The eyes are the windows to the soul. This quote has been traced all the way back to Cicero and the ancient Greeks. Our eyes are one of the most powerful tools we have to communicate with others.

Many public speaking coaches are fond of saying that in Buddhism, “fear of public speaking” is one of the five Great Fears – right behind anxiety about losing your life or livelihood. Not being a Buddhist scholar, I have no idea if this is actually true but it serves the purpose of illustrating how much fear there is around public speaking. Why is public speaking a source of severe anxiety for so many people?

Many of us assume that powerful public speakers are simply born with a natural talent for effective presenting. While it is true that some people are better oral communicators than others, anyone can draw on theatrical techniques to improve their public speaking. These theatrical techniques will help you stage your speech in a way that uses movement and visual pictures to enhance content.

Are acting and storytelling two aspects of the same craft? Actors in a play are certainly different from a performing storyteller when viewed in the traditional interpretation of “telling.” Actors memorize the words of a playwright; storytellers, at least in the folk tradition, speak words in the same way a jazz musician plays notes.