Are You a Bold Speaker?: Guest Post by Sandra Schrift

I have been booking and coaching professional speakers since 1982. And here is what I have observed:.

• The best speakers do not fill the air with a lot of words -- they make the space for their audience to tell them what they need to know.
  
  
• The best speakers ask, "What do you need to really hear from me to give you what you came to hear?"
  
  
• The best speakers are brief and clear, and make the most of a short period of time.
  
  
• The best speakers focus on observations, feelings, needs and clear requests of their audience.
  
  
• The best speakers demonstrate exuberance for their topic and engage their audience with that exuberance.
  
  
• The best speakers have great insight and wit and use deprecating humor where appropriate.
  
  
• The best speakers are great storytellers -– highly entertaining and inspiring.
  
  
• The Coach believes . . . that the best speakers inspire their audiences to make some change . . . if they do, things will probably get better.

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This is a guest blog post by Sandra Schrift, president/owner of CoachSchrift and Associates, a San Diego based consulting, training and coaching firm. Since 1996, Sandra has been coaching speakers who want to become highly paid professional speakers as well as executives and business professionals who want to develop persuasive presentations.

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