Fear just got more interesting...
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
My wife Clare, confidently standing on the top of the world aka as San Francisco's Twin Peaks in 2015. One of my favourite pictures of her. She is taking her space!   I have a wonderfully weird gig coming up in May. I’m talking to a group of women who are focussed on empowering women about public speaking and self-confidence. So it’s an interesting challenge for me to tackle - mansplaining or what? So a part of me is a little scared, not of the public speaking, but of taking that space.  I once appeared in front of a women’s committee at my Student Union in the late Seventies ..read more
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I just got this email today - I'd love to have more like this...
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
Hi John , I no longer have a fear of public speaking, please remove me from your mail list Regards Robin ..read more
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You don’t have to live a life of fear… Your guide to avoiding avoidance
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
Are you one of those people who keeps avoiding facing up to difficult things? If you’re avoiding public speaking and presentations because they feel too scary then you might not be surprised to hear that avoidance actually grows the problem.  Dwelling in fear for any length of time  isn’t the answer.  Maybe if we could look at avoidance right between the eyes we could see that it is trying telling us something really useful.  My experience of teaching this over 18 years tells me is that if we face our fears in the right way, by taking the small steps outlined below, we CAN ..read more
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Most people know I’m not good enough to write this blog…..
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
"If people really knew what I was like they would find out that I’m fraud" Ever had a similar feeling that you are going to be found out? That you don’t really deserve your job or to be standing in front of an audience? Or even if you really know your subject somehow you know far less than the audience? "Everyone else" we seem to think "is better than me" In every group I run on public speaking these feelings are expressed by lots and lots of people In her book Presence, Amy Cuddy expresses like this; It’s not simple stage fright or performance anxiety; rather it’s the deep and sometimes para ..read more
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Powerpoint-less
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
I got some really nice feedback today about last week’s course on re-thinking presentations “What I liked best was that you exceeded my expectations yet again and proved to us that WE are the presentation and that allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, rather than hiding behind a PowerPoint presentation, gives the talk more power and really engages the audience” Of course it’s lovely to get such feedback but this blog is not about showing off. I really want to pick up on Petronella’s point that it’s the person not the PowerPoint that matters in a presentation. When presenters start to really en ..read more
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5 really unhelpful things we believe about presentations
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves around delivering presentations and public speaking. The more pressure we put on ourselves, the more uncomfortable we feel. In my public speaking workshops I regularly come across five really common beliefs about presentations that really don't help. And some rethinks are in order. I've got to know everything about a subject before I can present If you had to know everything then every presentation would take 17 years to prepare (just a guess - not scientifically proven). That's plainly ridiculous! And to be honest there is far too much information in th ..read more
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Finding the courage to live my Life....
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
Quite a lot of you may have come across the top five regrets of the dying before. These were compiled by Bronnie Ware when she worked with terminally ill people in a hospice: 1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me 2. I wish I didn't work so hard. 3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 5. I wish I had let myself be happier. I was on a public speaking conference last weekend and some friends of mine Koos Wolcken and Jennet Burghard  talked about what lessons we can lear ..read more
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The "oh no" of "just be you" - the journey to authentic speaking
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
I often ask my participants; “What makes a good speaker?”  I get replies which include;  being self assured,  comfortable in their own skin,  good with eye contact,  a speaker who respect the audience’s time (and thinking process), not overly slick, a sense of humility, keeps the ego in check! engages the audience - the speaker tells us some something new,  the speaker is relaxed about recovering from making mistakes (rather than worried about making mistakes), they are conversational (and not formal),  they have the ability to be present, in the moment and ..read more
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Manchester
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
I am deeply moved by the Manchester bombing. I have a 16 year old niece in Manchester so it feels very real. I'm teaching in Manchester in a week's time.  So I've decided to give my profits from the course to the relatives fund when it emerges. Taking our place in the world means having the courage to face our fears and to lead lives that reflect our values. Yesterday before the bombing I found this quote: "We don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is ..read more
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Scared of public speaking, you may not be actually scared of public speaking???
Speaking Infront Blog
by John Dawson
3y ago
I know that’s a strange title but bear with me. I see part of my job as a public speaking trainer is to think about how I can break the problems of public speaking fear into small enough parts so the complex knot of problems actually becomes simple to solve. So my teaching is full of tiny steps. What I've noticed is that lots of people who come on public speaking courses are not actually that scared of the speaking part of public speaking, they are really scared of “public being”.  Public being is the most basic stage of being in front of a group. It may sound obvious but you'd be surpr ..read more
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