While personal New Year’s resolutions are wonderful, consider adding a professional resolution, as well. And if you do, consider resolving to enhance your communication skills.
The recommendation has a chorus of support:
Read More
Imagine you get called by Good Morning America to appear live to talk about your experience with Shelter in Place. How would you plan for this highly-visible TV appearance? Would you carefully select your wardrobe or throw something together? Would you practice in front of a mirror or wing it? Would you care how you came across to your national audience or throw caution to the wind?
Read MoreTo ensure that you authentically value your audience, try these five audience engagement strategies:
Read MoreRecall the times you’ve solved problems, collaborated, exceeded expectations, handled adversity, made mistakes, made amends, set records, delivered on-time, said ‘thank you,’ and led your organizations.
We’ve experienced a lot, but we rarely take time to record the details and build a story library of these experiences.
Maybe your kitchen sink looked like mine when I was single--full of every plate, pan, utensil, and glass. When I caught a glimpse of it, I would feel frustrated and overwhelmed. To escape that distress, I would just avoid it. But it’s not just the kitchen sink that can get overloaded; presentations can also get packed with everything from the speaker's proverbial kitchen, and when they do, audiences get overwhelmed and tune out.
Read MoreIn 2008, architecture firms lined up for the opportunity to pitch their plans to build a new iconic baseball stadium in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. It was a dream contract, and firms clambered to win it.
While many of the pitches focused on design elements and amenities like a retractable roof, new-age materials, luxury boxes, enhanced concession stands, club seating, and other revenue producing features, one architecture firm took a different approach. One firm took a winning approach.
After a three-day, off-site business retreat, you’ve developed the perfect strategic plan. You return to work excited to share your ideas with the company. You make your slide deck and prepare your 30-minute presentation. After presenting, you come away feeling confident that everyone shares your enthusiasm, is onboard, and understands your priorities for the future.
A few days later, you overhear a water-cooler conversation that makes it clear few, if any, employees actually recall your main ideas and people seem baffled by your message. Something’s gone terribly wrong.
Everyone has heard the claim that individuals fear public speaking more than death, and while this declaration seems a bit far-fetched, surveys support the idea.[1]
Scientifically, fear of public speaking is called glossophobia (glōssa meaning tongue) and it affects upward of 74% of Americans.[2]
So whether public speaking is truly on par with death or not, the reality is that anxiety prevents millions of people from capitalizing on the power of public speaking…
In public speaking circles a battle is raging that rivals the Yankees vs the Red Sox, the Hatfields vs the McCoys, and the Patriots vs the world.
It’s between the anti-memorizers ...and the practice-makes-perfect people. Polar opposite strategies, so who’s right?