Speaking tips blog
Communication matters. What are you saying?
Useful handouts
In a presentation the other day where the presenter (who had already made one reference to being behind schedule and making up time a bit) made the statement (referring to the handout): "I have written this down so you can look at it later."And wouldn't you know what...
I’ll try to help you
First-person customer service nightmare, courtesy of Time-Warner Cable, who houses the hardware that Earthlink sells me cable service over.My broadband fritzed for no apparent reason. I recycled everything on my end to no avail. I call TWC, skipping Earthlink...
This time with emphasis
Heard a preacher today who evoked memories of a standard Southern Baptist hell-fire-brimstone sort. If I read what he had to say, I'd probably be compelled to read every word. I found listening to be painful, and it appears I was not alone.After a very personal and...
Go big or go home (or go to sleep)
Getting back to some of the many presentations I saw at conferences in the past month. I am still digesting all the stuff I've seen, and I selfishly feel that I have benefited more than I've helped others this month. But in rational moments, I realize that this...
That’s not for you
Training in an (internal) training center where the common area between training rooms had snacks and such. Off to the side were some coffee containers with a big sign on them that said: "Coffee is for the XYZ class only." Since my class wasn't the XYZ class, there...
Whatever you want
This post could have dozens of examples tacked to it. It's one of the most common things I see. And it's an easy fix. That's hard. :-)The phrase goes something like this: "What I want to tell you..." or "I just want to say..." I listened to a group of trainers...
I didn’t think it applied to me
In another presentation I witnessed at last week's conference (and LOTS more to come from that), I watched a rather academic session digress into long-winded narration of PowerPoint. The slides got worse and worse and the presentation less and less interactive as the...
No excuses
In one of the ASTD presentations I was in this past week, the presenter had given the talk earlier in the week. Evidently the feedback forms had already been turned in and seen by the presenter, because he referenced them several times.Part of the session was on...
ASTD
I heard this quote (no attribution) the other week:"We spend far too much time on our jobs, and far too little on ourselves."I spent a little time improving myself this week at the ASTD ICE conference. It was quite amazing, and I come back with gobs of notes, ideas,...
Comments back on
Sometime in the last month (when I wasn't posting), comments got hosed on the blog. A few short minutes with our best friend Google, and an obscure option has been changed to allow comments again. Can't explain why they were working before and no changes were made,...
Turning it on
Working with The Boy's Tee Ball team tonight. We've really been working on his throwing. Hold the ball high. Step -- throw -- follow through. Sometimes he does; sometimes he doesn't. Tonight for the first time, we seemed to have a breakthrough. There was even an...
Not alarming
Traveling through DCA airport104 last week. As thousands of my closest friends and I sat waiting for our chance to be called as the next contestant on the "So you want to be a sardine" game show, not once but twice an alarm sounded on a gate door. In both cases, no...
