Public Speaking Skills For Dummies

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
	How This Book Is Organized
	Foolish Assumptions
	Icons
	Beyond the Book
	Where to Go from Here
Part 1 Laying the Groundwork
	Chapter 1 Getting Started with Public Speaking
		Dealing with Issues That Stand in Your Way
			Fighting the fight, flight, or freeze response
			Affirming your worth with affirmations
			Creating reality with visualization
			Getting rid of tension
		Improving Your Body Language
			Gesturing
			Moving
			Making eye contact
		Adjusting Your Pace
			Perfecting the pause
		Supporting Your Breath
		Boosting Confidence through Preparation and Training
			Breathing (your own) life into speeches
			Planning out your speech
			Getting ready for the big day
			Eating right to feel good
		Honing Your Delivery
			Articulating
			Resonating
			Using the right tone
			Adding visuals
			Getting laughs
			Telling stories
		Dealing with the Audience
		Excelling in Interviews
		Mastering the Fine Art of Conversation
		Dropping the Ball and Still Managing to Score
		Wearing Clothes That Spell Success
	Chapter 2 Getting Your Brain in the Game
		Recognizing the Pitfalls of Negative Thoughts
			Saying no to negatives: Avoiding your triggers
			Perfecting perfectionism
			Nixing those niggling negatives
		Keeping the Brain’s Fight, Flight, or Freeze Response in Check
			Saying yes to adrenaline
			Stopping cortisol in its tracks
			Thinking like a caveperson
			Leveraging the power of neuroplasticity
		Adopting a Yes Let’s Attitude
		Knowing When to Say No
Part 2 Diagnosing and Treating Common Afflictions
	Chapter 3 Overcoming Performance Anxiety
		Staying Loose: Tension Can Ruin a Speech
			Proper posture: Alignment isn’t just for cars
			Identifying the tension
			Releasing the tension
		Chin Up and Don’t Slouch
			Breathing as a sloucher
			Why feeling bad ends up sounding bad
		Using Your Body to Battle the Fight, Flight, or Freeze Response
	Chapter 4 Curing Common Vocal Problems
		Vanquishing Vocal Fry
			Recognizing vocal fry and its causes
			Seeing why vocal fry is perceived negatively
		Undoing Upspeak
			Knowing why we upspeak
		Decomissioning Devoicing
			Recognizing devoicing
			If you’re a natural devoicer
		Battling Breathiness
			How breathing works
			What breathiness does to credibility
		Negating Nasal Voice
		Preventing the Push: Speaking Evenly
			Disconnecting your thoughts and feelings
			Wingin’ it
		Stopping Stuttering
			Breathing to alleviate stuttering
			Rolling with word flubs
		Denying the Drop
	Chapter 5 Conquering Impostor Syndrome: You Are Who You Think You Are
		Feeling Like a Phony
			Diagnosing yourself
			Critiquing the criticism
		Understanding Why It Happens
			Feeling a failure onstage and off
			Lucking into success
		Being Yourself
Part 3 Preparing Your Speech and Training Yourself
	Chapter 6 Crafting a Captivating Speech
		Planning and Preparing
		What’s Your Point?
		Hooking Your Audience
		Supporting Your Point: The PIE Method
			Point
			Illustration
			Explanation
			So what?
			Conclusion: Ending with a bang
		Writing in Your Own Voice
			Keeping it simple
			Writing and reading out loud
		Show, Don’t Tell
			Painting a picture in the audience’s mind
		Crafting Your Narrative: Story Time
			You’re the boss: Acting like a protagonist
			Telling the story of your business
			Getting real: Enhancing your story
	Chapter 7 Using Visual Aids
		A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
			Knowing when a picture works and when it doesn’t
			Cropping pictures to fit ideas
			Considering color
		Mastering Essential Slide Show Skills
		The Do’s and Don’ts of Audio
			Don’t let music play for a long time
			Don’t play music too loud or soft
			Don’t play music during your whole presentation
			Do have a sound check in the space prior to your speech
			Do check your equipment
		Using Video . . . If You Must
		Using Other Visual Aids
			Properly using props
			Going old school with flip charts
	Chapter 8 Being Funny (or Trying To)
		Getting Personal: Revealing Who You Really Are
		Writing Stories and Jokes
			Questions to help you prep
			Figuring out your own sense of humor
		Breaking It Down: Elements of Humor
			The rule of three
			The importance of practice
			The power of the pause
			The charm of self-deprecating humor and laughing at yourself
			The value of acting it out
			The art of modesty
			The dreaded cringe and how to avoid it
			Loosening up the audience
			Enjoy yourself and don’t take it too seriously
	Chapter 9 Practicing Your Speech
		Practicing Out Loud
			Hear yourself
			Stand up
			Prepare those props
			Power up those slides
			Find an empty room
			Time yourself
			Get someone to watch you
		Recording and Critiquing Yourself
			Take video of yourself presenting
			Record your voice
			Work on your face and nonverbals
		Mark My Words: Adjusting Your Script for Emphasis
		Slowing Down: Speed Kills
			Cutting your speech when your time is cut
			Resisting the urge to rush
			Making the most of tactical pauses
			Avoiding filler words: Ums and ahs
			Speaking, not reading
			Breathing just enough
	Chapter 10 Becoming a Vocal Athlete
		Understanding the Importance of Nutrition
			Cutting down on refined sugar
			Cutting back on carbs
			Refraining from alcohol before speaking
			Hydrating with water
			Chilling out with the coffee
			Dialing down the dairy
			Properly using protein
		Making Sure You’re Fed
		Getting Some Exercise
			Making your heart go thump
			Increasing your lung capacity
Part 4 Fine-Tuning Your Delivery
	Chapter 11 Prepping Your Mind for Public Speaking
		Learning to Visualize Positively
			Visualizing opportunity
		Building Self-Confidence
			Becoming happier through gratitude
			Engaging in positive self-talk
		Cutting Yourself Some Slack
		Shifting Your Focus to the Audience
			Beginning with the end in mind
			What is the audience expecting to learn?
			What are your audience’s demographics?
			What level of knowledge on the topic does the audience have?
			How big is the audience?
			Why is the topic important to the audience?
			Going one-on-one: Addressing one person in the audience
			Knowing when not to apologize
			Handling hecklers
	Chapter 12 Mastering the ABCs of Articulation
		Meet the Articulators
			The jaw
			The tongue
			The soft and hard palates
			The lips
		Understanding Mumbling and Why People Do It
		Honing Your Articulation
			Twisting your tongue
			Voicing vowels and consonants
			Singing
		Improving Clarity for an Accent
			Slowing down
			Staying positive
	Chapter 13 Good Vibrations: Resonance
		Getting to Know Your Resonators
		Why We Study Resonance
		Putting Your Whole Body into It
			Knowing your resonant voice
			The throat
			Opening up the nasal cavities
			Exploring oral resonance
			Releasing your jaw
			Opening up your chest resonance
Part 5 Enhancing Your Speech
	Chapter 14 Breath, Tone, and Pitch
		Breathe, Breathe, Breathe
			Supporting your breath
			Adding volume for a bigger space
			Changing poor breathing habits
			Does breathing make you look fat?
			Just breathe
		Improving Your Tone
			Expressing meaning and emotion through tone
			Using a conversational tone
		Harnessing the Power of Pitch
	Chapter 15 Getting Body Language into the Act
		Becoming a Poser (in a Good Way)
			Adjusting your stance
			Facial expressions
			Making eye contact
		Tuning In to Audience Perception
			Looking and feeling genuine
			Owning the room
		Moving with a Purpose
			When should you move?
			Sitting during a presentation
		Hand Jive: Gesturing with Your Hands
		Dressing for the Occasion
			Wearing appropriate clothing for your event
			Suiting yourself: Clothing for men
			Style and comfort: Clothing for women
			Patterning the patterns
			Wearing makeup
			Sporting tattoos
			If the shoe fits
			Avoiding wardrobe malfunctions
			Tying back your hair
			Taking it easy with the jewelry
			Doing your nails
	Chapter 16 Ready, Set, Go!
		’Twas the Night Before . . .
		Getting Familiar with the Space
			Scoping out the joint
			Warming up in the space
		Eating for Success
		Sleeping to Refresh
		It’s Show Time!
			Minding your mind
			Visualizing using imagery
			Breathing
			Making the most of the microphone
			Connecting to your audience even before you’ve met them
Part 6 It’s Show Time: Plying Your Trade
	Chapter 17 Acing the Interview
		Becoming an Expert on You
		Becoming an Expert on the Industry and Organization
		Checking Out the Interviewers
		Using Body Language in the Interview
			Avoiding the don’ts of interviews
			Practicing the do’s of interviews
		Public Speaking: The Interview Edition
			Getting the questions in advance
			Revealing what you intend to do
			Faking it till you’re making it
			Using your words positively
			Looking like you already work there
			Convincing yourself you already have the job
			Competing factors
			Mastering the Q&A session
			Remembering that you are the expert
			Admitting you don’t know the answer
			Being vulnerable
		Chatting like a Champ: Phone Interviews
			Phone interview don’ts
			Phone interview do’s
			Warming up for your interview
			Greeting the greeter
			Winding things up
	Chapter 18 Engaging in Witty Repartee
		Minding Your Manners
			Shaking hands
		Staying Engaged in the Conversation
			Remembering names
			Adopting open body language
			Letting go of your fears
		Composing Your Elevator Pitch
	Chapter 19 If at First You Don’t Succeed
		Everyone Wants You to Succeed
			The show must go on
			Practicing what could go wrong
			Making lemonade out of lemons
		Rolling with the Punches
			Double booking
			Shooting yourself in the foot
			Never having to say you’re sorry (when you’re up there speaking)
			Chilling out: No one knows you messed up
			Owning obstacles
		Getting Better at Improvising
			Improving your improv muscles
			Practicing improvising about your subject
			Adjusting your timing
Part 7 The Part of Tens
	Chapter 20 Ten (or So) Tips for Stage Fright
		Accept Your Fear
		Practice, Practice, Practice
		Breathe Slowly and Deeply
		Use Progressive Relaxation
		Be Up and Out, Not Down and In
		Move Your Hands
		Get Positive — Yes Let’s
		Roll with Mistakes
		Repeat an Affirmation in Your Head
		Focus on an Engaged Audience Member
		Slow Down
	Chapter 21 Ten Ways to Improve Your Delivery
		Analyze Your Script
		Personalize Your Speech
		Emphasize Key Words
		Change Up Your Pitch, Tone, and Word Duration
		Breathe!
		Slow Down Your Pace
		Land Your Thoughts
		Use the Power of the Pause
		Record Your Presentation
			Video yourself
			Record your voice
		Ask a Friend or Colleague to Watch and Listen
	Chapter 22 Ten Tips for Preparing to Speak
		Warm Up Your Body and Your Voice
			Get physical
			Get aligned
			Breathe
		Adopt a Power Pose for at Least Two Minutes
		Practice Your Speech While Doing an Unrelated Task
		Eat Healthy, Drink Water
		Visualize a Successful Presentation
		Recite Your Speech Dressed in Your Presentation Clothes
		Arrange Your Notes and Visuals
		Bring Water
		Arrive Early
		Introduce Yourself
Index
EULA