How are you?

Spring is springing in the UK. Hyacinths. Camelias. Tulips.  All the bright pops of colour.

This is a bunch of beauties that I bought today from a local garden.

Spring to me feels like possibility and potential.

Wherever you are in your development as a speaker, I’d encourage you to see yourself in the same way. I hold this true for the speakers I coach, whether it is their first session with me, or we’ve been working together for years.

You will already have so much to offer. And at the same time, there are always fun, new directions to explore.

My challenge to you this month is to pick one speaker skill that interests you, and that you’d like to grow. It could be storytelling, or how you open or close your talks, or how you craft analogies.

Without a coach, it can be hard to know how to structure this process, so I would suggest this practical tip to start you off.

1. Choose a speaker skill that you want to explore.
   
2. See how other speakers use that skill in practice, either by watching talks, or scanning transcripts. Transcripts are a great way to quickly find examples. And you can then go back and watch that section of the talk to see how the material is delivered. 
   
   For example, if you want to learn more about how to incorporate stories, you could look at the transcript on the TED site for this Brene Brown talk.
   
   The transcript is in 52 languages, and is time-stamped, so you can find the relevant part of the video easily.
   
3. Find one practical way to apply what you’ve learned to your next talk.

Sound good?

It is a great way to build our skill vocabulary as a speaker, in the same way that writers also read to develop their craft.

Have fun with it my friend.