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Phoenix Public Speaking coaching and workshops

Archive for business presentations

Professional Development

We recently presented our “Speak Up and Stand Out” presentation skills workshop as a professional development track at the American Cotton Shippers Association conference at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale. Leveling up your presentation skills is a worthy investment that will pay off for the rest of your career.

Free Online Public Speaking Courses

For a limited time, we’re offering all three of our online courses absolutely free.

These courses are all yours for free. Please let us know how you like them. Enjoy!

 

 

Stop Giving Speeches!

Here’s the secret to great business presentations: Stop giving speeches. No, really. Speeches make you nervous and they bore your audience. Discover what to do instead in this guest blog I wrote for the amazing Dan Ram. It was an honor to collaborate with him on this message.

TAKE ME TO THE BLOG

How to Reduce Zoom Fatigue

In a Zoom meeting, you’re always on, even if you’re only a silent attendee. Unlike an in-person meeting, you can’t hide out in the back row. There’s a loss of anonymity. Everyone is in the front row and it feels like everyone is watching you.

That visibility causes you to be on your guard and to adjust constantly. Sit up straight. Change that goofy expression on your face. Fix that wrinkle in your dress. No scratching your head. No nothing that might cast you in a less than favorable light. Oh, and be sure to make eye contact by looking at the camera lens, constantly.

The Cause of Zoom Fatigue

We spend an excessive amount of time looking at ourselves in a typical Zoom meeting. All this self-awareness is exhausting and I believe the primary cause of Zoom fatigue.

One solution would be to turn off your camera, but then we lose much of the human connection in an environment already starving for connection. Of course, turning off your camera makes it easy to lose focus on the meeting and start multi-tasking. And finally, the meeting presenter and others speaking can’t see and react to your facial expressions and body language. We’re simply not being good audience members when we turn off our cameras.

Hide Yourself

Here’s another option that I’ve recently adopted. Leave your camera on, but right-click on your image and chose the option of “hide myself.” That way, you aren’t seeing yourself constantly, but the speaker and others can still see you. Think about it this way: in an in-person meeting, you don’t carry a mirror around to look at yourself, but you are aware that others can see you. So, knowing that you can be seen by others, you act appropriately, but you don’t obsess over yourself.

Try hiding yourself on your next Zoom meeting. Be a good meeting participant and be good to yourself. Most of all, be human.

New Perspectives for 2021

Phoenix Public Speaking owner and founder Paul Barton presents new perspectives and strategies to move forward in 2021 at the Maricopa Corporate College Virtual Impact Breakfast. He covers tips on how to spot emerging opportunities, how to manage remote work teams, how to approach training, and how to manage employee activism.

Using Your Voice to Engage

Vocal expert Sharon Marrell sits down with Phoenix Public Speaking owner and founder Paul Barton to talk about how to use your voice in public speaking and business presentations to engage your audience.

For more information about Sharon, see her website and her LinkedIn profile.

‘Stronger, Smarter, Better’ in 2021

Join us from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, for a free virtual breakfast webinar featuring business communication strategist Paul Barton who will present new ways of looking at the year ahead and ideas about how to keep building on the lessons we learned in 2020. Paul is the owner and founder of Phoenix Public Speaking and is a Certified Virtual Presenter.

The webinar is sponsored by Maricopa Corporate College (MCOR), which delivers high-impact training and development solutions for the business community, government, and non-profit organizations.

The breakfast is an annual event but is being held as a virtual event this year for the first time.

CLAIM YOUR SPOT

Speak Well Without a Script

 

How do you speak in a structured, conversational way, stay on point and on time, and do so without a script? This video unlocks the simple but powerful secret that can supercharge your public speaking and business presentation skills. Give it a tumble and let us know what you think.

Hey, keep your pants on!

 

A lot of tips have been written for Zoom hosts and presenters, but what about participants in the audience. You can’t hide in the back row like you can at an in-person meeting. Watch this video for some participant pitfalls to avoid during a Zoom meeting.

Don’t blow your credibility

 

In communication, especially personal communication like public speaking, credibility is everything. Want to know the fastest way to blow your credibility as a public speaker or business presenter? This video will tell you the pitfalls to avoid when making presentations.