Speaking tips blog
Communication matters. What are you saying?
It’s not hard
Spent a good bit of time the last few days scouring the net for video examples of technical presenters. I've been underwhelmed. To quote a friend's comment today, "It's a field that it's not hard to stand out in." Even people who are so-called "experts" in the field...
Comforting
Had an evaluation today for my Toastmasters speech that was a nice nugget.The comment was, "you made us (the audience) comfortable because you were comfortable." Never really thought about it, but I applied that to a presentation I saw right before Toastmasters, where...
State of the union
Invited to a division "meet the troops" today. Concept is a good one -- help people understand where things are and where they are going. Throw in some free food and you've got the trappings around a good event. But you still have to communicate. Uh oh.I like to watch...
Deserved?
A friend was discussing his "merit increase" at his job. Seems that the HR department at his firm toes the line pretty firmly on that terminology. But they also have failed to implement any sort of formal evaluative compensation program, thus making it difficult for...
Another T2P2
Heard this in a meeting today, but it could have been most any day. I hear it a lot. I dislike it every time. It's a Top Ten Pet Peeve (T2P2)."As Susie Queue just said..." or "To repeat what John Q. just told you..."Then why on earth are you wasting my time to say it...
Hard to get here
Was asked to come to a meeting at 9am (0900) today. Monday at 9. Full house -- all but two people were on time. Meeting organizer started with a soliloquy that went something like this:"Isn't it hard to get here at 9 o'clock? I was running behind, and ran out of the...
Do you have a one?
Spent the weekend helping the in-laws' business. My job for an entire weekend -- man a ticket booth and take money while giving out tickets. I rate this assignment as just above latrine duty. There just isn't a nice way to say "six dollars, please", especially when...
Trash talk
Had a reunion weekend with my buds from high school last weekend. In addition to just having a great time, we managed to solve all of the political, philosophical, and practical issues of the current era. And in just three days.One of the funnier aspects of the...
Score four and year seven
Heard an interesting communications story in Toastmasters today. It is captured pretty effectively on wikipedia, but the gist is that when Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address, there are conflicting reports as to the audience response, and we don't happen to...
Translation
Heard a conversation today discussing various translations of the Bible. One person commented, "When I hear someone reading from a different version than I have in front of me, I can't read along. I just have to listen." The problem is not limited to those of Biblical...
em see squared
equals energy. But given that we can't change the speed of light, the only thing we can change is mass. I'm doing my part, bulking up the mid-section so that I am a more energetic person.But I'm talking about a different energy. Heard a post-Olympic interview with...
We’re about out of time
Always seems that time slips away so fast. And unfortunately, most presenters let you know that. When you announce to your audience that "we're about out of time..." or "before we close..." or "we only have five more minutes...", you are effectively short-circuiting...
