Armed with a large spreadsheet, videos of Toastmasters International Finalists, and an overwhelming sense of curiosity, I set out to learn what sets the champions apart.I watched 10 champion speeches and 5 speeches that placed second or third. I manually recorded everything about them in a spreadsheet: aspects like how many laughs they received, what style of speaker they … [Read more...]
The Complete Guide to Adding Humor to Your Speech (10+ Ways and Ebook)
Humor is one of the simplest ways to go from being a boring speaker to an engaging one. If you're able to successfully add humor to your speech, you'll be able to connect better with your audience.I'm about to give you over 10 ways to add humor to your speech—and there's even more helpful material in the free ebook accompanying this post. All you need to do is give me your … [Read more...]
Toastmasters division champion humorous speech (self-analysis video)
Division champion humorous speech analysisI won the Toastmasters division contest with this speech! This video will go over how I managed to keep it together after forgetting a critical word (and substituting it for basically an oxymoron), as well as several other valuable lessons you can learn from the speech.Posted by Potent Speaking on Monday, October 16, … [Read more...]
Interview with Nathan Swan of Magnetic Speaking
I interviewed Nathan Swan, a public speaking coach for Magnetic Speaking (based in San Francisco). In this interview, we discuss the most important things you can do to become a better speaker. In addition, we talk about how to become more comfortable with public speaking in the United States when English is not your first language.Listen to it below:While a full … [Read more...]
Otto Warmbier’s high school graduation speech and what you can learn from it
What you can learn from Otto Warmbier's graduation speechLearn some good principles of public speaking from this video of Otto Warmbier's high school graduation speech. This video is not only a public speaking analysis, but also a tribute to Otto. I recommend you watch it all the way through.Posted by Potent Speaking on Wednesday, June 28, 2017Transcript:Hi … [Read more...]