It’s hard to be perfect and generous at the same time.
“I need this to be perfect.” Who is this for? “I want to be generous.” Who is this for?
Shakespeare wrote for a living.
I’m re-reading Cal Newport’s “Deep Work,” an accessible and forthright book about how you can—and why you should–forcibly abandon the distractions that keep you from doing your deepest and most valuable work. One of the points he makes is that we need to set up our lives to accommodate this type of work. We have …
Why do a mediocre presentation?
A few days ago I got to see a really terrific speaker. He was leading a workshop on implicit bias, and every aspect of his work was precisely chosen, honed, and practiced to support and amplify his message. Here is stuff I loved: He jumped right into his talk; no long wind-up or introduction …
What difference does it make?
A weak handshake “Um, so…” Slumped shoulders Confusing presentation structure A data dump of bullet points Rambling answers Text-heavy slides A firm handshake Clear eye contact Posture that takes up space A clear message Energy that invites the audience in Stories that connect to the listener Images that convey ideas and emotions Which …
What you’re saying when you’re not saying anything
Every time you communicate with another person, you’re doing it for a reason—there’s something you want to have happen as a result. In my coaching work, I call that “intention.” This is true whether you are thinking about your intention or not. Intention is the engine of our communication with other people; it colors and shapes …
The Gap
When my kids used to play the violin, they were supposed to practice every day. At first, they loved it—they pulled out the violin and scraped out a couple Twinkle Twinkles and that was that. As the months went on, and they realized what “every day” means, their enthusiasm…waned. The novelty had worn off, and …
Puppies and practice.
So…practice. You may have noticed that some things are easier to plan to practice than to actually, you know, practice. “I’ve blocked out time on my calendar every day this week to practice my speech!” Easy. “I practiced my presentation every day this week!” Hard. About five weeks ago my family got a puppy—a real, …
Planned spontaneity.
What? Isn’t that an oxymoron? How can you plan your spontaneity? Good communicators are prepared. They know how they want to affect their audience, and they create something especially for them. As audience members, we know immediately when someone hasn’t prepared for us, right? Unprepared speakers ramble, they go off on tangents, and …
Some things are supposed to be difficult.
I’m participating in a one-month online course right now, one with mandatory meetings, quick turn-around in-depth assignments, and three to five hours per day of offline work. I applied for it so I could learn new ways of thinking, develop relationships, and most of all, really push the limits of what I think I’m capable …
a few thoughts on eye contact
In this short video, I’m going to debunk a couple of myths about making eye contact in presentations, and also tell you what we recommend instead!
