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Ignite your power to communicate.

We coach people to make a fundamental shift in the way they understand their own power to communicate.

We help people feel seen and heard so that they can do their best work.

The “Right?” Stuff

A good friend and reader of this blog texted me the following (edited for clarity): “Listening to a talk to get [continuing education credits]… The speaker keeps ending sentences with ‘…right?’ It makes me feel like she either feels insecure about what she’s saying, or she’s using a cheap way to be persuasive. It’s like …

Yet Another Reason to Practice

One reason to practice is to approximate the discomfort of the real thing. Doesn’t sound fun, does it? Athletes train in order to build their speed, skill, and strength, but also to get familiar with what it feels like to be deeply uncomfortable. Knowing that the 800 meter dash creates a specific sensation is valuable …

Why Didn’t They Clap?

Audiences are strange animals. With no prior planning or verbal communication, they decide, in an instant, how to respond to what’s going on in front of them. Rarely, there are outliers who laugh when no one else does, or fail to rise for a standing ovation, but for the most part, an audience acts as …

What’s Wrong with Having All the Answers?

A popular default intention is “to get it right” or ”to have all the answers.” Hang on, you might be thinking, what’s wrong with that? My job is to have the answers!  Ignite CSP senior coach Neela Munoz has some insight:

I Keep Doing It Wrong

Friends, I am struggling! I’ve written here before about Olympic weightlifting, and how challenging it is. For the last couple of months, I’ve been working one-on-one with a coach to iron out some of my bad habits and improve my technique. He is incredibly patient as I make the same mistakes over and over again. …

Why We Coach Your Introduction (So Much)

The first few seconds of your speech or presentation are setting the tone for the rest of what you’re going to say. Unfortunately, many speakers rush through the first few sentences, in a hurry to get to the main point of their talk. The beginning of your speech is crucial time for the audience to …

Taking Direction

When an actor auditions for a role in a play, one thing the director wants to discover is how well they take direction. This can mean various things to different directors, but for me, “taking direction” means: Can this person see a different perspective? Can they approach this moment with curiosity? Can they put the …

What Need Am I Fulfilling When I Say This?

In some important ways, all communication is the same.  We are always speaking in order to fulfill a need. The need might be small and transactional: “Please pass the salt.” It might be life-changing: “Will you marry me?” And of course, most of what we say in our lives falls somewhere in the middle of …

Getting Better Is Uncomfortable

Many clients come to me because they want to be great public speakers. Typically, they are people who are already really good, and they’d like to get to the next level: the “wow, they’re terrific” level, the “get paid to give keynotes” level. I love working with people like this because they’re motivated, and they’re …

Why Do We Keep Doing What Doesn’t Work?

We are creatures of habit. For the most part, this is a good thing. Habit lets us avoid having to make a million tiny decisions every day, like the route you drive to work or in what sequence you wash your hair, face, and body in the shower. But some of our habits don’t serve …

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