What Spock Tells Us About Preparing
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” Spock, the rational thinker, makes decisions based on the greater good. Who will benefit? One individual, or many? A moment may come when you need to start preparing for a speech, presentation, meeting, or event. You won’t feel like it. You may …
Moving Stuck Trucks, and What That Has to Do with Public Speaking
My husband Charlie and I have many of the same cultural interests. We like the same kinds of plays and movies, for example. But when left to our own (literal) devices, we often choose to watch different things. Recently Charlie said that he wanted to show me a video of this guy, Matt, whose YouTube …
What Do You Do When It’s Hard to “Yes And…”
A quick video today, talking about the power of “yes and” versus “yes but.” Where do you find the opportunity to say “yes” and invite collaboration? Hey! My book is out! Go here to order Before You Say Anything: How to Have Better Conversations, Love Public Speaking, and Finally Know What to Do with Your Hands! …
Try It for Ten Minutes
They say that, when you start running for exercise, you need to give yourself ten minutes to get warmed up and start feeling good. I suggest you apply the same formula to practicing. Give it ten minutes of focused effort to get over the hump of not wanting to do it, feeling silly, whatever. Ten …
A Tale of Two Distractions
Once upon a time, about fifteen years ago, I completely flubbed a curtain speech I had to deliver before a play. I had given many curtain speeches as the co-founder and Producing Director of North Carolina Stage Company, but that night, something went wrong. The lights on my face were unusually bright, and I was …
Stick the landing (and what to do if you don’t)
As you might imagine from the title of this post, I’ve been watching the Olympics. The gymnasts’ skill and focus always blow me away, and I enjoy watching them compete. Of course, the phrase “stick the landing” comes from gymnastics competition. In order to really finish the routine with an exclamation mark and not …
