Archive for May, 2008

Chicken Soup for a Hard Drive’s Soul

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. NO!
I was spending Memorial Day working at a relaxed but constant pace. I knew that on this day, my clients were bellying up to their barbeques, away from email, and needing nothing from me. I could do more than catch up - I could get ahead. It was even a working lunch.
Annie Chun’s Asian Chicken Soup. […]

Read more...

Couldn’t Have Been Any Clearer

I am all for clear communication and sending the intended message, but this one hurt.
 The phone rang last night at about 8:30, and the caller ID said “TV Survey”. I like taking surveys, so I picked up:
Automated Voice: We are conducting a survey on television viewing habits. If you are interested in participating, press 1.
I […]

Read more...

Essentials of Powerful Presentation

Until about a year ago, the bulk of my coaching sessions involved media training - maybe 80% - and most of the people in those sessions had not received formal presentation training. It’s interesting to me that my sessions today run about 70%-30% in favor of presentation training.  I actually find this both refreshing and […]

Read more...

Interview Don’ts

Part of my job as a communications coach is to help young and aspiring professionals to land a great job interview and, in doing so, land a great job.
Please spend a moment with this video for an example of everything-done-wrong. It is both hillarious and horrific. I’ll wait.
OK, now that you’ve watched the video, you’ve […]

Read more...

Hillary Clinton and the Lesson of Mo Betta

This is generally not a political blog, and any political leanings I have are not revealed here.  But something has been bothering me, and I need to get it out.  I think it speaks to a broader issue of repressed emotions regarding a fish.
Like many of you, I am a political junkie and a media […]

Read more...

Daily Presentation Practice

“I have no time to practice my presentation skills”
I hear it at least once in every session. Busy executives who just can’t find the time.   What they are trying to convey is that taking a few minutes every week, or even an hour before an actual presentation, will prevent them from doing the 100-other-important-things on […]

Read more...

Tone in the Final Stretch

If you’ve spent some time on my blog, you know that I believe that tone is one of the greatest tools of speech communication.  While mine is not a political blog, I find that the political season provides an incredible speech-making laboratory.  So I strapped myself in last night for what I knew would be a good […]

Read more...

Presentation Tips - Authenticity

Of the many good presentation tips and techniques, there is one too often overlooked.  It is simply autheniticity.
A spokesperson may be cool and calm. They breath right. They project beautifully. Excellent, natural gestures.  All of those things are important.  But what about the ability to speak in a way that says, “this is who I […]

Read more...