I want to be proud of the indigenous heritage of the place I live (on Wurundjeri land). Rueben taught me that indigenous culture is a place-based culture. I want to be able to say key phrases in the local language. I want to learn the stories of this area so that they may live on as I teach them to my kids and other visitors to this place.

Whatever your preferred speech, I suggest you watch it again, and count the use of pronouns.

How many times does the speaker say "I" or "me"?

How many times do they say "you" or "them"?

And how many times do they say "we" or "us"?

Today from my bookshelf I'm reading Lead The Room by my friend Shane Hatton. For thoughts about the nuances of quality, the value of practicality, and the power of metaphor, watch this video.

The beginner tries to influence a person's decisions by feeding them information. The expert influences a person's decisions by showing them a better filter.

Practice smiling at an imaginary crowd. Practice the pauses you'll make after sharing a key idea. Practice being a relaxed, confident version of you.

If you'd like to grow your business and career by speaking to an audience, this guide is my gift to you. I hope you find it valuable.

With very rare exception, in every business, people are the key.

“[An artist] has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I'm slowly going to start dipping my toes into work again, and I'm excited about a few pieces of work I've got scheduled for release soon, including Real Speaking Returns - a resource for executives, directors, partners and professionals seeking to leverage the commercial impact 
of public speaking opportunities

When we start preparing a presentation, the default problem we seek to solve is an answer to the question "What am I going to say?".

A better question to answer might be "how can I help you?"

If you want your presentations to have a positive commercial impact, it's a step in the right direction.

Public speaking creates a visceral reaction in almost everyone. The nervousness in anticipation of an upcoming speech can be torturous!

When people are in conversation, they constantly think. They think about what they’re hearing, considering how they might respond, and constantly engaging in the thread of the discussion to consider how it aligns with their experiences of the world.

As a high performer constantly seeking new frontiers to conquer, and as a leader in your organisation setting the standard for others to rise to, taking the stage hoping to be “good enough” simply won’t do.

When you know what you want your audience to do in response to your presentation, then you can start to think about what you might say in order to inspire them to action.