Speaking tips blog
Communication matters. What are you saying?
Confessions of a Public Speaking Coach
As a public speaking coach, I have a simple confession to make: When I was learning my way as a communicator, my primary method of improving myself was observation and study. I watched thousands of speakers with one basic discriminating question in mind: What are...
Feedback
We recently launched our first course on MillsWyck Academy. But before we did, I felt it prudent to get some feedback. I reached out to some of our most loyal clients and asked them to take the course and give us candid feedback and opinions of the course and what...
Beam Me Up, Scottie
Most presentation remotes made in the modern era come with a laser pointer built in (even mine, put as the center button!). My guess is that the engineers who design such things think anything with a laser is cool. Plus, they don’t take much power (battery), and are...
Being Great
Over the last month, I’ve taken in an unusual amount of “culture”. The Night before Christmas as a live play. The Nutcracker with full symphony accompaniment. An Irish Christmas concert, with one of the most talented bands I’ve ever seen live. A Christmas...
Motivation
Last month, at two different events, I met folks who would be in my audience who responded, “Oh, you’re our motivational speaker!” I’m frequently not included in the internal PR for the events I’m speaking at, so I don’t know how I was advertised. But it’s a term I...
Dress Up
As a kid, I never got that excited about Halloween. I probably went Trick-or-Treating a few times, and probably attended a community event or two. I loved the candy, to be sure, but dressing up to fool people into giving me stuff never felt… genuine. ...
Adaptation
I was recently an invited breakout speaker to an organizational learning event. They had devoted a full day for their 1500+ people to attend dozens of breakouts across a full day and most of a college campus. I was given two slots for the same speaking topic. Since...
Tears and fears: Speaking Under High Emotion
I recently had one of those once-in-a-lifetime, pinch-me moments as a speaker. I was able to give two toasts/speeches in the context of my son’s rehearsal dinner and wedding reception. As my oldest child and only son, the event was a wonderful mix of happiness,...
Changing a Culture
Pre-COVID, I was given the opportunity to travel to three continents in the span of a year. Those experiences had a profound impact on my view of the world and the people in it. One of the most amazing aspects was my awareness of CULTURE. One of the...
Mimic The Best
Those who wish to become great at any craft are wise to study those who are already great. Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 for his speeches. He makes almost every list Google produces searching for “great orators”. (Interestingly,...
Winning and Success
“Second place is the first loser.” – Dale Earnhardt “If you ain’t first, you’re last” – Ricky Bobby, Talladega Nights “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” -- “Red” Sanders, UCLA Football coach, 1930s. With quotes like those...
Catchy
You’ve got a lot to celebrate this week! May the Fourth be With You (Star Wars Day, followed shortly by Revenge of the Sixth) and Cinco de Mayo(interestingly, more popular in the US than Mexico). While I will leave the merits of celebrating – and how – to the...
Funerals
It’s likely a statistical blip. Maybe it’s the phase of the moon. But after years of going without, I’ve been to four funerals in the past six weeks and have three more coming in the next few days/weeks. With one notable exception, these are “expected” deaths;...
