How We Hide, and How to Show Up
Being in front of people can be scary. It makes us feel vulnerable and exposed. And what “being in front of people” means varies from one person to the next. For some folks, the sentence “Let’s just go around the room and quickly introduce ourselves” is the scariest form of being in front of people. …
Why Am I Losing My Voice on Virtual Calls?
A client shared recently that she had gotten a very dry throat and a cough while giving a virtual presentation. After asking a few questions and consulting with Ignite CSP coach Nathan Crocker, here’s what I think was going on. My client was presenting to a large group she didn’t know, and she described the …
The Real Reason You Should Slow Down and Pause
There is a trend in recent years toward more informal, conversational presentations. For the most part, I like it. Knowing that you, as the speaker, can create an atmosphere that feels more like a dialogue with the audience helps people show up confidently and soothes nerves. But too often, speakers take this informality a step …
Fakery and Facebookery
This short video fascinated the Ignite CSP team last week. Mark Zuckerberg sat down with another employee to hype…some video games, I think. Their conversation is something most viewers can immediately identify as “not authentic.” It’s scripted and highly choreographed, and the entire premise of the dialogue is dubious. What is their relationship? Why are …
The Danger of Public Speaking “Tips”
In many professions, almost every person above a certain level has had some kind of public speaking or presentation skills training. Maybe they have their own coach, or perhaps they attended a one-day workshop, but they walked away with some idea of what they could apply to be a more effective speaker. So far so …
How Is the Idea of Executive Presence like Obscenity?
“Executive presence” is one of those things, that, like the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity, “I know it when I see it.” In other words, it’s extremely subjective. Different pairs of eyes see different behaviors as demonstrating “executive presence.” Part of the important work we can do is to address our innate …
What Impact Does Your Behavior Have (That You May Not Even Realize?)
Recently I was on a video call with a small team. Most of the people on the call were engaged, participating, and connected. One person, however, stood out. He sighed with frustration. He dropped his head into his hands. He covered his eyes, rubbing his face. What was going on? Nothing really negative was happening …
Is Your Natural Humility Undermining Your Communication Style?
Many of our clients fit the following profile: super smart, accomplished, ambitious, and humble. They are dedicated to their work and to maximizing their skills. They are good leaders. So why are they getting coaching? One characteristic that comes up a lot with these brilliant folks is that their humility can actually get in the …
The Control Panel of Behavior
Sometimes I think about all of our vast array of communication behaviors as being like knobs and sliders on a control panel. Each one of the knobs adjusts and mediates a behavior: pausing, volume, eye contact, gestures, cadence, pace, vocabulary, etc. We probably have some factory settings (I might even call them default settings), that, …
Your Outside Affects Your Inside
You know that I like to think about effective communication as starting from the mental (intention) and moving to the physical (alignment). But it’s also true that changing your body can affect how you feel! (We’re complicated creatures.) When you’re nervous, what do you do? Many people focus on why they’re nervous, maybe going over …
