My Fear to Lead a Meeting Why? Because, after a few cancellations, I had only two people signed up for the Berkeley Speaking Circle®? The meeting was scheduled to start in an hour. I wondered… …If the two participants could get enough value out of such an undersized group. …If I should begin the group as I usually do and just carry on. I always present the guidelines and then invite each person to take turns practicing Relational Presence ……
Presence and Connection: Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety Join me for 2 1/2 stimulating days, June 1-3, 2018, at Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds. This exquisite coastal retreat is where I’ll be presenting my program, Presence and Connection: Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety. A well-designed program is diminished if you have any anxiety about speaking in public. With my Essential Speaking approach you will develop mindfulness skills that enable you to be authentic, compel attention, and impact your group. This conference…
Most people experience a connection when they are speaking one-to-one with another person. It is when they speak in front of a group that many people begin to feel afraid and lose the connection to themselves and to their listeners. The secret to speaking without fear when you are talking to a group is to connect with one person at a time and simply speak conversationally. Connection With Yourself As long as I take a breath in and let it…
What Makes a Positive Attitude So Attractive? Someone who has a positive attitude is like a ray of warm sunshine that brings me happiness. When that person smiles in a genuine way I can feel the warmth radiating from every cell in their body. He or she lights up the moment for me. Isn’t this true for you? Just think about your circle of friends. Identify the friend who has the most positive energy. How do you feel when you…
I used to be very uncomfortable with eye-to-eye contact. It was awkward and made me feel uneasy, especially if I didn’t know the person. So speaking in front of a group was even more challenging since there were so many eyes staring back at me. Standing in front of a group and looking out at all the eyes was as terrifying as looking out at a room full of sharks. Why People are Afraid to Look at Each Other Many…
“A silent mind is far more precise, accurate, and powerful than anything that is contained in the boundaries of rational thought.” Deepak Chopra Be Silent When people come to my programs on overcoming the fear of speaking, they are always surprised to see that I begin my 7 steps to Fearless Speaking with “Be Silent.” Immediately they know they are not in a conventional course like other classes that often stress how to craft and organize a speech or how…
Public Speaking is a Series of One-to-One Conversations Approach public speaking as more of a “me-to-you” discussion rather than a full-blown broadcast, suggests G.I. Taylor in the Fear of Speaking blog. I agree with the idea of seeing yourself talking to one person at a time when you are in front of groups. When you […]
“Most important rule… be yourself!” FastUpFront Blog in their article, “5 Essential Public Speaking Tips for Non-Public Speakers,” wrote about this number one rule. But how do people discover who they are? As a psychologist, I believe you need safe learning environments to explore and develop yourself. So much of our social training growing up […]
CNN’s Anderson Cooper has earned four Emmys because he knows how to talk to one person, not millions. What is the secret to his success? He says he is “not talking to X number of people, I’m just talking to one person through that camera lens.” The Art of Essential Speaking Cooper has mastered the art of Essential Speaking because he knows how to make public speaking seem like a one-on-one conversation. Listeners in an audience respond more readily when…
© 2019 Essential Speaking - Doreen Hamilton Ph.D.
