Did you see the start of my new series, “Public Speaking: Why do you need it?” You probably noticed that I started with an easy one in “Public Speaking: Why do politicians need it?“, but let’s start looking at some more common careers. How do you feel about educators and public speaking skills? Did you…
Watch your time as a Speaker and Presenter
Imagine you are sitting in an audience, during a workshop, scheduled right before lunch. As the clock ticks, ticks, ticks, toward lunchtime… then past… What are you thinking? Are you thinking about the presentation? Or are you hungry and thinking about lunch? How about if you’re reaching the end of the presentation and you have…
Toastmasters Division Contest Today at PITTSBURGH NATIONAL GOLF CLUB
Today, Division B of District 13, Region VI, Toastmasters International will hold its Humorous Speech & Table Topics contest. As Governor of Area 7 in Division B, I will be attending with three other club members from Erie. Two of our group will be representing Area 7 in this contest of speaking skills. But when facing these contest events, it always becomes of question of “What is…
Record Yourself and be a Better Public Speaker
Do you read Craig Strachan’s Communication Excellence blog? Craig is a partner of mine from South Africa. Craig just posted that speakers should always have a digital recorder with them. To record your brilliant, or not so brilliant, insights and ideas. And to record yourself, every time you speak. You may wonder if this is…
A model of good public speaking skills… Watch this!
From time to time, a very good model of public speaking skills presents itself. Fairly recently, one exceptional example showed up on the radar. The Dallas Independent School District had Dalton Sherman, a 10-year-old 5th-grade student, deliver the keynote speech at the back-to-school convocation for all staff. You may have seen this before. I did a quick Google…
A Leader Should Lead by Example
Have you seen this? In —“Walk the Talk” Loses Credibility— Harry Jones talks about leaders and the later more common practice in which those same leaders are not “doing” but just “saying”. Does that catch your interest? It caught mine. When I was in the U.S. Marine Corps, from the moment I stepped off the…
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Have you been keeping an eye on me with an RSS reader? If so, are you subscribed to a michaelcortes.com or youcanpresent.com feed? If so, would you mind doing me a favor? I have recently switched over to a feedburner.com RSS feed in order to provide you with a better RSS experience. As I have…
Fall Contest Season started Thursday, September 25th
Do you know about Toastmasters International‘s speaking contests? District 13‘s humorous speech and table topics contests started Thursday, September 25th. At least it did for me and the Eriez Toastmasters club in Erie Pennsylvania. Why do I mention this? I had the honor and the duty to serve as the contest chair for this club’s contest. Which happens to…
Fall Contest Season started Thursday, September 25th
Do you know about Toastmasters International‘s speaking contests? District 13‘s humorous speech and table topics contests started Thursday, September 25th. At least it did for me and the Eriez Toastmasters club in Erie Pennsylvania. Why do I mention this? I had the honor and the duty to serve as the contest chair for this club’s contest. Which happens to…
Mentoring… Speakers (and everyone else) need it.
Mentoring… what does that word mean to you? Have you ever asked anyone that question? I have. I am frequently surprised by how often I am told it is a person with whom one has an official learning relationship. Official!?! What’s that? It is at least a question of, “Will you be my mentor?” and…