How To Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone – For Shy Budding Presenters/ Speakers “Are you satisfied with the level you’re at now?” – this genuine and thought-provoking question plunged the then 18-year-old me into a deep self-reflection, “Can I be better?”. Back then, I was a budding speaker, very much contented with…
National Public Speaking Competition 2019 – A Review of the Qualifying Rounds 2019 Last week, I had the privilege of taking up the role of Contest Chairperson for one of the sessions in the Qualifying Rounds of the National Public Speaking Competition 2019 (Secondary Category) on 22 and 23 October 2019 at YMCA…
A Public Speaker and a Horse Walk into a Bar – How to be Funny? There are many techniques and tips on capturing and engaging your audience’s attention. One of the most effective technique involves the use of humour in your presentation. We know, though, that being funny is easier said than done,…
Ready, Set, Go! How to Help Your Child Craft Their First Speech In-class presentations and project work are becoming the key opportunities for your child to start experiencing public speaking from a young age. These presentations help to nurture students into confident critical thinkers and communicators. One of the experiences we hear from…
“The Next Message I Wish to Share is … Er … Umm … And So …” How to Reduce Those Dreaded Pause-Fillers Most, if not all, of you would have heard of the dreaded “pause-fillers”. You are smoothly delivering your speech when out of nowhere, a wild “umm” jumps in and derails…
How To Keep Your Presentation On Time Now, one of the first important lessons that I learned as a speaker, was time management was more than just a good habit, but time management is really the responsibility of every speaker who has to present a speech or presentation. Now, the additional 2…
Competition, Courses or Class? – The Best Place to Learn Public Speaking It is a common experience in our role as public speaking trainers to have parents asking whether public speaking, as a skill, is best taught through a course, in school or by joining a competition. The answer is not that straightforward –…
How to Craft that Compelling Story for your Presentation Public speakers have shared this trope many times – it never hurts to add a story into your presentation. There is a temptation to focus on data, statistics and credibility content, but I firmly believe that every presentation has a space for a story. From…
Lessons from the Classroom 3 Common Habits of Young Public Speakers In developing young public speakers, it is important to identify specific habits to address and correct at the outset. The common refrain for young public speakers is that they are generally “not confident” and are, accordingly, not good public speakers. The reality though…