by Alan | Nov 20, 2006 | Communication skills, public speaking
In church this past week, we were leading up to the GATE (Great American Tryptophan Extravaganza, sometimes called Thanksgiving) and singing songs that were a) appropriate to the theme, and b) known to most of the audience. The second option is a trick these days, as...
by Alan | Nov 20, 2006 | Communication skills, Leadership, public speaking
Talking with a friend the other day about the importance of an audience liking the presenter. In many cases, there is no context for whether to like the presenter or not (they may not know him until he comes up to speak, for instance). But in so many cases, there is...
by Alan | Nov 12, 2006 | Communication skills, Content, public speaking
I love acronyms. They allow shorter typing and talking. I like to make them up (my favorite all-time is my acronym BCS = Big Computer in the Sky, which has nothing to do with college football and can be used to describe any application where data goes into the ether)....
by Alan | Nov 12, 2006 | Communication skills, Content, PowerPoint, public speaking
Lots of speakers provide handouts. It’s a good idea. It gives the listener a take-away and future reminder of the content — at a minimum they’re faced with the decision of whether to throw the handout away or not. That is more follow-up than a...
by Alan | Nov 10, 2006 | Communication skills, Delivery, public speaking
Here’s a tip I (re)discovered this week. First, I’m a HUGE fan of video as an unbiased observer to help us get better as speakers. It’s the only true way for us to see ourselves as the audience sees us. So the (repeated) tip: use video early and...
