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Home » Planet » Feed: Speak Schmeak is the blog of public speaking coach Lisa Braithwaite

Speak Schmeak is the blog of public speaking coach Lisa Braithwaite


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What can you say in 45 seconds?

March 10, 2010

Have you noticed how many award show winners run out of time? Okay, of course you have. It's even worse when there are multiple winners who all want to speak.

It seems as though they all want to be spontaneous and in the moment - and not rehearsed in any way. Very few seem to have a prepared speech.

Every time I see another winner get cut off by the music I wonder to myself, "Why?"

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Making a bad space better

March 9, 2010

Over this past weekend I shared a booth at the Women's Festival at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara.

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Put it away, but don't throw away the key

March 5, 2010

Have you ever had a really bad day, but still had to put on a brave face and go out into the world? You had commitments you couldn't cancel, so you just put the pedal to the metal and were amazed at how you were able to get through the day.

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Perfection is the enemy of authenticity

March 4, 2010

Some of the American Idol judges' comments this week about John Park's rendition of "Gravity" included "lacking connection," "try to feel the song," and "there could have been a little more soul in it."

Simon said, "I struggle with the believability..." and "It just didn't feel authentic...."

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Scenes from a workshop

March 2, 2010

I enjoyed working with a great group of grad students on Friday at UCSB's Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.

The half-day workshop was about how to present difficult or controversial topics to audiences who may be uninformed or hostile.

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Getting the resistant on board

February 26, 2010

The other night, during a discussion on image-based PowerPoint, one of my public speaking group coaching members asked me how she can convince her colleagues -- who are resistant to change -- to try a new approach. Here's my response.

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Is there enough white space in your presentation?

February 25, 2010

I have a client who's verbose. It's the first thing he told me when I asked him about his challenges with public speaking. But he didn't have to tell me; I couldn't get a word in edgewise in the first ten minutes of our conversation. He says he "hates it."

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How to Improve Your Presentation Skills on Inc.com

February 24, 2010

I was interviewed for an article on presentation skills for Inc.com and it's now live! I'm one of three experts asked to share our thoughts on how to improve your public speaking skills. I'm not-so-secretly happy to be the first and last expert mentioned in the article. Location, location, location!

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Link for Kindle subscription is now fixed!

February 21, 2010

Thanks to a client who was browsing my website and blog, I discovered that the link in the right sidebar to subscribe to Speak Schmeak for your Kindle was broken. Horreur!

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Safety is fun! says Virgin America

February 20, 2010

Download audio here.

Here's another very clever way to take something old, predictable and boring and make it fresh again. All the information is here, but delivered in a new and fun way. It proves my point that the dullest, dreariest topic can be made fun and engaging. Go Virgin America!

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