Movie speeches are a great opportunity see how much impact you can have in a short space of time. I watched ‘Fair Game’ last night (with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts) which ended with a powerful movie speech. Powerful and short. In fact, the best movie speeches are only about 100 seconds. (The Gettysburg Address More…
Hawks testimonials (Captain, Coach, CEO)
Hawthorn Football Club have been using the Vivid Method for Public Speaking and Media Training since 2007. AFL clubs get an incredible amount of media scrutiny and the Hawks have been very effective in managing their media messages and building communication skills in their people. Luke Hodge, Hawks Captain. Luke was comfortable when asked questions by journalists More…
4 ways to start a speech strongly
The most important thing when starting a speech or presentation is to make it clear to the audience where you are taking them. Think about a typical person in your audience. Their mind is full of to-do lists and daydreams; and you walk on stage. They’ve sat through boring presentations in the past and More…
Admit a negative point for persuasive communication
Persuasive communication techniques can be very simple. And effortlessly make a business presentation more engaging. Everybody has made mistakes, failed to achieve goals and been disappointed. So when you admit a negative, it creates a powerful connection with an audience. It also provides instant (temporary) credibility that sets up your persuasive point. Admitting a downside helps More…
Communication Coaching: Using standup comedy for book publicity
Amy Doering is releasing a book and wanted book publicity and media promotion. We decided on a unique approach; we would create a 5 minute standup comedy routine using the stories in the book. Here’s Amy talking about the Coaching Project; how she was able to control nerves by refining the material and using a More…
Public Speaking Nerves Evaporate when you Remove Uncertainty
Key points Speaking in public can be an all-in-one fear Anxiety is directly linked to the amount of uncertainty we feel Deal with the cause (uncertainty), not the symptoms (nerves)! Why do we get nervous? Anxiety can take many forms – feeling sick, a shaky voice, sleepless nights, dry mouth – but they all More…
Public Speaking Nerves: Anxiety can work for you!
Key points You can choose to experience adrenaline as either energy or anxiety. Certainty of information (message) is the strongest foundation you can create. Focus on your message and become a natural presenter. Do you choose fear or fun? Psychologist Stanley Schacter has conducted experiments on the way people label the physical symptoms of More…
The Myth of First Impressions
While helping the President of a multinational company with a $20 million pitch, we needed to dispel a common myth before he could move forward. (By the way, they got the $20 mil.). You must have heard this one. ‘People form their lasting impression of you in the first 30 seconds’ (or 8 seconds depending More…
Crazy over gestures for 70 years
Found this old film from the 1940s that runs through the ‘basics’ of effective public speaking. It’s absolute rubbish, but very funny, with an over-emphasis on body posture and forced gestures. There’s some hilarious footage here; especially in the scene demonstrating how not to make gestures when speaking. And in the final “live” speech the speaker’s motions are More…
Instructions for VividOutline iPhone App.
First, create your speech Outlines at SpeechOutline.com (See bottom of page for a refresher on how to do this). Step 1, open the iPhone app! Type in your Username and Password. Or simply use the ‘Demo Account’ which has 4 Outlines to play with. Scroll through your List of Outlines (they are automatically downloaded from More…
