choose your executive speakingcoach

How to choose your executive public speaking coach

George TorokInsights, Public Speaking Leave a Comment

When you are looking for an executive public speaking coach, how do you evaluate your choices? How can you choose the coach that is right for you? Like communication, it’s an imperfect process. Yet, there are principles that you can follow to help you make a better choice.

Like many soft skills there are no hard and fast measures. Instead, it’s subjective which means it can be a difficult decision. For example, if price was your only criteria, the decision would be easy. Pick the cheapest.

Naturally the cheapest solution is to do-it-. yourself. Watch YouTube videos. I’ve found YouTube videos to be helpful when searching for a cooking recipe or how to repair a house electrical or plumbing problem. I’m a handy man so I can follow some of those videos for simple home repairs.

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Words to avoid when speaking

Five Phrases to Avoid when Speaking

George TorokCommunication skills, Insights, Leadership communication, Public Speaking Leave a Comment

If you are a leader or hope to be a leader in your company, organization or community – your words matter. It matters what you say and were wise enough not to say.

Are you paying attention to your words and implications? Guess what? Your audience pays attention and draws inferences and conclusions from your words. Here are five phrases that are counterproductive to your message because they can confuse or distance your listeners. People might not consciously notice these flaws, but these phrases can cause unconscious dissonance in your message.

Mind your words because they matter. Be precise and prudent with your choice of words. Remove words that are wasted, distracting or annoying.

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Executive speech coach interview

George Torok interviewed on KAG Masterclass

George TorokCommunication skills, George Torok, Insights, Leadership communication Leave a Comment

What I do for them is I observe how they come across and I think about who’s their audience. What does their audience need?  What’s the mindset of their audience? And I help the executive deliver the message in a way that the audience gets it and understands it and acts on it. I saw one of your videos where you put it nicely. These senior executives are technicians. They know what they know, and they don’t know how to convey that effectively.

They’re not effective communicators. Yeah it’s true many leaders are leaders because of their technical expertise. They could be an accountant, an engineer or operations person and that’s how they got to lead their department and maybe eventually the company, but they are grounded in the technical part and that’s the language that they use. When they become the leader of an organization they need to speak the language of the common person the common person in the company and the common person in their market.

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Start your presentation

How to open your presentation

George TorokInsights, Presentation Tips, Public Speaking Leave a Comment

Your first words are important because your audience is judging you. They are scrolling through questions in their mind:
Should I listen? How long will this take? Do I trust the person? How painful will this be? When will we get to the relevant part? What does this mean to me?

The purpose of your opening is to grab their attention, establish rapport and set the direction.

Most importantly – grab attention. How might you do that?

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Grab attention when you open your presentation

Grab Attention when You Open Your Presentation

George TorokInsights, Presentation Tips, Public Speaking Leave a Comment

How to open your presentation
Your first words are important because your audience is judging you. They are scrolling through questions in their mind:
Should I listen? How long will this take? Do I trust the person? How painful will this be? When will we get to the relevant part? What does this mean to me?

The purpose of your opening is to grab their attention, establish rapport and set the direction.
Most importantly – grab attention. How might you do that?

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Worst presentation ever manure

Worst Presentation Ever: Silly Phrases pt 3

George TorokCommunication skills, Insights, Leadership communication, Presentation Tips Leave a Comment

What can you learn from the worst presentation? There is no Perfect Presentation. The goal is to deliver an effective presentation. An effective presentation is one that informs and moves the audience. As a presenter you can learn from the techniques of effective presenters. What did they do that worked well and you might be able to use in your presentations?

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Worst presentation ever from Harvard professor

Worst Presentation Ever: Part Two: Clear?

George TorokCommunication skills, Insights, Leadership communication, Presentation Tips, Public Speaking Leave a Comment

We Can’t Hear You. The next flaw was that we didn’t hear or understand many of his words. Why? He mumbled often. Mumbling is a sign of incomplete thoughts and the lack of editing your words for a clear message.

His voice often trailed off at the end of his sentences. That’s a common mistake made when a speaker is thinking about their next thought instead of finishing the current thought. He wore a lapel microphone and often turned his face away from the mic which meant that his voice faded. That’s a mistake made by novice speakers. He didn’t know how to use a microphone.

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