Subscribe to our public speaking toolkit with 26 weekly
articles offering public speaking tips, techniques and exercises
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for only $19.95
The
ABCs of Presence in Public Speaking Toolkit
is a 26 week subscription email series with brief articles
and exercises offering public speaking tips and techniques
for developing a strong speaking presence. Organized alphabetically,
each topic presents a simple activity or awareness that you
can incorporate into your daily life as a way to integrate
these subtle but effective public speaking tools. Under each
weekly topic we briefly describe how that tool will help you
become a more confident and relaxed public speaker.
Below is a sample article and
a sneak preview of the public speaking topics that you will
receive if you subscribe to our weekly ABCs of Presence
in Public Speaking Toolkit.
Subscribe
for only $19.95
A is for...
Anchors
Are you anchored in the present moment when you speak? The
key to effective public speaking is to be present with ourselves,
our message, and our audience. With so many demands on our
attention at once, this can be challenging. We must convey
our message while engaging the audience, managing the technology,
and remaining calm, centered, and grounded. No wonder we feel
overwhelmed and anxious!
Where our attention goes, so goes our energy, according to
many Eastern traditions. If, when we speak, our attention
is fragmented and distracted, our energy will be fragmented
and we won't be effective in conveying our message. As speakers,
we need an anchor to quiet our minds, focus our attention,
and bring us into the present moment.
People who meditate know how easily we’re drawn away
from the present moment. Like a boat that gets carried away
by the currents around it, our attention is pulled away by
our many thoughts.
Just as an anchor is used to keep a boat from drifting, all
meditation traditions use a point of focus - an anchor of
sorts - to quiet the mind and keep it present. An anchor might
be simply noticing our thoughts, paying attention to our breath,
or repeating a word or phrase, a “mantra.” Feeling
our feet on the ground or repeating a calming word or phrase
are also good anchors.
These anchors can be equally effective when we speak. Once
you've identified an anchor that works well for you, use it
to re-center yourself just before a presentation, as you are
being introduced, in the moments just before you begin to
speak, and any time during your talk when you find you’ve
become disconnected from yourself.
Exercise: During the next week, practice
focusing on your breath to anchor yourself to the present
moment. Whenever you notice that you are not present or are
distracted by anxious thoughts, stop for a moment and bring
your attention to your breath. Count to 3 on your inhale and
to 6 on your exhale. Do this three times in a row and notice
how, by anchoring back into the present moment with your breath,
the quality of your attention is altered.
Below
is space to journal and reflect on your thoughts and experiences
related to this article and the exercise:
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The ABCs of Presence
Sample Topics
Arrows
of Attention |
Natural Elements |
| Being
vs. Doing |
Openings |
| Conversation |
Presence
|
| Daily
practice |
Quiet
center |
| Effortlessness |
Relational
Meditation |
| Flexibility,
Fluidity, Flow |
Stress
Hardiness |
| Gentleness |
Time |
| Human |
Unity |
| Intention |
Venue |
| Juicy |
Wondering |
| Knowing
|
eXperience |
| Laughter |
Yoga |
| Movement |
Zzzzzzzzz...Sleep |
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for only $19.95
Testimonial
Here's what readers say about The ABCs of Presence
in Public Speaking Toolkit:
Hans Houtman,
M.A.
psychotherapist, corporate consultant, and Kripalu Yoga
Teacher
"I first want to tell you
how much I like your approach. It covers so many different
aspects, not just of speaking in public, but of being
in the world and living a sensitive, sensible, conscious
life. I have experimented with many of the topics you
address in the ABC. I am impressed with your thoroughness,
delicate, wise and compassionate ways of handling the
issues. So big compliments from me.
"And more I will be out soon giving lectures and
the letters give me just an extra boost of confidence
that will smoothen my delivery of my ideas.
"Your thorough and gentle
handling of words strikes a deep chord in me. My whole
life I have been busy with words. They are wonderful,
and as the French philosopher Bachelard says:
'Words are clamorfilled shells. There is many
a story in the miniature of a single word.'
"This is what you show in the treatment of the
ABC of Public Speaking. I wish you all the best with
your lovely work., May you touch many, many people and
help them becoming aware of this wonderful tool we are
gifted with: language and the spaces and states it can
lead us into."
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| Jan
Huneycutt Lightner
Program Officer
CommunityCare Foundation
Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation
"Carla- it is wonderful
to hear a "professional" person speak in a
language that I know "personally," but hadn't
fully integrated into my professional world. It is encouraging
and has helped me simply be more of who I truly am,
in the presence of others. It's as if I needed some
sort of permission to approach public speaking from
an unconventional perspective. Thanks. Early on, I didn't
understand HOW helpful the articles would be. So, after
reading them I discarded the emails. Several weeks later,
I began saving them all, and have referred back to them
often. The articles have been incredibly helpful to
me and can help so many others see what change occurs
when we shift our focus and intention. "
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Paul Horn
Paul
Horn and Associates
Communication Skills Coach/Consultant:
I simply admired the honesty
and clarity with which they were written. Many of them
confirmed and expressed some of my own ideas in a fresh
and novel way. Well done!
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Carol-Ann Price
Marketing Manager
PCI Synthesis, Newburyport, MA
As someone who has not attended
your training, I appreciate this series as a way to
introduce the concepts you will be teaching me in your
program. All the articles are very well written and
very encouraging. Thanks for providing this to me!
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Jen, a researcher in Massachusetts
The toolkit helped me prepare
speeches I gave at my Toastmasters' club. I don't have
any regular speaking engagements, but I occasionally
have opportunities to present on a topic, so the toolkit
will be more and more useful for me and other people
I can give it to.
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Dena Mopsik, Redmond, WA
It was great to get the weekly
tip in my in-box. Reading it reminded me of the classes
that I took and was a great reminder to embody the skills
that I learned with you.
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Kathy Robinson, Career
Coach
Good reminder about ways to
think about preparing both mentally and physically.
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