Project self-assurance when speaking--even if you don't feel confident! When you speak in public, your reputation is at stake. Whether you're speaking at a conference, pitching for new business, or presenting to your Executive Board, the ability to connect with, influence, and inspire your audience is a critically important skill. Public Speaking Skills For Dummies introduces you to simple, practical, and real-world techniques and insights that will transform your ability to achieve impact through the spoken word. In this book, champion of public speaking Alyson Connolly takes you step by step through the process of conceiving, crafting, and delivering a high-impact presentation. You'll discover how to overcome your nerves, engage your audience, and convey gravitas--all while getting your message across clearly and concisely. * Bring ideas to life through business storytelling * Use space and achieve an even greater sense of poise * Get your message across with greater clarity, concision, and impact * Deal more effectively with awkward questions Get ready to win over hearts and minds --and deliver the talk of your life!

Alyson Connolly, BFA, MFA is a voice and public speaking coach who specializes in painless public speaking and overcoming perfor- mance anxiety. She is also a keynote speaker, having been a performer her whole life, starting out as a child actor, and has been a teacher of drama and theater for the past 30 years. www.alysonconnolly.com

Klappentext

• Engage your audience, right from your very first word
• Get your message across with greater clarity and impact
• Overcome the fear of public speaking

Learn to love public speaking and your own voice

Many of you face the idea of speaking in public with stark terror, right? Rejoice! This book will help you banish your fears for good. Whether you need to make a business pitch, give a presentation, address a conference, ace a job interview, or offer a rousing wedding toast, you'll discover how to identify and fix the problems that are stealing your confidence. You'll learn to put the right words together and deliver them in a way that makes your listeners pay attentionand feel glad they did.

Inside...

• Deal with common vocal ills
• Read and engage your audience
• Craft the perfect speech
• Manage humor
• Train your voice
• Psych-up for speaking
• Face Q&As fearlessly
• Overcome stage fright

Project self-assurance when speakingeven if you don't feel confident!

When you speak in public, your reputation is at stake. Whether you're speaking at a conference, pitching for new business, or presenting to your Executive Board, the ability to connect with, influence, and inspire your audience is a critically important skill. Public Speaking Skills For Dummies introduces you to simple, practical, and real-world techniques and insights that will transform your ability to achieve impact through the spoken word.

In this book, champion of public speaking Alyson Connolly takes you step by step through the process of conceiving, crafting, and delivering a high-impact presentation. You'll discover how to overcome your nerves, engage your audience, and convey gravitasall while getting your message across clearly and concisely.

• Bring ideas to life through business storytelling
• Use space and achieve an even greater sense of poise
• Get your message across with greater clarity, concision, and impact
• Deal more effectively with awkward questions

Get ready to win over hearts and minds and deliver the talk of your life!

Introduction 1

How This Book Is Organized 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons 4

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Laying the Groundwork 7

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Public Speaking 9

Dealing with Issues That Stand in Your Way 10

Fighting the fight, flight, or freeze response 10

Affirming your worth with affirmations 11

Creating reality with visualization 11

Getting rid of tension 12

Improving Your Body Language 12

Gesturing 13

Moving 14

Making eye contact 14

Adjusting Your Pace 15

Perfecting the pause 15

Supporting Your Breath 16

Boosting Confidence through Preparation and Training 17

Breathing (your own) life into speeches 18

Planning out your speech 18

Getting ready for the big day 19

Eating right to feel good 20

Honing Your Delivery 20

Articulating 20

Resonating 21

Using the right tone 21

Adding visuals 21

Getting laughs 22

Telling stories 23

Dealing with the Audience 23

Excelling in Interviews 24

Mastering the Fine Art of Conversation 25

Dropping the Ball and Still Managing to Score 26

Wearing Clothes That Spell Success 26

Chapter 2: Getting Your Brain in the Game 29

Recognizing the Pitfalls of Negative Thoughts 30

Saying no to negatives: Avoiding your triggers 31

Perfecting perfectionism 32

Nixing those niggling negatives 33

Keeping the Brain's Fight, Flight, or Freeze Response in Check 34

Saying yes to adrenaline 34

Stopping cortisol in its tracks 35

Thinking like a caveperson 36

Leveraging the power of neuroplasticity 37

Adopting a Yes Let's Attitude 38

Knowing When to Say No 39

Part 2: Diagnosing and Treating Common Afflictions 41

Chapter 3: Overcoming Performance Anxiety 43

Staying Loose: Tension Can Ruin a Speech 44

Proper posture: Alignment isn't just for cars 44

Identifying the tension 47

Releasing the tension 48

Chin Up and Don't Slouch 49

Breathing as a sloucher 49

Why feeling bad ends up sounding bad 50

Using Your Body to Battle the Fight, Flight, or Freeze Response 53

Chapter 4: Curing Common Vocal Problems 57

Vanquishing Vocal Fry 58

Recognizing vocal fry and its causes 58

Seeing why vocal fry is perceived negatively 59

Undoing Upspeak 60

Knowing why we upspeak 61

Decomissioning Devoicing 62

Recognizing devoicing 62

If you're a natural devoicer 63

Battling Breathiness 64

How breathing works 65

What breathiness does to credibility 66

Negating Nasal Voice 66

Preventing the Push: Speaking Evenly 67

Disconnecting your thoughts and feelings 68

Wingin' it 68

Stopping Stuttering 69

Breathing to alleviate stuttering 70

Rolling with word flubs 70

Denying the Drop 71

Chapter 5: Conquering Impostor Syndrome: You Are Who You Think You Are 73

Feeling Like a Phony 74

Diagnosing yourself 74

Critiquing the criticism 75

Understanding Why It Happens 76

Feeling a failure onstage and off 77

Lucking into success 78

Being Yourself 79

Part 3: Preparing Your Speech and Training Yourself 83

Chapter 6: Crafting a Captivating Speech 85

Planning and Preparing 8...