Most of us really hate it when a speaker reads from her PowerPoint slides, but we may not know exactly why (besides the fact that she keeps her back to us the whole time and speaks like a robot). When we read, we are subvocalizing; that is, we are speaking the words in our heads. More on PowerPoint.

Mostly, we assume people are like us , share our beliefs, our interests, our tastes, our background, our likes and dislikes, and our sense of humor. Frequently, we assume the audience understands our big words, jargon and acronyms, so it doesn't occur to us to explain them (the " curse of knowledge ").

It's kind of difficult to go home with no hardware, but you know, I'm gonna suck it up and cheer on the rest of my teammates." ~ Tyson Gay, after the U.S. Tags: Preparation Public Speaking Techniques and Strategies Athletes How's your attitude? But what happens when things don't go as planned ? might even blame other people.

Understand your audience and where they're coming from, but be yourself and don't try to be "one of us." Tags: Quick Fixes Preparation Public Speaking Techniques and Strategies Driving down State St. Did Pinkberry really need to remind me that the store is opening in Santa Barbara? Because I'm driving down State St.,

Stories help us to keep tabs on what is happening in our communities. Many studies since then have confirmed the human predilection to make characters and narratives out of whatever we see in the world around us." Tags: Stories Public Speaking Techniques and Strategies Resources Communication

I read this comment, submitted by a teacher, on a public speaking article today: "I understand the importance of not being boring, but I am not selling anything, and most of the tips in this article on public speaking seem aimed at holding an audience captive so you can sell them something." It's the same way with speaking.

Speak with Passion. When it’s close, many of the decisions just come down to who connects with us best,” one CEO told me. Tags: Preparation Public Speaking Techniques and Strategies Resources Communication It is available at [link] and on Amazon (pre-order until May 19). Competition for dance partners was fierce.

He has twice appeared in the finals of the Toastmasters Championship of Public speaking, finishing 3rd in the world in 2006. Public speaking is all about YOU. If you don't believe in your right to be speaking, your audience won't believe they need to listen. You have leveraged permission to speak – take advantage of it.

Because I speak about public speaking, I absolutely have to model what I'm teaching to the best of my ability. Does this make you unqualified to speak about your topic? I'm very open about my own quirks, and I use them as examples when I'm speaking. Even those of us who've been doing what we do forever. Never.

However, "people who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don't explicitly make resolutions."** You may not explicitly make resolutions about public speaking, but here's how public speaking might enhance your 2008 resolutions. Are you one of them? First, figure out what you know.