CHAPTER 1

You Want to Succeed and So Does Your Audience!

They can because they think they can.

—Virgil, ancient Roman poet

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t—you are right.

—Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company

There are people who are imbued with supreme self-confidence who will leap at the opportunity to stand up in front of colleagues, clients, conference audiences, or dinner guests and make a speech. It will not necessarily be a good speech because that takes time, effort, planning, and practice. But, they have that first crucial ingredient required for that journey to the front of the stage—self-belief.

If you are one of the vast majority for whom that degree of self-belief does not come easily, you have ...

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