Stick your ideas into the mind of your audience by being vivid and concrete. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” is more memorable than, “The value of controlled assets exceeds by a factor of two those we pursue but do not yet possess.”

Speak in pictures

Your posture, gestures, and facial expressions influence how you feel.So stand up straight, weight on both feet. Keep your chin up. Chest out, Open up and smile. Those actions make you look and feel good.

Work from the outside in

... to defeat stage fright. Fear comes when you fixate on the possible problems rather than on the goal you want to achieve or the process you’re using to reach it. In tennis, you don’t look at the net. In golf, you don’t look at the sand trap. You look at the ball and focus on hitting through it.

Focus on your goal

Your listeners want variety. That means broad truths buttressed by homely examples; solemn purpose marbled with humor; a voice that is animated and varied.

Variety perks things up

Your audience will find it hard to listen if they’re trying to read slides filled with text. To help them listen, show them what to look at: point out what you want their eyes to see while you fill their ears with your explanation.

Control their eyes

The less you try to impress your listeners with your knowledge, the more they'll respect you.Cut out specialized vocabulary and speak to your audience in their language.

Don't try to impress

As Mrs. Humphrey said to her husband when he was running for President in 1968, "Hubert, for a speech to be immortal, it need not be interminable."

Begin, be brief, be seated

Speaking to an audience is like feeding apple sauce to a two-year old. The more you spoon out, the more ends up on the floor. Include on the slides and in your spoken text only the information necessary to support your points. Cut everything else. You’ve finished writing your speech when there is nothing left to take out.

Keep only the essential

If you use slides, sentence headlines are better because they make a point. Phrase headlines just create a category of items and labels and will most likely be forgotten.

Make your headlines sentences

Before you speak, look at your audience with a slight smile and take 3 quiet, deep breaths. Then, when the silence becomes the blank canvas on which you will paint your masterpiece, begin.

Dare to be silent

Your job as a business owner is 90% communication: You have to communicate the goals of your enterprise and rally your employees around them, and the most effective way to that is still the spoken word.

Dare to be silent

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