The magic of public speaking is getting in front of a group of people and making a connection.   You should come on stage and see the people in front of you as the most important people in your life.  You are bringing them a message that they need.  Otherwise you are wasting their time.  If you have that intent, a strong message and a solid stage presence, then your speech will be engaging. Learning to have stage presence is something that we practice in Toastmasters.  Toastmasters is an international speaking organization with clubs all around the world in as many languages. If you're interested in becoming a better public speaker then check out a Toastmasters club in your area.  In this post we look at what goes into being an engaging speaker.  We will look at the secret sauce; the chemistry.

Practice public speaking to improve your English as well as build your confidence in groups.  Keep speaking up!  

Being a clear presenter is as easy as the title suggests and as hard. 

When I was 13 years old, I read "Alice in Wonderland", by Lewis Carrol.

I was more frustrated than Alice about her situation. 

She seemed to take all of the double talk of the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter as excellent presentations. 

There is a way to be clear, but like in Alice's world, our world has turned from the clarity we experience as children.  As we age, we begin to see through filters, filters like age, race, culture, wealth, that means most of the time we misunderstand the double talk, we all engage in. 

It takes bravery to speak clearly and a talent to be able to speak concisely as well.

​Look at this weeks lesson for some clues as to ways you can learn this presentation super power.

Answer: Cut words you don't need.  I hope you've enjoyed the lesson on presenting. Make Bauenglish your home for English language learning. From now on, Bauenglish will be published once every two weeks.  So, there's plenty of time to read the entire lesson.

This week we'll work on the presentation skill: dealing with silence.  Handling silence for most of us is awkward.  Some people will start to ramble, some add more information and some people will start to fidget; i.e. tapping their foot, clapping their hands together, or even humming! Anything to end the silence.  Similar to  a balloon that is being filled with air, we can feel as if we will burst if something is not said to fill the silence. But here's help, learn to be "ok" with silence. If 55% of communication is nonverbal, (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc), then if we don't use the audience's silence and our own to our advantage we are missing out on a powerful way to communicate. Remember, language only speaks to our ears.

If any of this makes sense, it's because I've read:
​The Speaker's Took Box by Joel Sweeney, DTM, and
​How to Present Like a Pro: Getting People to see Things Your way
by Lani Arredondo
​However it is put together mostly with imagination and humour. I hope you've enjoyed it.  As always I live off feedback and likes, so please stop by my fb page and give me your thoughts, or push that little -like- button and make my day! -B