Speech Modes

March 26, 2026 by Alexander Kipp

I'm talking to the audience.
I'm re-living an experience in front of the audience.
I'm portraying other people from the experience I'm re-living in front of the audience.

Upping Your Webinar Game

March 06, 2026 by Alexander Kipp

I wrote this quick ‘n’ dirty article for the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws a while back, but the points still hold for anyone trying to deliver better webinars.

tldr:

make it easy for your participants to get there;
use slides as visual anchors, not a script;
don’t use a script!
keep it interesting

Does that sound too glib? Then follow this equation: tldr/tld=r.

In other words, read the article.

It's Your Party

June 14, 2019 by Alexander Kipp in technique

The people listening to your speech are not critics. Most of them are just amazed that you are up there (and glad that they're not!) To them, you're like the host of a big party. They came hoping to have a good time. So give them one by taking care of them.

The Value of Repetition

June 26, 2018 by Alexander Kipp

You've sweated over your outline. You've created some beautiful sentences. You've even got a great humanizing ice-breaker to kick-off your speech. Congratulations! You've just begun!

Footwork

February 01, 2018 by Alexander Kipp in technique

A speaker on stage at a seminar just blew your socks off. She projected confidence and grace, her movements helping to make her points clearer. What was she doing that made her so good? A lot of things, probably, but let's start with the feet.

Make Your Speech a Journey of Active Discovery

November 13, 2017 by Alexander Kipp in technique

By breaking your teaching points down into questions and discussions that lead to your point, you can help the audience go on a journey of active discovery, instead of passive listening. The question-answer approach naturally builds in points for the audience to absorb and process your ideas. Your audience will be more engaged and, as a result, retain more information. They'll also have more fun along the way. And so will you.

Make Sure Your Panel Discussion Includes Some DISCUSSION

October 30, 2017 by Alexander Kipp in audience, content, technique

When running a panel discussion, it's usually a good idea to have some DISCUSSION. If you are a moderator, you need to constantly be looking for ways to keep the audience interested. Try to listen to your speakers with the ears of an uninitiated audience member: What context does the audience need? What about the topic is most interesting to the audience?

Call-outs

October 27, 2017 by Alexander Kipp in audience, content, technique

Instead of thinking of your adult audience members in your presentation as “students”, you should think of them as “participants”. Instead of thinking of yourself as a “teacher”, think of yourself as a “facilitator”. Your job is to draw out your participants' expertise and interest by establishing an environment that invites their ideas, opinions, and experiences.

On Upspeak, Vocal Fry and Authenticity

October 19, 2017 by Alexander Kipp in technique

We all have habits we bring to the table when we start to explore public speaking. Some are great, some are....very not great. Those not great habits are understandable enough: we do things without thinking, or because we're nervous about being vulnerable in front of our audiences. But if we're not careful, those habits can become ingrained and then they'll be harder to break. This article by Hilary Davis on "upspeak", "vocal fry", and authenticity in public speaking has some good strategies you can incorporate into your public speaking practice to avoid bad habits and better connect with your audience.

Playing Your Speech to Scale

October 16, 2017 by Alexander Kipp in technique

Playing to scale simply means making sure that the size of your physical and vocal expression matches the size of your room. In larger rooms, you have to make sure that the back rows are getting a life-size version of your speech. To do that, you're going to have to be a bit bigger than life-size.