Articles
The following articles are offered on a nonexclusive basis. Feel free to reprint or repost this material as long as Craig Valentine's name and contact information is included.
- Get in the Game, but Not Without a Coach! Champions get coached. In 1999 I won the World Championship of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International and have been speaking regularly ever since. Several years later, after a disastrous speech in Montreal, I went back to my hotel room, threw my head on my pillow, and faced the following reality: I need a coach badly!(more)
- In-Between Time and Using the Floor In-between time is what I refer to as the time in-between making your major points. Of course you need to use this time to transition into the next story or example, but how you use this time can make the difference between a dry speech and and one that whets their appetite for more!(more)
- 3 Public Speaking Tools to Make your Speech Worth it for your Audience Members (more)
- Craig's Recommended Resources for Speakers (more)
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Create The Hook For your Speech
Every great speaker knows the secret to making a memorable speech is to tell a story and make a point. When you listen to this 15-minute audio lesson, you will understand the MOST IMPORTANT part of the story. The HOOK!
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Eight Keys to an Effective Q & A Session
Although you should never end your speech with a Q&A session, you can still hold one before you end your speech in your own poweful way. Here are 8 keys to making sure your Q&A session adds (rather than subtracts) value and credibility to your message.
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Four Public Speaking Pitfalls that Trap Most Presenters
If you want to drastically improve your very next presentation, it is important to understand 4 of the pitfalls that keep most speakers in a ditch out of which they can never seem to climb. If you see where these traps are, you can easily avoid them. As a result, you will clear your pathway to a powerful and persuasive speech.
(more) - Four Ways to Tighten Up Your Speech One of the biggest problems presenters make is giving speeches that are too loose. Here are 4 ways to tighten up your message and liven up your audience. (more)
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Ignite your Audience with your Introduction
The introduction you provide for your introducer can either start you off in a hole or put you on solid ground with a head start.
(more) - Silence Speaks On August 21, 1999, at the World Championship of Public Speaking, I stood in front of 2,000 toastmasters for nearly ten seconds without saying a word. Why? Because my speech, “A Key to Fulfillment,” was about the power that taking a few minutes of silence each day can have in our lives, and I was demonstrating silence.(more)
- The Most Important Part of the Speech! The most important part of the speech is also one of the most neglected parts of the speech. You can improve your storytelling, establish interesting conflicts, make fascinating points, sell them with the push, pull, and passion approach, and use all of the nuts & bolts suggested in future newsletters, and yet you will fail to be effective if you do not put into practice the most important part of the speech.(more)
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The Nuts and Bolts of Public Speaking (Sample Chapter)
SO WHAT IS YOUR POINT?
Once you have told your story it is time to make your point. Your point is the most important message to get across to your audience. In fact, the whole reason you told your story was to illustrate your point. When making your point you cannot simply tell them what to do, you must also sell them on why they should do it. To do this we can transition from our “I-focused” story to a “You-focused” message. The “You” is the audience.
How do we sell our points?
(more) - Use the Stage to Make your Points (more)
