3 speaking tips from Dick Cavett

Though Dick Cavett provides these 3 speaking tips to political candidates, they're applicable to us nonpoliticians. Read his entertaining article here.

Tip #1. Change all "I wills" and "I shalls" from the speech to "I'll"; Also, "I haves" and "I ams" to "I've" and "I'm," etc. You'd be surprised how much this cuts down on the oratory tone.

Tip #2. Pretend you are speaking to one person. One single person. Because that's what everybody is.

Tip #3. Grab a bunch of words off the prompter and, instead of staring straight ahead, glance down and to one side as you do — in real life — when thinking just what to say next. Then look back and deliver those snatched-up words to the camera.