Building Confidence Courses

Authentic Speaking is run as a series of open seminars (building confidence courses), where individuals and companies can book places on a first-come, first-served basis.

Authentic Speaking I

ASI is the fundamental one of our building confidence courses that everyone should go on, regardless of any previous experience. It benefits novices and experts alike.

ASI looks at why we fear public speaking, where that fear comes from, what it means to your nervous system, and how you can rethink and reform how you deal with it. For many, the fear is reduced considerably as a result. Next, we look at how we connect with other people and gain an understanding of what it means to make a connection at a deeper level, one that can engender a liking and a trust for someone. Then, ASI gets you to communicate something, on any subject, to the other delegates. This starts the process of understanding just what it is about you that people are connecting with. What is it about you that gets you liked? The rest of the programme gives you lots of practice and feedback - all positive - and allows you to do this at your own pace. Your comfort is important to us, and so, although you will be encouraged to stretch yourself, the degree to which you do this will be up to you. Many people do become very courageous and, as a result, then grow hugely in the course of just one session.

We then encourage you to go away and practice in real life situations.

When you are ready, ASII - persuasive language, is your next seminar.

Authentic Speaking II - learning how to use Persuasive Language

Why persuasive language? You may ask.

We've already said that Authentic Speaking is about you being you, so if you don't feel you are a naturally persuasive person, why would this be a part of the Authentic Speaking series of building confidence courses?

The answer is simple:

Virtually everything we do, we do as a habit. The human nervous system is designed to turn as much as possible into a habit, to put it on auto-pilot. Why? Because, it's really hard work to have to run our mind and body consciously all the time. Actually, it's impossible.

One of our habits is the language we consistently use. If your repertoire of words and phrases is lacking emotion, for example, then you are not going to have much of an emotional impact. If your repertoire of language is dull or weak, then, the same result will occur.

So, there is some learning to take on board in ASII - persuasive language.

What this course does is to give you a template for the construction of 'Stop 'em dead in their tracks' headlines, sentences, paragraphs and tag lines. This can then be applied to whole presentations which will include stories and metaphors. It also includes and defines the kinds of words that will make your audience more likely to respond to what you say.

This does not undermine or argue with your authenticity, because the process allows you to match your natural style - which might be humorous, serious, intriguing, quiet, enigmatic, or powerful - to the words and phrases that will enhance that style, your style.

Delegates find that after attending this course, and whenever they speak using these principles, people respond very differently. For most people, they notice that they get: more attention, more reaction, people remembering them and what they have said, and people wanting to talk to them.

As an added bonus, the principles of ASII also work in print and online, so your literature and website can also benefit.

The third seminar in the Authentic Speaking series of building confidence courses is entitled:

ASIII - Your Personal Style

On this seminar, we really start to work on enhancing the qualities that you've identified as what makes you authentic. By fine-tuning and bringing out more of who you are and how you come across, you are effectively becoming more charismatic. Charisma is really about being self-expressive, and this is what we start to develop in ASIII.