Speaking tips blog
Communication matters. What are you saying?
I have no idea what you do
At a technical conference, the audience had just sat through about 100+ minutes of technical detail and demonstration. It was interesting stuff (to them) but was quite a bit on the dry side and was a parade of facts and features. The conference organizers had invited...
Talk for, uh, twenty seconds?
Been traveling quite a bit. Always interesting to see other places and experience different things. Well, for the most part.So I ran across a radio station in the Midwest that had a morning show contest I thought was interesting. Anyway, usually, I think these...
You can’t handle the truth!
Speaking with a friend recently who has been applying to jobs, looking to return to a work force that dumped him pretty abruptly. He's capable and experienced -- and out of work.He's had several interviews -- several have been quite promising. He is still...
It’s my fault
I recently had a class where the students' evaluations didn't match my feelings and thoughts on the class. I've frequently had this experience where the students loved a class I hated, but this was the other way around -- I thought things went pretty well; the evals...
Red for Rental?
Returning my rental car to the Austin, TX airport. Getting into airports is an adventure unto itself, and signage is critically important, and usually rather good and frequent.As I entered the main airport and was confronted with hundreds of signs, I was really...
How many of you understand?
Heard a speaker the other night who had credibility by position (he was involved in a national court case that everyone in the U.S. would recognize). En route to making his central point, he began with some audience participation questions: "How many of you...
Been back on the road this week. Traveling through airports always affords a lot of observation opportunities.Watched a few clips from CNN that appeared to be a Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. It's probably worth noting...
Been a long time
The end of the year is always a busy time. In addition to the obvious Christmas and New Years celebrations, travel, and requisite events, we have two birthdays (my son's and mine) to celebrate, kids tracked out of school, and now supposed inclement weather (although...
What that means…
In working with so many technical presenters (or rather, technical people presenting), I've noticed an interesting trend. Most of them give feature-rich, technically precise, and logically crafted presentations. And they're missing one very important part.I can't...
I’m thankful for…
Dark blinds that keep the early sun out of my bedroom on a day I can sleep in.Baby monitors that alert me to nightmares and the honor to cuddle and comfort my daughter through the experience.Kids' naivete to just tough it out and do what they have to do (when noses...
Thanks
On a day where we are supposed to stop, ponder, and give cognizant acknowledgment to the many good things in our lives (but here in America, judging from the size of my newspaper this morning, it is apparently about planning our shopping day for tomorrow), let be the...
Starting up
I've been asked to review some taped presentations of some technical presenters. I've been shown their guidelines -- it's pretty minimal. The sponsor of the program wants it "interesting", "exciting", "informative", and "imminently applicable to the layman...
