Yes, Your Two-Minute Introduction Does Matter
A few years ago, Ignite CSP was working with a company on their big annual event. Several of us were coaching their speakers, and one of my clients was the person tasked with speaking for a few minutes at the very beginning. I was excited—the kickoff speaker! Getting the opportunity to craft the first few …
The Medium is the Message, and the Milkshake
I saw a tweet recently in which the poster expressed concern that many of her students prefer communicating via text to speaking face to face. Many of the responses to her tweet said, in essence, “I am more comfortable texting, so that’s how I do it.” We all have preferences about all kinds of things. …
Feedback Is Another Mirror
The farther along you go in your career, the less feedback you get. This makes sense: who wants to give the big boss notes on their performance? But this dynamic makes it even more essential to seek out knowledgeable coaching and guidance for yourself. We all have areas of our own performance that we don’t …
When Your Ease with Public Speaking is Your Enemy
You’re comfortable in front of a crowd. You know you are engaging, maybe even charismatic. You seldom stumble over your words, and you just don’t get nervous. You might even get a few laughs here and there! This sounds awesome! Why would this be anything but terrific for the people lucky enough to describe themselves …
Why We Recommend That You Practice Out Loud
When you write your presentation, you’re using your brain in a specific way, to convey messages in writing. But when you deliver that presentation out loud, you need to use the same information in a different way, to communicate with people verbally. Unless you’re very practiced at writing the way you speak, this shift from …
Who Gets to Decide How We Communicate?
I had a really interesting conversation recently about how hard it can be to communicate asynchronously, through email, Slack, or text. This person pointed out that in his work environment, he felt like he might be one of the only people who really felt like he needed the nonverbal cues we get from in-person communication. …
Let’s Talk About Filler Words
Um. Uh. Ah. These are the classic filler words that pepper almost everyone’s speech from time to time. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m not that bothered by filler words. Research has shown that most people use them at least occasionally, and that people listening aren’t put off …
Back Yourself.
I heard a phrase recently that was new to me. “Back yourself.” We’re more familiar with backing other people, right? Colleagues, leaders, people we admire, even sports teams. We invest in them, we give them our support. We back them. But in this case, the idea was simply to back yourself. This twist on a …
So Scared You Have to Practice
One of the very best things I get to do in my job is watch my colleagues absolutely kill it. Last week, Ignite CSP had a big team of coaches at an engagement, and I got to see them do their thing at the highest level. Ignite CSP senior coach Neela Muñoz was delivering the …
A Great Speaker…
A great speaker acts like they deserve to be there.* In some ways, this encapsulates everything we need to know about the nebulous terms “executive presence,” “confidence,” and “charisma.” When you know you’re going to say something worth hearing, a point of view worth sharing, that knowledge affects everything about how you show up. A …
