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Other aspects of having presence and necessary elements necessary for effective public speaking

Taking command of your posture
Imagine being a trumpet that was all bent up and crumpled – no one would be able to get much of a tone out of you, however good a trumpeter they were; or imagine you were a magnificent painting, a Picasso or Matisse but the frame you were in was all bent up and twisted, distorting the painting so much no one could see it was a masterpiece. It’s exactly the same when you need to express yourself.
 
Breathing
It’s the breath that supports the sound of your voice, just as if playing a trumpet, so the more command you have of it, the more command you have of your voice – many people fear public speaking in case they lose command of their voice and sound daft, weak or tremulous. So the first thing to attend to in terms of vocal sound is getting your breathing under command.

Relaxation
Without realizing it, all the unprocessed traumas of childhood, however small, lodge in your connective tissue and cause rigidity and stiffness in the muscles. The stiffness, or hardness, is an unconscious way of protecting yourself from further pain, a bit like donning a suit of armor.

Occupying your whole body
In my opinion, the most powerful technique there is – it helps you sort out the biggest conundrums by no longer trying to sort them out, thus leaving them free to sort themselves out instead, which they invariably do. But it’s tricky to remember at first because it’s subtle and not spectacular so there’s various useful techniques to help you.
 
Observing from the rear brain
The rear-brain is the repository of all your extra-sensory powers and intuition. It’s the seat of wisdom and pure consciousness. It’s the perfect vantage point from which to bear witness to your performance so you can remain fully in command all the while.

Open heartedness
This is important when you’re standing there in front of your audience, even if it comprises just one person, because love is the envelope in which your mutual experience occurs, and it’s this that transforms what would otherwise be a half-hearted affair into something memorably special.

Facing your audience
The part of you you use to face your audience is your face – that’s why it’s called that or vice versa, why we call it facing an audience. Hence the state of your face largely determines how you do that – not in cosmetic or aesthetic terms, but in terms of how relaxed and open your face is.
 
Your voice
If your message is the tune, your voice is your instrument. And as with any sort of tune, the most important thing is tone. If people like the tone, and more importantly if you like the tome as you’re hearing it in your ears, you’re most of the way there already.

 Body message, audience congruence
Aside from posture, your stance, how you hold yourself, the way you use your hands and arms to express yourself, the way you step to one side or the other, or lean forwards or step back at various junctures, has a direct effect on how the audience receives your message.
 
Laying claim to the stage, auditorium or venue and to the space and time
This is purely psychological. Rather than feeling like an intruder or interloper, lay claim to the event, to the stage or podium, or even when you sit or stand in a one-to-one conversation, lay claim to the room or venue, and lay claim to the time-frame in which the event is occurring.
 
Performance technique
A step-by-step protocol, similar to how cabin crews observe a set protocol during a flight.

Confidence and charisma
People mystify the notions of confidence and charisma, to themselves and to others – you’ll learn the true meaning of both and that the key to both lies not in doing something, but in not doing something. Namely not getting in the way of either.

Why learn public speaking & personal communication with Barefoot Doctor?

As a doctor of Taoist medicine, a teacher of Taoist meditation, a teacher of Taoist martial arts, and a creator of books, online trainings like this, sound healing music for home and dance-floor use, occasionally perfume, live event experiences and so on, I’ve made it my business to master and practice the Taoist Five Excellences (more about them in the training itself) entailing not only formulating my message, but delivering it, and as such I’ve been required to do thousands of public speaking and performance events over the decades.

I was by no means a natural at the start – to the contrary, I was quite shy, self-conscious, awkward and clumsy in my delivery. And though my enthusiasm for the subject and my innate drive to bring happiness to others carried me through, the cringe-factor was sufficient to spur me to do some serious training.
 
So in 1983 I spent 18 months working with the now defunct but then thriving and Actors’ Institute of New York run by the utterly brilliant Dan Fosse, not specifically for public speaking or acting, but to acquire the inner game of the seasoned pro, and to gain lots of experience presenting to a crowd.
 
Perhaps more crucially though, I was then able to sit this training onto the Taoist template in such a way I was then able to teach it to anyone, no matter how phobic about public speaking, and have witnessed a fair few miracles of transformation in people from wallflower to great orator. I’ve found the knack of introducing people to the great presence within them and then showing them how to project that to an audience.
 
In my own public speaking process I’ve developed my own unique style over the decades, generally not working from scripts, but simply knowing where I want to go and ad-libbing, extemporizing, improvising, and though I continue to derive a huge thrill each time I step up to the mike, I rarely experience nerves and if I do am able to settle them before I’ve spoken my first sentence.

I’m able to hold a crowd rapt for three hours or more if required, which I often am.

And I’m able to pass all these secrets onto you now, in an orderly, methodical way, so that in less than three weeks you’ll be able to take to any stage and deliver a world-class talk or speech like a pro.

But remember the ultimate reason for any gathering of two or more people, regardless of the overt reason, is to elicit at least a moment of communion with the Great Presence informing all of this and us. No matter the content of your message, even if it’s a business presentation about the most mundane matter, even if it’s a challenging personal one-to-one conversation, the real reason any of us are brought together is the chance we’ll somehow manage to elicit a moment of communion with the Great Presence. And when that happens, everyone present benefits profoundly, not least of all you who facilitated it.