Blog

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more

Keep it simple.  Virtual platforms are loading on more and more features, and that can be a great thing. But don’t be fooled—your 1) compelling content and 2) attention to how you engage the audience are going to count for way more than the virtual bells and whistles.

Helping our clients think about intention, or the outcome you hope to achieve with what you say, is key to our coaching work.  There are two perfect times to use intention. One: before you begin a high-stakes communication. This could be a speech, a negotiation, or a difficult conversation, anything where you might be nervous … Read more

If you’re the leader, a big part of your job is to prioritize. You’ve got to get that broad view of the situation, assess what’s going on, and triage. When you fail to do this, when you act like everything is the most important thing, you are abdicating your role and leaving your team in … Read more