It was a three hour afternoon session on Martin Luther King day in Baltimore, Maryland. It was difficult for many reasons, but one of the most trying was that the audience consisted of all the employees of one company. When you have such a varied group you have to "bounce around" and not spend too much time on the interests and concerns of any one type of audience member. I recently had one of the toughest speeches of my career. They ranged from the lowest level to the highest level in the company.

From Baltimore, MD take Rt. By Steamship take the Chesapeake Bay While in front of a group I might point to an audience member and say You can make a difference in your company. [Pointing Three jokes or one-liners on one topic is enough to create a rise in the audience, but not enough to tire them about that subject. Tags: Tom Antion public One of the most pervasive principles in the construction of humorous situations is the Rule of Three. You will see it used over and over because it is simple.

The focus of week 7 of our Step Up Your Speaking online coaching included this popular post with 3 video examples of women speakers demonstrating best practices, with or without a lectern. Stephanie asked in week 6 of our online coaching, and I responded with ways eye contact can get a speaker off-track. Ignite! -- a speaking competition organized in cities around the U.S. -- inspired me to visit the Baltimore session held this month, and I featured two women speakers in this well-read post. Readers chose the tips and treats they found on this blog in October, and I'm happy to share them with you in this monthly roundup of our most popular posts: Should you use or lose the lectern?

What you get: Ignite, a mini-movement that takes place in various cities in periodic events where all sorts of professions, from artists to thinkers, get up and speak to fellow residents within those parameters. Here's the site for Ignite Baltimore , which starts its second-ever event tonight. You can go here to read Dave Troy's blog post on being the first speaker Take 16 speakers, give them five minutes and 20 slides apiece. Want to start an Ignite in your city?

Baltimore, one of the public speaking or storytelling events that are cropping up around the U.S. chose to see the Baltimore event because I know one of the speakers and wanted to check out the event firsthand. sessions a great learning tool for would-be speakers. I spent the evening talking to several speakers, particularly the women on the program, and found that several of the women speakers said they signed up as a way of pushing themselves to speak Last night, I checked out Ignite! Ignite happens in many cities.

It's one of the most effective ways to get--and hold--your audience's attention. Even more important, the organizers of many speaking opportunities and conferences are looking for great storytellers when they book speakers. The good news: Some of the best venues for public speaking are not only creating opportunities to speak, but sharing the results so you can learn and practice online. Can you tell a great personal story? Here are three of my favorites you can add to your practice arsenal: TED.com , the website of the famous TED conference (TED stands for technology,

November was an active month on The Eloquent Woman blog, with posts about speaking challenges when Twitter's in the room, how to work with speechwriters or maneuver a room without a written speech, sussing out your event space and more coaching for Stephanie Benoit in our Step Up Your Speaking challenge. Here are the highlights from this busy month! Audience members used Twitter to wonder whether to "do" her: Speaker Danah Boyd had a disaster of a speech that included a live Twitter backchannel with snarky--and sexual--comments about her, projected behind her while she spoke.

Baltimore recently--and while her topic, "Fired: Four Times," was immediately compelling, just from the title, I got even more enthusiastic when I spoke to her afterward and found out that (aside from teaching), this was her first real public speech. I decided I had a great topic and would share my trials and tribulations of being fired four times (plus I was looking for speaking opportunities for practice and to put myself out there). I saw Jennifer Cohen give a talk at Ignite! It's a tall order for a first talk: You get 5 minutes and 20 slides, with the charge to "make a difference,"