2007 March | Your message and other things you say

Wonder what THAT was about?

Flying earlier in the week and heard over the PA in an airport:
“American Airlines paging pilots Captain Susie Queue and John Doe. Please report to Gate 7 regarding your flight.”

Now, my fantasy is to be in an airport or airline where the pilots don’t show up and they let me fly the plane, but somehow, [...]

Great customer service

While this isn’t a customer service blog, per se, good communication is often a part of good service, and I wanted to call out an example I experienced today.

I was leaving for a trip and found out at the last minute that I lacked a piece of equipment. A call to a local Wolf Camera [...]

No cost rental

Sitting in a hotel reading the instructions for “complimentary high-speed wireless internet service”.

Seven steps, easy enough. Then there’s another step listed after an asterisk (even though there is no asterisk anywhere else on the page). The step says: “If you do not have a wireless card built in to your computer, we provide External Wireless [...]

Drowning out the applause

A common mistake of those making introductions is to hit the ‘punchline’ too quickly. When the “heeeeere’s Johnny” (did I just date myself?) gets uttered, the audience goes into applause mode, and the introducer’s job is over. Or at least it should be.

A common mistake — prevalent at many/most Toastmaster’s meetings — is to try [...]

You & I

Tom Antion suggests104 a ration of 10 “you’s” to every “I” that is used in a speaking engagement. I’m against this on two levels. First, when we get to counting metrics in a speech, we’re forgetting the most important issue at stake — did we reach the audience and move them (hopefully in a positive [...]

What not to say

Interesting post at the Instigator Blog about things you don’t want to hear in a presentation. I could add hundreds, most of which I’ve heard with my own ears, but I get readers sending them to me as well now. Probably the biggest opening gaff and a TTPP (Top Ten Pet Peeve) is “Hi, [...]

You can’t be it. I’m it.

Matthew tagged171 me, asking for details beyond the surface. It sounds like a chain letter, but I enjoy reading the posts of folks I know (a lot more than I enjoy writing this), so I’ll play along.

Five things you didn’t know about me:

I have a Commercial Driver’s License. It was for my first [...]

Upcoming classes