135. Rosemarie Barnes: Powerful Beginnings, Memorable Endings

Rosemarie Barnes is a Professional Speaker and Presentation Trainer, founder of Confident Stages Executive Presentation Academy, and international best-selling author. Whether from stage or page, Rosemarie champions others to strive for excellence in personal, professional, and leadership roles through respectful and clear communication, through team leadership strategies, and by cultivating increasing confidence in all areas of our lives. She lives in Ladysmith, British Columbia.

Powerful beginnings

Rosemarie’s best advice for powerful beginnings are:

* Open with a bold statement

* Ask an engaging question, that can’t be answered with a yes or no

* Don’t waste time “thanking to be there”

Memorable Endings

Rosemarie’s best advice for memorable endings are:

* A takeaway, an actionable item, a call to action.

* Just before ending, she does a step back and says “My name is Rosemarie Barnes, my company is Confident Stages. I champion leaders to speak to succeed, speak to engage, speak to share, and I am at your service”

* End with a smile

* Do not ignore applause, acknowledge it.

Voice variety is important for both beginnings and endings. Change pace, tonality, and use pauses.

Related: Unleashing Your Full Voice

Favorite quotation

“No one can give you confidence because confidence comes from your assessment of yourself; only you can bestow trust in your own abilities.” — Rosemarie herself

Recommended book

Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman

Routine to Shine

“Making Diamonds”

The recipe for making diamonds requires a carbon substance, time, and pressure. We are the carbon substance, and time is supplied via practice sessions. We supply the pressure by squeezing our cheeks, but not the ones on our faces. By compressing our backsides, our posteriors, the backs of our fronts, we engage our core muscles. When the core is engaged, we stand taller, prouder, and breathe more deeply. We can think more clearly because more oxygen is routed to our higher thinking functions and all that higher thinking results in diamonds of wisdom. When the core is engaged in this way,