Fearless Presentations

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Fun Zoom Icebreakers for Trainers and Team Leaders Oct 06, 2020

Show notes

Looking for a few fun Zoom icebreakers for trainers or facilitators. These seven activities can be used very easily to help you start your Zoom meetings on the right foot.

I was leading a virtual training session via Zoom this week. Of course, the entire group was commenting at the end about how different the session was from the typical Zoom meeting. After all of the pleasantries, I said bye to everyone and ended the meeting. Within seconds, my phone was ringing. It was the Learning and Development Manager from the company who had also attended the training.

He thanked me again and asked, "Is there any way you could create a series of icebreakers like the one that you used at the beginning of the meeting?" I have to admit, I was a little surprised. In addition, I was unsure of exactly what he was asking. I guess he sensed my hesitation, so he clarified.

"Over the last few months, we have had to switch our entire learning curriculum over to virtual sessions. Some of these sessions are fairly interactive. However, most are pretty one-sided. I watched how you got everyone involved in your session so quickly. Do you think you can create a series of 'starter' activities to help my trainers make some of the less interactive sessions more interesting?"

That discussion planted the idea for this session. Below you will find a few Zoom Icebreakers for your virtual sessions. (By the way, if you want more, give me a call or connect with me on LinkedIn. I have dozens more.)

A Few Fun Zoom Icebreakers for Trainers Doing Virtual Training

Before I introduce the icebreakers, let me cover a few ideas that will help make virtual training more interesting. Idea number one is that the more you, the trainer, talk, the less interesting the training will be. The more you get the group to talk, the more they will like it.

Second, individuals are more likely to participate or talk if they are in a smaller group. As a result, I will often start discussions by using the Zoom Breakout Rooms. Give the big group an assignment and then divide them into smaller breakout rooms. After a short time, bring them back and ask them what was discussed in their group.

Finally, if you can incorporate a friendly competition, you can add some additional fun to the meeting.

Each of these icebreakers tries to use each of these concepts.

For complete show notes, visit Fun Zoom Icebreakers for Trainers and Team Leaders or https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/a-few-fun-zoom-icebreakers-for-trainers-doing-virtual-training/

5 of the Most Common Myths about Public Speaking Debunked Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

It's time to set the record straight. ANYONE can be a fantastic, world-class speaker with a little bit of training, a little bit of coaching, and a little bit of practice. It doesn't take years of study and practice. It also doesn't require thousands of dollars of investment. In fact, one of the things that I tell my clients early in our coaching sessions is, "Just about everything that you have ever learned about public speaking is wrong."

In this session, I'm going to debunk a few of the biggest myths about public speaking. Perhaps by identifying a few of these myths, you can reduce some presentation nervousness.

For full show notes, visit:
The Top Five (5) Biggest Myths about Public Speaking Fear and Stage Fright Debunked
https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/top-5-myths-about-public-speaking-fear/

Part 2 of Tamara Glick Interview-How to Stage Your Home for Zoom Meetings Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

This is part two of my interview with Tamara Glick who is a personal brand consultant. In this episode, she gives us a number of really cool tips on how to make a temporary (or permanent) home office space look more professional. If you want to look and sound good on your next Zoom meeting or virtual meeting, Tamara's tips can be very helpful.
She also covers details on how to match the items staged around you within the frame of a Zoom call can add to your personal brand.
Good stuff.
She created a free handout with 15 video call spoilers and how to fix them. You can get this handout by going to www.tamaraglick.com/fearlesspresentationspodcast

Tap Into Your Superpower with Personal Brand Strategist Tamara Glick Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

This is a really fun interview with Tamara Glick, a Personal Brand Strategist. She specializes in helping clients create a professional appearance in the boardroom and on virtual calls. On this episode, we talk about how, for a short time, the casual business casual (sweat pants) was accepted as people were learning how to work from home. However, the grace period has now gone away.
She covers a few simple ways to stand out from your competition in your appearance on Zoom calls
I was really excited to get Tamara on the podcast because her expertise is something that is vital to success as a speaker. However, our appearance -- the way that we dress for a presentation and the scenery around us in an online meeting -- is something that many of us have never been trained in.
She gives lots of fabulous tips. Enjoy.

7 Fun Ways to Make Zoom Meetings More Interesting and Interactive Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

Are your Zoom meetings kind of... well... blah? Want to make them more fun, interesting, and interactive? Below are seven of our best tips to help you jazz up your next online meeting. Keep in mind that anytime a conversation is one-sided, it will be boring for the listener. A good conversation is a dialogue -- not a monologue.

Give Your Team Clear Instructions Ahead of the Meeting.
Create an Agenda And Assign Roles Ahead of Time.
Can You Give Me An Example?
Use Zoom Breakout Rooms to Get Participants to Interact More.
Use Collaborative Cloud Apps to Make the Meeting More Interactive.
Open the Zoom Whiteboard from Time to Time.
Add a Game to Make the Meeting More Fun.

For full show notes, visit 7 Fun Ways to Make Zoom Meetings More Interesting and Interactive

How to Find Great Venues to Practice Public Speaking Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

One of the most common questions that participants in our 2-day presentation class ask us after completing the class is, "Now that I feel more confident, where do I go to practice to continue to get better as a speaker?" In this session, Doug shares a few ways to find speaking venues who are always looking for good speakers, and how to build a solid reputation as a good speaker so your reputation grows.

How to Find Great Venues to Practice Your Presentations
If you are looking for someplace to practice your public speaking skills, Doug has a few suggestions that can both help you improve your skill and become more esteemed by your peers. He starts the podcast by explaining that once you gain new confidence as a speaker, you will actually notice a lot of opportunities to speak that you may have overlooked in the past. He said its like the Yellow Volkswagen theory. You never see these cars on the road until you buy one, but once you do, you see them everywhere. Speaking opportunities are the same way. Once you start looking for them, you will find them EVERYWHERE!
For a list of all of these venues, see the full show notes at
How to Find Great Venues to Practice Public Speaking

It Is Important to Appear Confident When You Speak or Lead Others Aug 11, 2020

Show notes

The Importance of Self-Confidence People will judge our COMPETENCE by the CONFIDENCE that we show. For example, let's say that you are going in for surgery, and just before you go under, the surgeon walks into your room. His posture is slouching, as he speaks, he stumbles over his words somewhat, and when you look at his hands, they are trembling a little. Now, it doesn't matter how good of a surgeon he is, you'll probably want a second opinion (maybe even a third opinion) -- Fast! Well, it's the same in just about any industry. People judge how good we are at what we do by how confident we are when we communicate with them. If we speak with poise and confidence, they will automatically make the assumption that we are competent at what we do until we prove ourselves otherwise. The opposite is true as well. When we speak with nervousness or fear, the audience will automatically assume that we don't know what we are doing until we prove ourselves otherwise.
On this episode we talk about why it is so important to look and appear confident when you speak or lead others.

How to Deliver a PowerPoint Presentation Created by Someone Else Jul 28, 2020

Show notes

Narrating PowerPoint Presentations designed by someone else can be very challenging. In fact, one of the fastest ways to increase public speaking fear and make your PowerPoint presentations sound canned and… well boring, is to try to deliver a PowerPoint slideshow that someone else designed for you.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t deliver PowerPoint slide decks that someone else created. It just means that when you do, you’ll probably be more nervous. You will have less of a natural flow than what you’d normally have when you stand up and deliver a speech. Remember that a presentation or a speech is just a conversation with your audience. So if you create the speech, you’ll be speaking in your own words. When someone else creates a speech for you, you will feel more uncomfortable and the public speaking nervousness will increase.
For full show notes, visit https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-deliver-powerpoint-presentations-designed-by-someone-else/

Frequently Asked Questions about Presentation Skills and Public Speaking Classes Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

When folks are having challenges with public speaking, they will often contact us with questions. Since all of our consultants are both professional presenters and public speaking coaches, we thought it might be a good idea to answer a few of the most frequently asked questions. Perhaps the answer here could help you when you deliver your next speech or presentation. If you have additional questions, complete the form at the bottom of the page. We do our best to reply with an answer!

Public Speaking and Presentation Skills FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Do public speaking courses work?

So, do public speaking classes really work? The answer is both "yes" and "no." Yes, public speaking classes are the absolute best way to develop public speaking confidence and skill. But, it really depends on the class that you take and the instructor who is teaching the class.

Public speaking is a skill. Skills take time and practice to develop. However, if you use the trial and error method to learn a skill, it can take a lot of time. Attending a good public speaking class taught by a professional speaker can shorten your learning curve exponentially.

The Type of School Is Important to Increasing Your Chance of Success.

For instance, if you want to have a lucrative career as an attorney, you have a few choices. On one extreme, you could study law at home, in your spare time. After years of study, you can try to pass the Bar in your state. The odds of you succeeding this way are pretty low, though. If you do get your license, it will be much harder to develop a thriving law practice.

Alternatively, you could attend Harvard Law School. If you get your degree, the odds of passing the Bar is much higher. In fact, even if you finish in the bottom of the class, your odds of establishing a lucrative law career are much higher.

So, if the study-at-home person is successful, does that mean that law schools don't work? Also, if a person graduates from Harvard Law but can't pass the bar exam is it because the class didn't work? Of course not. The type of class that you attend is important to increasing the chance of success.

Public speaking skills are very similar. Yes, you can learn them on your own, but it is more challenging. If you attend a lower quality school, it will likely be better than no school. However, the high the quality of training that you receive, the more likely you will be to succeed in developing the new skill.
For full show-notes visit https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/frequently-asked-questions-about-public-speaking-and-presentations/

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