What It Really Looks Like to Practice
[This is reposted from May, 2018–] 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 …
I Can’t Hear You When I’m Looking at My Phone
It was a busy morning in our house, and I needed to leave early. I asked my kids to do several things before they left for school. The first thing I asked my daughter to do involved looking up information on her phone. While she was doing that, I said, “Please make sure to get …
If Shakespeare Wrote Your Presentation
William Shakespeare knew a lot about appealing to an audience. He wrote quickly, and he wrote to make money. He knew that he needed to create plays that made different kinds of people happy, from the working class groundlings to the Queen of England. Here’s how he did it: He included something for everyone. Even …
I’m Taking a Little Break
Hi all! I’m going to take a sabbatical from writing the blog. I’ll be rerunning some older posts for the next few weeks, so if you feel like you’re reading something you’ve read before, you probably have! If you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear from you. What would you like more of from this …
Here’s Something We’re Almost All Bad At
Do you know how long a minute is? Three minutes? Five minutes? I don’t mean literally—I assume you know how many seconds will elapse in one minute. But when you’ve been asked to speak for minute, do you have a sense of how long that is? As someone who frequently times people speaking, formally and …
The Very Obvious Reason to Slow Down
One area we often coach in public speaking and presentation skills is pace, and specifically, speaking quickly. There’s a lot to be said about the reasons for different vocal speeds, why it matters, etc. But the point I want to make today is this: when you slow down, you make fewer mistakes. That’s it. When …
“Here’s what I loved about that”
When I was in my early 20s and living in New York, I made extra money by working as a reader for the Young Playwrights Project. This nonprofit taught playwriting in middle and high schools, and they needed lots and lots of people to read the plays and provide feedback to these budding artists. Some …
Failure and Practice
The moments of recognition of failure are the practice. Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and teacher of meditation, shared that thought. It resonates with me because even though Harris was talking about meditation, he could be referring to any skill we hope to acquire. When your mind is wandering during meditation, you don’t know that your …
When We’re in the Spotlight (it can make us want to hide)
I had a great conversation recently with someone who is doing some communication skills coaching, and is interested in doing more. This was a get-to-know-you chat on both sides, with the unspoken understanding that I may be able to hire her at some point in the future. I asked her to tell me a bit …
Who Is This For?
I am a big fan of the writer and thinker Seth Godin. His approach to marketing, in particular, is refreshing and innovative. One of the questions Seth asks is: “Who is this for?” It can apply to a product, a service, or an experience. “Who is this for?” It helps the creator get very specific …
