by Alan | Aug 18, 2008 | Communication skills, Leadership, public speaking
I heard a speaker the other day open his talk with a joke. Jokes aren’t inherently bad, but I definitely counsel my clients to avoid them when natural humor or stories are available. But here it came. The punchline of the joke involved a disgraced public figure....
by Alan | Aug 13, 2008 | Communication skills, Delivery, Leadership, Philosophical, public speaking
Just got off the phone with my friend Jeff. We have about a weekly discussion about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to presentations. The theme was present at my lunch, as well. My meeting with a sales guy discussed why folks don’t do things that...
by Alan | Jul 31, 2008 | Delivery, PowerPoint, public speaking
Was teaching today and came to the instruction on PowerPoint. Had a pretty interested group and was going through some more advanced things like the presenter’s view on a second monitor and some cheap tricks on using blank slides. Was (not) surprised that most...
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by Alan | Jun 14, 2008 | Communication skills, Customer Service, Delivery, public speaking
Answering Questions When Speaking As part of my coaching, one of the areas we almost always touch on is how to answer questions. In my experience, a large majority of people who can competently share information fall flat on their face when asked a direct question....
by Alan | Jun 13, 2008 | Communication skills, public speaking
Coaching a group the other day and was faced with the comment, “This is a lot easier when we’re on the road in front of strangers. It’s harder doing it in front of your peers. They know the material and the pressure is greater.” While I...
by Alan | Mar 18, 2008 | Communication skills, Don't!, public speaking
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...
