking tips #1 - #24 and is part 1 of a 4 part series. To see all the tips along with additional de...
How to Present a Proposal to Management
April 11, 2022 12:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBYou have identified a problem or opportunity for your company. Now you need to get approval. So, how do you present a proposal to management that will get approved? The process is actually pretty simple. The method of how to present a proposal to management that we use works about 100% of the time. Just follow the simple steps below, and your project will easily get funded. By the way, if you are presenting a proposal to a customer or potential client, see this post. The technique below is ...
How to Present a Proposal-Create a Business Proposal Presentation
April 04, 2022 12:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MBHere are a few tips to keep in mind when you present a proposal to a client. Here is the scenario… You have done your homework. A team at your company painstakingly created the perfect sales proposal. In fact, the potential client was so impressed, that they moved you to their “shortlist.” Now, though, they want you to present a bid proposal to the purchasing committee. Your team is one of just six to eight other companies competing for this contract. How do you make sure that the committee...
How to Write an Effective Persuasive Speech
March 28, 2022 12:00 - 31 minutes - 21.6 MBIn this episode, Doug Staneart of Fearless Presentations walks us through a simple three-step process to persuade others. Want to learn how to write a persuasive speech? Want to make sure that you persuade your audience without raising resentment? Well, if you use the techniques that you likely learned in school, you will often fail at both of these goals. In high school, you most likely learned that to write a good persuasive presentation, you have to do research, list the pros and cons, a...
Remember Stories from Your Life to Insert into Presentations
March 21, 2022 12:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBThis “remember stories from your life” post is part three of a three-part series about how to tell stories in your speech. In the first two posts, we talked about the value of stories. If you recall, statistics and data are forgotten quickly and lead your audience to play “Devil’s advocate.” However, stories build rapport with your audience and reduce public speaking fear. They also make the data you are delivering more memorable. Once you understand the value of inserting stories into your...
The 5 Steps of Storytelling–How to Tell a Great Story in a Presentation
March 07, 2022 13:00 - 26 minutes - 18.3 MBGreat speakers know how to tell a great story. This post will give you the five key steps of storytelling that these great speakers know. This is a continuation of the post about how inserting stories into your presentations reduces public speaking fear. I mentioned a recent class member who told me that he just wasn’t a good storyteller. If you feel the same way, then these steps of storytelling can be very helpful for you. Just between you and I, though… Whether you follow these steps exac...
The Train-the-Trainer Model-How to Create a Train-the-Trainer Course
February 14, 2022 13:00 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBThe Train-the-Trainer Model is very common in the business world. However, many Train-the-Trainer programs have big flaws. A good analogy of what happens during this process is the old “telephone game.” Put ten people in a room. Whisper a phrase with more than 10 words into the ear of the first person. The second person then relays the message to the third person. This process continues over and over until the phrase reaches the final person. When you compare the first message with the last...
How to Introduce Yourself in a Presentation (with Examples)
February 07, 2022 13:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MBOne of the more challenging parts of any presentation is the very first part. If you are wondering how to introduce yourself before starting your presentation, you are in good company. For most of us, once we get the first few sentences out, our nervousness will diminish pretty significantly. So, this initial self-introduction is really important. If we struggle here, our nervousness will increase. In addition, the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is very...
How to Write a Speech in 3 Simple Steps
January 25, 2022 13:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MBWelcome back to the Fearless Presentations podcast. When most of you first started listening to this podcast, it was because you wanted to feel less nervous when you have to stand up and speak before a group. So, most people start listening to try to create a different feeling. An important thing that we often overlook, though, is that the way that we design a speech will either add to your nervousness or reduce your nervousness. For instance, if you try to write out your presentation word...
7 Dynamic Ways to Start a Presentation With Examples
January 17, 2022 13:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBLooking for a few ways to start a presentation that are dynamic? We’ve all been there as a speaker. You walk out onto a stage or into the front of the room. The audience is staring at you with skepticism written all over their faces. This stoic crowd has no patience for speakers who waste their time. And their demeanor is showing that fact right now. You need the best way to start your presentation so that you win over the audience members. I’ve been there myself. Below are a few of my fav...
7 Fun Ways to Make Zoom Meetings More Engaging and Interactive
January 10, 2022 13:00 - 21 minutes - 15 MBAre your Zoom meetings kind of… well… blah? Want to make them more fun, engaging, and interactive? Below are seven of our best tips to help you jazz up your next online meeting. Keep in mind that anytime a conversation is one-sided, it will be boring for the listener. A good conversation is a dialogue — not a monologue. On this episode, we cover 7 simple things you can do to make your Zoom meetings more engaging. For full show notes along with all the links mentioned in the episode, go to...
Exercises to Improve Presentation Skills
November 29, 2021 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBI was shocked at the huge list of dumb exercises to improve presentation skills on the internet. When I say “dumb,” I mean don’t try those tips. They will not work. In fact, they will likely make you even more nervous. So in this episode, I’m going to dispel some of the worst exercises and give you a few really simple things that you can do to become a better public speaker. So get rid of the tongue twisters and vocal warm-ups. Stay tuned for a few way more effective ways to become a good pu...
How to Calm Down Before a Presentation
November 08, 2021 13:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MBWant to calm down before a presentation? Even if you don’t regularly experience the fear of public speaking, just before you start a speech, it is easy to feel anxious. This initial nervous energy can cause a speaker to have a shaky voice, dry mouth, or sweaty palms just before a presentation. The good news is that this experience is very common. Most of the time, if you start your presentation well, the level of nervousness will drop very quickly. However, sometimes when people feel that s...
Hybrid Presentation Tips-Presenting in Person But with Virtual Attendees
November 01, 2021 12:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBThis episode contains my 5 top hybrid presentation tips when you are meeting in person but also have virtual attendees as well. In the last few weeks, I’ve had a number of odd things happen in my in-person meetings and training sessions. The first occurred when a big client called me the day before the meeting asking for a favor. One of the participants had gotten ill. She was wondering if I would mind allowing that single individual to participate in the training session virtually. Although...
Fearless Presentations Master Class Part 10 Question and Answer Sessions
October 25, 2021 12:00 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MBOne of the most challenging types of impromptu speaking situations can be question and answer periods. But these situations are also places where we as speakers can really shine. We can also gain tremendous credibility with our audience. By the way, if you use the processes and techniques from this book, you will establish solid trust and rapport with our audience throughout the presentation. So, the questions you get from your audience will usually be fairly cordial and actually easy. Q...
Fearless Presentations Master Class Part 9 Impromptu Speaking
October 18, 2021 12:00 - 18 minutes - 12.9 MBOn this episode, we continue our master class about presentation skills. This week we cover one of the most challenging public speaking skills for most people which is how to speak off the cuff on an impromptu basis and still look poised and confident. If you have ever been in one of those situations where someone puts you on the spot and panic sat in, then this session is for you. By the way, I have created a free downloadable guide for you. Just go to https://www.fearlesspresentations.com...
Fearless Presentations Masterclass Part 8 - Add More Impact to Your Presentation Part 1 of 2
October 11, 2021 12:00 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBIn this episode, we continue our master class about presentation skills. This week we take that presentation skeleton that you created a couple of weeks ago and show you 10 ways to add impact to it. Last week, we covered 5 of the items. This week, we finish up with the final 5 impact ideas. By the way, I have created a free downloadable guide for you. Just go to https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/audio-guide After you create the basic structure of your talk to inform, you can add addit...
Fearless Presentations Masterclass Part 8 - Add More Impact to Your Presentation Part 1 of 2
September 27, 2021 12:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBIn this episode, we continue our master class about presentation skills. This week we take that presentation skeleton that you created last week and show you 10 ways to add impact to it. If you recall last week, I mentioned that you want to only give a max of five key concepts per sitting. And for that reason as well as just for time sake, we will break this session into two parts. So we will cover a few items on this episode and the remainder next week to make the content easier to remember...
Add More Impact to Your Presentation Part 1 of 2
September 27, 2021 12:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBIn this episode, we continue our master class about presentation skills. This week we take that presentation skeleton that you created last week and show you 10 ways to add impact to it. If you recall last week, I mentioned that you want to only give a max of five key concepts per sitting. And for that reason as well as just for time sake, we will break this session into two parts. So we will cover a few items on this episode and the remainder next week to make the content easier to remember...
Fearless Presentations Masterclass Part 7 - Create an Informational Speech that Makes Your Audience Want to Pay Attention Part 2 of 2
September 27, 2021 12:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBIn this episode, we continue our master class about presentation skills. This is week 2 of a two-part series on how to design a talk to inform your audience. Here, I cover how to design an entire presentation. Last week, we covered how many bullet points should you create for your presentation. The answer by the way is that it depends on the type of speech. So this episode is very important if you want to understand how great presenters create great speeches. To Be More Concise, Limit Your ...