Matt Abrahams Co-Founder Bold Echo LLC | Lecturer Stanford University Graduate School of Business

Communication is critical to success in business and life. Concerned about an upcoming interview? Anxious about being asked to give your thoughts during a meeting? Fearful about needing to provide critical feedback in the moment? You are not alone! Many of us are uneasy about speaking in public, especially in impromptu, “off the cuff” situations. Learn and practice techniques that will help you speak spontaneously with greater confidence and clarity, regardless of content and context.

Audiences crave authentic, bold communication, however, many presenters are uneasy speaking in public. Learn proven concepts to help reduce your anxiety and improve your connection with your audience. You will leave this keynote with several techniques for developing and delivering clear, confident, and compelling presentations that will make you and your communication "audience ready."

Mustering the courage to present confidently in front of others is hard enough, but when it comes to actually engaging an audience and managing their participation, presenters simply freak out. In this keynote, you will learn how to confidently and assertively manage interaction in your presentations – be it a Q&A session or a meeting – while still delivering and reinforcing your message in a compelling way. Further, you will learn very practical and easily-implementable techniques for priming your audience for participation.

Presenters often express the dual fear of forgetting what they intend to say and having their audience forget what they heard. Clearly, these worries are related. With the proper attention and practice, speakers can effectively deliver presentations that audiences remember. In this talk, you will learn techniques and best practices for:

(1) Remembering your content, such as employing good presentation hygiene, structuring your presentation, and practicing properly

(2) Making your content memorable for your audience, which include variation, relevance, and emotion

(3) Integrating these techniques to engage and delight your audience.

You most certainly have had the unfortunate opportunity to sit through a boring, unorganized webinar or conference call in which the speaker droned on aimlessly. The power and promise of virtual communication is the ability to engage and educate people far and wide. But in order to realize this promise, presenters need to plan, prepare, and practice in the right way. This keynote walks you through nine simple steps that will help you plan and present compelling, valuable webinars and conference calls that your audience will follow with rapt attention.