Excite Your Audience

Hi Everyone,

On an on-going basis, I have decided to look up professional speakers totally at random on the internet and watch their videos. I am looking for people I have never seen speak before. I will then give a critique of their performance. My comments should not be conveyed as either an endorsement of the speaker or as a condemnation. The only point of this exercise is to have examples speakers to help anyone reading this blog with their speaking skills. Most of these speaker are quite good, but everyone can improve. Feedback is the way to do that. I video tape all my performances so I can critique myself later, just like I am doing here.

The first speaker is John DiFrances

Link to his video:
Video Link

What I liked:

Very smooth polished voice. Speaks clearly, at a good pace, and has solid use of pauses.

I like the way he stops talking and lets the audience fill in the answers, very good.

Good progression to his point. He leads the audience all along the way.

Nice interjection of humor.

What could be improved:

Don’t talk in front of the projector. The lights make it very difficult to see him and distracts from the image.

Paces too much. He walks around the stage without purpose. Also walks behind lectern without purpose.

Need to put his hands down. The double hands up is a barrier between him and his audience.