Last year, I did a presentation at a Toastmasters District Conference about how one can take their speaking to the next level. I’ve since been invited to give this talk to various Toastmasters Clubs (if you’d like me to speak at your club, please contact me) and I’ve learned that a lot of folks within Toastmasters are surprised at how many opportunities they have within the organization to push their limits as speakers.
Can Prayer Make You More Successful?
I had a discussion with some friends recently about prayer and whether or not there’s a point to it. We all agreed that many people misuse prayer for things like getting a good hand at the poker table, winning the lottery or their favorite team winning the Super Bowl. And of course, when it doesn’t work out, they blame whoever or whatever they’re praying to.
It’s interesting because I believe that prayer, when done correctly, can be extremely effective — and not in the big miracles that many televangelists show so you can send them money, but in everyday life. Even if someone is an atheist or agnostic, they can benefit by doing the same process (for example, a lot of the Law of Attraction folks like to pray to the universe).
Three Painless Ways to Avoid “The Boring Talk”
There’s nothing worse to a presenter than a snoozing audience – we take it to mean that what we’re saying is uninformative, irrelevant or even worse, downright boring. But your speeches don’t have to be that way – you have a lot more control over how your audience perceives you than you may think.
Boring speeches are often due mainly to by the presenter’s delivery style. However, there are a few things beyond the control of the speaker that can cause a tough or despondent audience such as:
- Consuming a big meal and/or alcohol
- Receiving bad news shortly before the presentation.
Upcoming Events in the Boston Area
I’ve added a number of new events to my public events schedule. These events are all in the Boston, Massachusetts area and some of them are being offered for the very first time. I will be offering these classes in other locations in the future and I’m in the process of converting some of these events to webinars or teleseminars so that you can attend them from the comfort of your own home.
I’ll be adding more events to this list soon, but here’s what I recently added (you can click on the links for detailed descriptions of the classes):
Is Your Mind Present?
When I was in school, I remember having teachers that would do a roll call each morning to take attendance. While this was customary for the first few weeks of the school year (or semester) until the instructor learned everyone’s name, I had some teachers (and even professors in college) that would do this every day. I remember one teacher insisting that we say “present” versus “here” or, as many of my classmates would say, “yup.” I found this to be pointless but looking back, there was a benefit to it (especially by saying “present”).