Public speaking

Engaging and involving your audience in meetings and presentations. Leading effective and interactive meetings and presentations. — by We all know what it’s like to sit through boring presentations and meetings being force-fed facts and figures. We start daydreaming, checking our e-mail, send a text message, or even fall asleep. From the speaker’s point of view, it’s not that fun either. Seeing a sea of blank faces […]

Why you need to involve your audience – and why ...

15 Feb, 2019 in Influencing skills / Public speaking tagged audience engagement / Audience involvement / effective meetings / influencing skills / interactive presentations by Maria Wilhelmsson

Dealing with Q&A, answering questions and objections. — by Many of my coachees ask me how to handle Q&A sessions in presentations or meetings. While delivering a presentation can be daunting, at least you can prepare and be in control of your message and contents. When the Q&A session starts, the big black hole of the unknown opens […]

How to handle Q&A sessions like a pro

1 Feb, 2018 in Influencing skills / Public speaking tagged audience / communication by Maria Wilhelmsson

Fear of speaking - shifting the spotlight away from your ego. — by Being one of four daughters of hard-working parents, getting somebody’s undivided attention was rare when I was a child. Until when at age seven I was asked to sing solo at the school end-of-year festivities. Suddenly all eyes and all ears were on me – and I found myself […]

Fear of speaking – shifting the spotlight away from your ...

2 Mar, 2017 in Influencing skills / Public speaking tagged confidence / connection / courage / fear of speaking / managing anxiety / public speaking by Maria Wilhelmsson

Sorry, I can't hear you. How to get a louder voice. — by Many of those who come to me for voice coaching want to learn to speak louder. Tired of having to repeat themselves or seeing people lean forward and frown every time they speak, they want to know how they can make themselves heard. It may sound like a trivial […]

Can you say that a bit louder, please?

14 Dec, 2016 in Public speaking / Voice tagged impact / loudness / speak up / speaking / voice by Maria Wilhelmsson

The role of emotion in influencing others — by Already the ancient Greeks knew it: there is nothing such as appealing to people’s emotion if you want to move them towards decision or action. Artistotle, in his principles of persuasion, stated that a strong rationale (logos) and personal credibility (ethos) are not enough – emotional appeal (pathos) […]

Influencing others: The role of emotion

26 Sep, 2016 in Influencing skills / Public speaking tagged audience / emotions / executive presence / impact / public speaking / storytelling by Maria Wilhelmsson

Avoiding the black hole - making your words stick. Being eloquent, memorable, and convincing. — by Listening is draining Did you ever speak to an audience and felt that your words were being sucked into a black hole? That nobody seemed to retain or react to anything of what you were saying? Or were you ever one of the distracted or confused people in the […]

Avoid the black hole and make your words stick

16 Mar, 2016 in Influencing skills / Public speaking tagged communication / eloquence / rhetoric by Maria Wilhelmsson

by Life isn’t fair. Great ideas don’t automatically win over bad ones. Outstanding individuals don’t necessarily get promoted over mediocre ones. Your talents and contributions aren’t always visible to the rest of the world. Life isn’t fair. But could it also be that we are not always fair on […]

Life isn’t fair. Do yourself justice.

10 Dec, 2015 in Body language / Executive presence / Influencing skills / Public speaking by Maria Wilhelmsson

by No, I’m not talking about the drink. And yes, I am against violence in the workplace or anywhere else. But I’m also against imposing unnecessary boredom on people and alienating your audience within the first minute of your presentation. If you want people to hear what […]

Open your presentation with PUNCH

1 Sep, 2015 in Public speaking tagged attention / audience / connection / impact / opening / presentation by Maria Wilhelmsson

Weak language, assertiveness, the power of language. Speak to convince. Stop undermining your message. — by “If you don’t mind uhm, I just wanted to share some uhm thoughts on our upcoming project and uhm at the same time basically check if we agree on these really important objectives and uhm I’ll try to keep it really short, I hope that’s ok with you…” How do you […]

Power your language – weed out the weak words!

1 Jul, 2015 in Influencing skills / Public speaking / Uncategorized tagged assertiveness / authority / clarity / communication / credibility / leadership / power / speaking / weak language by Maria Wilhelmsson

Gravitas- the link between merit and success. Personal presence, public speaking. — by Knowledge, experience, and results are all good and necessary – but not enough. In today’s business world, leaders need gravitas to be successful. Gravitas and the word gravity are connected. Having gravitas is having “weight” as a speaker, both literally and in the words that you say. Followers […]

Gravitas – the link between merit and success

1 Apr, 2015 in Executive presence / Influencing skills / Public speaking / Uncategorized / Voice tagged authenticity / gravitas / leadership / speaking by Maria Wilhelmsson

Be generous to your audience. The courage to be imperfect and its rewards. Take a risk and express your true self. Audiences are not looking for perfection, they yearn to listen to real people who are authentic and sincere. — by A while ago I was coaching a senior manager – let’s call her Karen – to use more expansive body language in delivering her presentation. Karen felt awkward and uncomfortable, but decided to give it a try. The feedback she received from her peers was overwhelmingly positive: they […]

The courage to be generous and imperfect

2 Sep, 2014 in Body language / Executive presence / Influencing skills / Public speaking by Maria Wilhelmsson

The 3 key principles of persuasion. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Communication skills. — by Do you want people to remember and to take action on what you propose? Is your preparation before a presentation limited to perfecting your slides? Read on! It’s now more than 2300 years ago that Aristotle formulated his principles of persuasion – and they still hold today. According […]

The 3 Key Elements of Persuasion

15 Jul, 2014 in Body language / Executive presence / Influencing skills / Public speaking tagged audience / communication / credibility / emotions / impact / leadership / persuasion / principles by Maria Wilhelmsson