Archive for the 'Latest News' Category

Business Resolutions for 2010

Au Revoir, 2009. Hasta la vista, baby. Good riddance.
For all but a very few of us, 2009 was the worst economic year ever.  Though just a few depression-era babies are still in the business world, the rest of us are, well, just depressed. It’s time, though, to pay homage to the fact that we picked […]

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On Communications and Credibility

Oh boy, do I hear this a lot: “I can’t be successful with my communications program, because communicators have no credibility with the executives!”   In many cases, both statements are true.  You can’t be successful if your executives aren’t buying in, and you’ll never have credibility if you are not successful.  Chicken or the egg, […]

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In This Economy: It’s the Customer, Stupid!

It began with James Carville and George Stephanopolous trying to focus presidential candidate Bill Clinton on what mattered most in 1992:
“It’s the economy, stupid!”
Now twenty-seven years later, the economy is again the most pressing issue on the minds of executives everywhere.  For some, the last two years have been the most desperate in their […]

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The Secrets of Effective Presentation

Recently, I was asked to speak to a large group of executives at Portland’s Presentation Camp. The group took part in a few sessions - one on how to construct a presentation; one of the importance of great visuals. My session was dedicated soley to the person who is presenting - how to manage the […]

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Executive Training for New Media: Lynn in Media Training Guidebook

Pardon the long post.  I wanted to share with you an article that I contributed to the prestigious 2009 PRNews Media Training Guidebook. If you work for an agency or within corporate communications, I encourage you to invest in this book. It is a collection of articles from the country’s most experienced media trainers. The […]

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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 […]

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I’m a Recovering Idiot

This is my favorite book:

The authors are Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway and Jon Warshawsky. I need to tell them that I bring their book to most of my training sessions, and promote it as “required reading” for corporate spokespeople.
I’d also like to tell them that their book led to the end of my cushy six-figure job.
I had […]

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I Want to Speak Like Steve Jobs

In nearly all of my presentation skills sessions, I ask the question, “If you could present like someone else, who would it be?”  The answer is often “Steve Jobs”.
My answer is always, “I’m sorry. You can’t”
The reason is that the head of Apple, Steve Jobs, is entirely authentic when he speaks. He has his own […]

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Class of 2009

I attended my step-daughter’s high school graduation ceremony last night. Beautiful; fresh-faced; hopeful young people! The combination of excitment and fear sparkled in their eyes, as if to remind us that they still need us.
Graduation speeches are sort of like wedding sermons.  New grads aren’t paying any more attention to the commencement speeches than a nervous […]

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An Interesting Conversation

Like a lot of you, I blog all over the place. And sometimes I post in other places blog entries that originated here.  A few days ago, I posted my last entry “Obama’s Media Strategy: Blitz or Backfire?” on one of my favorite sites for communicators, ragan.com.
Anyway.. there is a lively discussion going on over […]

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