Archive for August, 2008

It is hard to imagine a speaker alive today who moves an audience as easily as Bill Clinton. When I saw him on TV tonight at the Democratic National Convention, I felt as though he had a “crowd control” button under the podium. At will he could hit that button and send the crowd afloat [...]

My clients sometimes ask me, “Angela, is it really possible to become a powerful and elegant public speaker? Aren’t those outcomes mutually exclusive? Don’t those qualities collide?”

A smile is the universal sign of friendship. It cuts across all cultures, all ages, and all genders. In public speaking it is one sure way to bridge the gap between speaker and audience. But when I coach my clients to smile, they often resist. They tell me that they “just don’t smile” or that [...]