You may already know that I’m a motivational and keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator on themes such as greatness, soft skills, project management, and leadership. I serve diverse audience including leaders in government agencies, major corporations, and community organizations.

However, you may not know that I also coach and mentor leaders. One of the coaching and mentoring themes is presentation and facilitation skills. I coach and mentor by doing the following:

1. Share some stats, facts, and insights to improve one’s presentation and facilitation skills. For instance, I share the science behind why we feel nervous, how it impacts your performance, and how to overcome it, and so on.
2. Demonstrate how it is done. First of all, speaking/presenting is totally different than facilitation. For example, the video clip below is a motivational speech. I may come back again another time with a clip to talk about facilitation. In each case, I demonstrate to show how it is done properly. I demonstrate how to gesture purposefully, move deliberately (if you have a large crowd), make proper eye contact, start with high impact intro, make smooth transitions, conclude forcefully with some call to actions, and so on.
3. Give feedback. My coachees and mentees then practice by implementing the above two (the

You may already know that I’m a motivational and keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator on themes such as greatness, soft skills, project management, and leadership. I serve diverse audience including leaders in government agencies, major corporations, and community organizations.

However, you may not know that I also coach and mentor leaders. One of the coaching and mentoring themes is presentation and facilitation skills. I coach and mentor by doing the following:

1. Share some stats, facts, and insights to improve one’s presentation and facilitation skills. For instance, I share the science behind why we feel nervous, how it impacts our performance, and how to overcome it, and so on.
2. Demonstrate how it is done. First of all, speaking/presenting is totally different than facilitating. For example, the video clip below is a motivational speech. I may come back again another time with a clip to talk about facilitation. In each case, I demonstrate to show how it is done properly. I demonstrate how to gesture purposefully, move deliberately (if you have a large crowd), make proper eye contact, start with high impact intro, make smooth transitions, conclude with some call to actions, and so on.
3. Give feedback. My coachees and mentees then practice by implementing the above two (the theory and demonstrations they learned from me). Mostly, I video record their speeches myself (or ask them to record their speech from somewhere and send it to me) and we sit down to give them feedback on what worked well and what needs to be improved.

That being said, today, I would like to give you some tips to help you take your speaking ability to the next level by using my own speech.

While watching this clip, take some notes. Write down what worked very well and what need to be improved…

Hope, you liked the speech and also took some notes about what went very well, and what needs to be improved. Let me tell you what I think about my own speech above:

What went well:

1. Respected the time. I finished within the time frame I was given.
2. Great eye contact to connect and engage with the audience. This is one of my strengths. 
3. Full of energy. I was happy that I was there and I was also present 🙂 You know it, or at least, they figure out whether you were there or just performing…
4. Smiled and threw a couple of sense of humour. Of course, I could have smiled and inserted more sense of humor. Remember, nowadays, people don’t just be informed but also entertained. They also appreciate speakers who are friendly and approachable… FYI, these are the areas where I’m still working on 🙂

What should be improved:

1. Didn’t prepare well for the place. I could have come early and worked on the setup of the stage. It was tight and constrained me alot. It is important to come the previous night or 1 hour early to make sure everything is right or, at least, to adjust yourself with the stage and room setup well before you step on the stage.
2. Stuck behind the podium. In the beginning, I was holding the lectern for dear life 🙂 That is a no on. I don’t usually do that. You will see that in my future clips. If possible, don’t even hide behind the podium 🙂
3. Weak demonstration. I could brought my book to show the level of greatness in graphics than explaining it verbally.
4. What else needs to be improved?

This is my hope that you have drawn a couple of lessons, which in turn may help you take your speaking ability to the next height.

Stay tuned for such tips in the coming weeks and months…

If you may have any questions, feel free to reach out to me @ [email protected] or give me a call at 703-895-4551