The dreaded day has finally arrived. After sweating through another restless night of sleep, you roll out of bed in fear of one of the most common phobias that plague mankind. No, we're not talking about rolling out of bed into the range of a lonely spider. We're talking about glossophobia, a fancy term that describes the inexorable fear of speaking in front of an audience. Oh, the audience doesn't have to number into the hundreds. You can experience glossophobia simply by getting up in front of a small group of your professional peers. Let's gloss over this fear by taking five steps to beat it. … [Read more...] about Glossophobia: What It Is and How to Beat It
Audience
Why Audiences Get Distracted During Presentations
By the time you take the stage to give a presentation, you’ve put considerable work into researching, designing and practicing it. The last thing you want is to gaze out at your audience only to see the symptoms of distractedness: glazed eyes, surreptitious multitasking and nodding heads, to name a few. Some experts believe the average adult has an attention span around five minutes—meaning they’ll tune out 84 percent of a 30-minute presentation unless you employ strategies to keep them engaged throughout. Understanding why audiences get distracted during presentations will help you figure out how to craft a presentation that avoids the most common pitfalls. Here are a few key reasons. … [Read more...] about Why Audiences Get Distracted During Presentations