by Alan | Aug 20, 2008 | Communication skills, public speaking
With the folks I coach, it seems that many believe looking at notes is a bad thing for a speaker to do. People try all sorts of sly ways to get around pausing to look at their notes: from furtive glances to drive bys to strategic placement of cue cards.I’ve...
by Alan | Aug 18, 2008 | Communication skills, Leadership, public speaking
I heard a speaker the other day open his talk with a joke. Jokes aren’t inherently bad, but I definitely counsel my clients to avoid them when natural humor or stories are available. But here it came. The punchline of the joke involved a disgraced public figure....
by Alan | Aug 16, 2008 | Communication skills
Talking with a friend yesterday and he made the comment, “Comfort is the kiss of death.”While this might overstate the point a bit too much for my tastes, it underscores an important point — in ANYTHING we want to improve.When we are comfortable:we...
by Alan | Aug 14, 2008 | Communication skills
I attended a local Business Networking International meeting today as a guest of a new friend. Part of the meeting is giving everyone a chance to speak for 45 seconds about what they do. It’s a chance to practice the elevator speech among friends. Members repeat...
by Alan | Aug 13, 2008 | Communication skills, Delivery, Leadership, Philosophical, public speaking
Just got off the phone with my friend Jeff. We have about a weekly discussion about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to presentations. The theme was present at my lunch, as well. My meeting with a sales guy discussed why folks don’t do things that...
by Alan | Jul 31, 2008 | Delivery, PowerPoint, public speaking
Was teaching today and came to the instruction on PowerPoint. Had a pretty interested group and was going through some more advanced things like the presenter’s view on a second monitor and some cheap tricks on using blank slides. Was (not) surprised that most...
