Julita Davies :: STAR & BRAND

Julita Davies :: STAR & BRAND Helping professionals (entrepreneurs and executives) define their personal brand and create online e

If you want to get better on stage, you have to keep putting yourself on stage.I’ve been a professional speaker for year...
10/09/2026

If you want to get better on stage, you have to keep putting yourself on stage.

I’ve been a professional speaker for years, but I still work on my presentation and acting skills.

For a while now, improv at Boom Chicago has been one of the ways I stretch those skills.

These photos are from recent classes on the main stage, where we worked on character work - creating scenes by building characters through emotions, reactions, and choices.

There is no script.
No perfectly prepared sentence.
No slide to fall back on.

You have to listen, react, commit, and stay present.

And that is exactly why improv is so useful for public speaking.

It trains presence, emotional range, and adaptability.

Communication is a skill. And no matter how experienced you are, there is always another level to practice.

What are you doing to stretch the skills you already have?

You may know exactly what you want to say - and still weaken it with the words you put around it.This happens often at w...
09/09/2026

You may know exactly what you want to say - and still weaken it with the words you put around it.

This happens often at work, especially when the stakes are high. You want to sound thoughtful, respectful, and open to others.

But sometimes, that turns into making yourself smaller before anyone else has the chance to hear your point.

Three habits to watch:

1. Stop discounting yourself.
In meetings, avoid: “This might be a stupid question…” or “I’m probably missing something…”

You are telling people how to judge your contribution before you make it.

Try: “I’d like clarification on…” or simply ask the question.

2. Don’t open with a disclaimer.
“No offense, but…” and “I don’t want to be difficult…” make people expect tension.

You can disagree without apologizing for disagreeing.

Try: “I see it differently. Here is why…”

3. Don’t end with doubt.
You present a recommendation, then add: “Does that make sense?”

It can sound like you are asking for reassurance instead of opening a discussion.

Try: “What questions do you have?” or “What are your thoughts?”

Small language shifts change how your contribution lands.

You don’t need to sound louder to demonstrate authority. You need to stop quietly giving it away.

Which of these three habits catches you most often?

Save this before your next important meeting.

05/09/2026

You don’t improve presentation skills by talking about presenting.

You improve them by presenting.

Kicking off the second half of the year with a high-paced communication and presentation skills training for a group of professionals during their offsite.

We worked on the four elements that shape every strong presentation:

* Structure - making the message easy to follow
* Content - deciding what matters and what can go
* Audience - understanding who you are speaking to and what they need
* Delivery - turning good thinking into clear, confident communication

And most importantly, we practiced. A lot.

Because communication is a skill. You can learn the principles, but improvement comes when you apply them, get feedback, adjust, and try again.

A great way to start the second half of the year.

You can be excellent at what you do and still be overlooked.Not because your work is not strong.Because people do not al...
02/08/2026

You can be excellent at what you do and still be overlooked.

Not because your work is not strong.

Because people do not always see the thinking, value, and leadership behind it.

Your work will not always speak for itself.

Sometimes, you need to speak for it.

Clearly. Calmly. Without minimizing your contribution.

Which is harder for you - showing your expertise or talking about it?

05/07/2026

„Imagine two people standing at the edge of a jungle clearing 100,000 years ago. Before a single word is spoken, they’ve already decided: Are you a threat? Who holds the status? Can I trust you?”

Then I asked the audience:

“Now… imagine this is the boardroom.”

This was the opening of my recent speech:
From Jungle to Boardroom: The Evolution of Body Language

We may have traded jungles for offices and tribal leaders for CEOs, but our bodies are still speaking the oldest language we know. Every meeting, presentation, and negotiation begins long before the first words are spoken.

One of the key takeaways was how body language shapes the way others perceive us as leaders. It helps us project authority without intimidation, confidence without arrogance, and warmth without losing credibility. These are practical skills that I love teaching during my leadership communication, executive presence, and public speaking workshops.

Thank you to everyone who joined me on this journey from the jungle to the boardroom. It was a pleasure sharing the stage with you.

You can choose your words carefully, structure your argument well and still lose the room. Not because of what you said....
03/07/2026

You can choose your words carefully, structure your argument well and still lose the room. Not because of what you said. Because your body said something else.

When the two are out of sync, people feel it before they can explain it. A confident statement with crossed arms. An enthusiastic pitch with eyes that keep dropping. The words land but something is off. That something is the gap between what you say and what you signal.

Your audience reads both channels at once. And when they conflict, they trust the non-verbal one. Every time.

Presence is not about being polished. It is about being aligned. Your posture, your pace, your eye contact, your stillness — all of it either backs your message up or quietly works against it.

The most credible communicators are not the most rehearsed. They are the ones where everything points in the same direction.
Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear your take.

You can know your content cold, rehearse your slides ten times and still walk on stage looking like you're bracing for i...
30/06/2026

You can know your content cold, rehearse your slides ten times and still walk on stage looking like you're bracing for impact. It shows. Not because you're not ready. Because your body is still in fight-or-flight mode while your brain thinks you're fine.
The good news is that confidence is something your audience reads, not something you feel first. And what they're actually reading is comfort.

The one thing worth competing on isn't how polished you look or how authoritative you sound. It's how comfortable you appear. Our brains are wired to assign status to calm. So is everyone in that room.

Three things that signal comfort before you've said a word.
1. Slow your movements down. Fear makes you move fast, gesture big, shift around. Deliberate, unhurried movement tells your nervous system you're safe, and everyone watching picks it up.

2. Stop filling silences. The instinct to fill every pause is anxiety doing the talking. Let a point land. Let a beat pass. People who pause look like they have nowhere else to be.

3. Compete on comfort, not confidence. You can't manufacture a feeling. But you can choose to move more slowly, breathe more deeply and hold your ground more quietly than anyone else in the room. That's what reads as authority.

Confidence as a feeling might come and go. Comfort as a practice is something you can build. Start with your body, not your mindset.
Like this tip? Follow for weekly tips on speaking and presence.

27/06/2026

My workshops are never about learning another presentation technique.
They are about changing the way you think about public speaking. Understanding the frameworks that help you connect with your audience and make your message stick.

That’s why there are no PowerPoint slides in my training.
We script. We deliver. We get feedback. We do it again.

Everyone learns by speaking, but also by watching, listening and giving feedback. That’s how we sharpen both our presentation and coaching skills.

And we do it in small groups, where people feel safe to experiment, learn from each other and grow together.

We make it practical and fun.
And most importantly, we practise.
Because confidence doesn’t come from theory.
It comes from standing up and doing it.

What’s the best presentation advice you’ve ever received?

People talk a lot about standing out. Being memorable, being visible, having a strong point of view. All of that matters...
26/06/2026

People talk a lot about standing out. Being memorable, being visible, having a strong point of view. All of that matters. But none of it holds without the thing underneath: can people count on you?

Reliability is not about being available around the clock or never making mistakes. It is about being credible, solid and honest consistently, in how you show up, how you follow through and how you treat people when no one is watching. That pattern, repeated over time, is what builds a reputation.

You might get noticed for being bold or distinctive. But you get trusted for being reliable. And trust is what turns visibility into influence.

Think about the people in your professional world whose name comes up when something important needs to get done. It is rarely the loudest person in the room. It is the one people know will deliver.

Your brand is built in every interaction, not just the ones you prepare for.

Does this resonate? Tell me in the comments.

You've probably been in a meeting where someone had all the data in the world and still couldn't move the room. Or made ...
23/06/2026

You've probably been in a meeting where someone had all the data in the world and still couldn't move the room. Or made a perfectly logical argument that went nowhere. Usually the information is fine. The balance isn't.

Aristotle described three modes of persuasion more than 2,400 years ago: logos (logic), pathos (emotion) and ethos (credibility). Modern research on influence confirms the same architecture. And yet most presentations lead with logos alone, skip pathos entirely and assume ethos takes care of itself.

Logos is your evidence. The strongest move is choosing one clear number or example your audience can repeat after the meeting. Not ten slides of data. One anchor.
Pathos is your connection. Before you present your solution, name the concern your audience is sitting with. When people feel understood, they stop defending their position and start listening to yours.

Ethos is your credibility, and Aristotle considered it the most persuasive of the three. Not because of titles or tenure, but because trust is built before you open your mouth. How you enter a room, what you've said before, how you hold yourself in the first ten seconds. That's ethos at work.

When you consciously use all three, you stop just being right and start actually persuading. That's the difference between an argument people respect and one they act on. It's a skill you can learn and practise in your very next presentation.

Like this? Follow for weekly tips on communication and executive presence.

Adres

Amsterdam

Website

Meldingen

Wees de eerste die het weet en laat ons u een e-mail sturen wanneer Julita Davies :: STAR & BRAND nieuws en promoties plaatst. Uw e-mailadres wordt niet voor andere doeleinden gebruikt en u kunt zich op elk gewenst moment afmelden.

Snelkoppelingen

Delen

Type