I am very excited to have a guest blog by SpeakersTrainingCamp® Instructor, Javier Bernad, from Madrid. He is a Law and Business Administration graduate, has 12 years of experience teaching public speaking, and is currently a University Professor at Universidad Europa de Madrid. You can contact him through his website: http://www.speakandspan.com/

Surely someone has suggested that you imagine your audience naked in your next presentation. Remember, the audience frightens you because, if you believe you did poorly, you will think they think you did horrendously, and that might destroy your self-esteem.
And of course, if you imagine them bare-skinned, you will be …

“Oh, you look too serious,” is a comment often given during the coaching sessions of the SpeakersTrainingCamp®. People often ask, “Well, why should I smile, I’m not saying anything funny.” The reason you want to smile is that it conveys enthusiasm for what you are talking about and it also conveys friendliness toward the audience. People rarely smile. And I’ll admit that it’s really hard to do if you’re nervous (which causes lots of facial tension). I can remember one video shoot that I was doing for a training video. I was really trying hard to be energetic and enthusiastic. …

I stayed in a hotel for three nights over the weekend – I was competing in a dog agility competition. As I often do when I’m on the road, I try to guess what people do for a living, why they are staying in the hotel, and how they are connected to the people they are with. This turned out to be an extremely intense adventure.
Day 1: Riding down the elevator with my Sheltie and young Golden Retriever, I was trying my best to keep the white hair on the Sheltie and the muddy paws on the Retriever from annoying …