When it comes to public speaking one of the greatest chalenges is doing it effectively in a live situation.  In other words, when you are responding to questions from an audience that does not necessarily share your views on the matters being discussed.  President Obama’s recent Q&A in Congress is an excellent example of this.  Watch it here. 

In the next few weeks I am going to be launching a series of videos on this blog covering a variety of public speaking and speech writing topics.  Most of these will be based on our popular Public Speaking Guide which has been downloaded around 15,000 times.

Each video will cover one of the tips offered in the guide.  If there are any other topics you’d like covered please post a comment here.  In the meantime you can download your copy here.

The holidays are just around the corner and office parties are in full swing.  If you are the lucky one who was asked to say a few words at your office holiday party, fear not.  We are here to help with our professionally written, easy to customize speeches for the holidays which you will receive via email in minutes.  We’ve created a special selection of speeches for your company holiday party as well some bonus New Year’s Eve Toasts. Go to - http://www.occasionalwords.com/ow/company-holiday-party-speeches.html

Some comments from Grenville Kleiser’s "The Training of a Public Speaker"

The orator should consider what the subject is upon which he is to speak, before whom, for whom, against whom, at what time, in what place, under what conditions, what the public think of it, what the judges may think of it before they hear him, and what he himself has to desire, and what to apprehend. Whoever makes these reflections will know where he should naturally begin. But now orators call exordium anything with which they begin, and consider it of advantage to make the beginning with some brilliant thought. Undoubtedly many things are taken into the exordium which are drawn from other parts of the cause or at least are common to them, but nothing in either respect is better said than that which can not be said so well elsewhere.