Greetings! I hope you have had a joyous holiday with your loved ones.  Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I love all the happy feelings that come with it and spending time with my family. However, I saw a social media post recently that gave me pause: “Christmas feels more like a deadline than a holiday.” […]

Omne trium perfectum. If you’re not familiar with this Latin phrase, it means “every set of three is complete” or “everything that comes in threes is perfect.”  We see examples of this everywhere: The Three Little Pigs…The good, the bad, and the ugly…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Most flags have three colors. Groupings of three are […]

You’re not alone – when they first start speaking to audiences, many a speaker has found it challenging to come up with a topic or story from their life to talk about. It’s been said that our life is a series of moments, but I think it is a series of stories too. Stories that have taught us […]

One common way that many speakers can negatively impact their credibility is by using crutch or filler words throughout their presentation. If you’re not familiar with this term, it means the words that we use when we’re not sure what to say next or to buy us time to find the right word we want to […]

There are times when you will have to give the same presentation numerous times, to numerous audiences. This is especially true if you work in a field where you have to train groups of people, such as sales, human resources, or insurance. Let’s face it – sometimes it can start to feel a little boring […]

I must admit something. This article could just as easily have been called “The Quickest Way to Annoy Roquita.” However, this personal pet peeve of mine is certainly not unique to me.  It’s a sentiment shared by many an audience member who’ve attended a presentation. How do you annoy your audience in no time flat? […]

Many moons ago, I worked at the happiest place on earth. No, not Disneyland. Another magical place where parents and children abounded called Babies R Us. I had been a college graduate for all of two years and was ecstatic to finally land a job in the marketing field.  As Store Promotions Coordinator (or SPC […]

One evening, I was listening to a guest speaker at my Toastmasters club meeting.  He was an extremely charismatic speaker who engaged the audience with energizing activities, captivating anecdotes, and memorable analogies. In fact, his analogies were so memorable that I started feeling like I was having a case of Déjà Vu.  Much of his […]

Remember that iconic song by Carly Simon about a self-absorbed ex-lover? “You’re so vain, you probably think this song’s about you…” You’re singing the words in your head right now, I bet. Unfortunately, I’m sure we’ve all met someone like that before! Lover or not. But what about the self-absorbed speaker? You’ve probably crossed paths […]