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Introduction To My New Book: “101 Ways To Open A Speech”

(August 5, 2015) Big news: My wife and I are celebrating the birth of our second child! I’ll be taking the next couple of weeks off to help our family adjust to life with two kids. The blog will be back on Monday, August 24.

In the meantime, I’m pleased to announce another (smaller) new arrival. My new book, “101 Ways to Open a Speech,” is now available worldwide for the Kindle. In this post, you’ll be able to read the full five-page introduction to the book.

Thanks for reading, and see you back here soon!

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Announcing My New Book: “101 Ways to Open a Speech”

I’m delighted to announce that my second book, 101 Ways to Open a Speech, was released today and is now available on Amazon!

101 Ways to Open a Speech introduces you to a broad range of speech starters, using dozens of real-life examples and original suggestions. You will find opens intended to surprise, persuade, motivate, engage, and amuse your audiences. Some tell a story, others help frame your topic, and a few rely on modern technology.

I wrote the book with the hope that it would become an indispensable desktop reference for everyone who ever presents to any audience.

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How To Get People To Change (By Encouraging Them Not To)

People don’t like change. That’s a generalized statement, of course, but the behavioral science makes clear that change is hard for many people, who tend to stick with familiar but imperfect behaviors rather than cultivate unfamiliar but better ones.

So what should you do if you’re addressing a group of people who resist change? One of

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Eight Great Ways To Open A Speech (Part Three)

Editor’s Note: This is the third and final part of a three-part series featuring eight great ways to open a speech. You can read part one here and part two here. 

Over the past two days, you’ve learned that the opening minutes of a presentation are often the most important. And as you know by

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Eight Great Ways To Open A Speech (Part Two)

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a three-part series featuring eight great ways to open a speech. You can read part one here and part three here.

Yesterday, you learned that the opening minutes of a presentation are often the most important. In fact, the authors of The Definitive Book of Body Language

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Eight Great Ways To Open A Speech (Part One)

Almost every speaker I’ve ever trained begins their practice speech the same way.

They walk to the front of the room, say good morning/afternoon/evening, thank the audience for coming, and express their delight to be there. Then they turn around and flip to their first slide, a bulleted agenda of what they plan to discuss during

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