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Who decides what you’re talking about in your presentation? Are you responsible for your own material, or do you have other people making suggestions and inserting content? I am working with an incredible client right now. She is a powerhouse. She’s extremely knowledgable and capable, and she runs a huge organization inside a global company. ... Continue Reading
In the last twenty years, we have become cyborgs. Our humanity is intersecting into our technology, and the submersion is accelerating. There are lots of examples of this phenomenon, from our phones constantly in our hands to the intermediary of screens in many areas of our work and personal lives. But today what is blowing ... Continue Reading
One of the most common bits of conventional wisdom about public speaking is: “Break the ice with a joke.” First things first: this is bad advice. If you’re a person who uses human naturally and easily, you can find places to lighten your talk with a funny moment. But if you are not, this advice ... Continue Reading
When you’re writing, you can use italics, CAPS, bold, punctuation… and spacing to get your point across. When you’re speaking, you use different tools: your voice and your body language. When you forget to use these tools, the result is like handing someone a four-page, single-spaced, unpunctuated run-on sentence and expecting them to be able ... Continue Reading
Here’s what matters when you are speaking to an audience:How you make the audience feel. Here’s what doesn’t matter:How you feel.
Have you ever been asked to tell your story? How did you know where to start? What to include? Which parts to highlight, or to skip, or to tweak? Did you begin at birth, or later? Did you talk about your school, your best friend, your first dog, a car accident? All of us have ... Continue Reading
In a workshop we coached this week, a participant apologized for his casual clothing and not totally “professional” background. He said, “Usually I’d be more ready to be on.” But what I noticed wasn’t his clothes or the room behind him. What I noticed was how ready he was to interact, to ask questions, and ... Continue Reading
Effective communication is a life skill, albeit one we often take for granted. And I believe that we can become better communicators with intentional practice. Learning any new skill, including communication, is an exercise in “two steps forward, one step back.” You get good at one element of the skill, and then in order to ... Continue Reading
For many people, the hardest part of a presentation is the very beginning. We’re nervous. We step up to the mic or look into the camera and suddenly it’s time to be “on.” There’s strange pressure suddenly to do or be something more than we usually are. On top of this potential stress, we often sabotage ... Continue Reading
I haven’t interviewed for a job in a long time, so I was surprised to learn recently that many larger companies use interview software to conduct initial screenings for job candidates. The candidate sits in front of their computer and activates the link. The program generates the first question, gives the candidate 30 seconds to ... Continue Reading
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