Public Speaking Skills

Here’s a great goal for you in your next meeting or presentation. Make it your mission in life to make it easy for people to remember what you say. Have you ever had the experience where a presenter just walked into the room, and from the moment he or she opened their mouth, you were captivated? […]

How often do you sit in a meeting, or on a conference call, or listen to a presentation, and feel disengaged within the first five minutes? Yep… me too. It usually takes people forever to simply get to the point, and find ways to engage the audience. And by the time they do, it usually […]

My colleagues and I always preach preparation and practice before you stand up to speak. And whenever I bring up these twin concepts in a workshop, there is almost always someone who raises their hand and says “well, what if you don’t have time to prepare or practice? What do you do then?” That question always […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. In Part 1 of this post, we examined the importance of knowing one’s persuasive point of view to effective communication. It is our thesis statement. It is what our audience most needs to hear in order to understand our message, care […]

Have you ever listened to that person who says something like “um” over and over and over? After a while, all you hear are the “ums.” How about the person who says “like,” or “you know?” Hard to listen to that after a while, isn’t it? How about the person who qualifies everything they say […]

Have you ever sat through a meeting, listening to someone who just rambles on and on and on? Brutal, isn’t it? You are looking at your watch or your phone, trying to wish the time forward and each time you look you realize it is only 48 seconds since the last time you looked. It takes every […]

(Author’s Note: It’s that time of year again… wedding season! And many weddings are once again happening live and in-person… what a gift! This also means lots of people are getting ready to give wedding toasts, a muscle we may not have stretched in a while for all the obvious pandemic-related reasons. So I decided this […]

One of the questions I get asked all the time is, “How can I be less nervous when I stand up to present?” Confidence in public speaking continues to be a problem for lots of people. The spotlight is fully on you, everyone is listening, and we all want to do well. It is not […]

“Music is the space between the notes.” ~Claude DeBussy In many workshops, we see two parallel fears come up over and over. People fear silence when they’re speaking. Silence makes them uncomfortable. Therefore, they often fill the silence with more sound — extra words and non-words (we call them “verbal pauses’). And at the same time, people fear […]

My colleagues and I talk and teach all the time about the power of strong communication skills. When we communicate effectively, The Latimer Group always says, we drive results. We get approvals. We connect with the people around us. So many good things happen when we can communicate well. But let’s add to that long […]