6 Mar So Easy to Like: Apps Add to Speech Coaching

My colleagues and I are delighted to welcome a new app, LikeSo into our toolbox of  techniques to help clients become top notch speakers and communicators.

We coaches are always on the lookout for ways to help clients practice and progress in their crazy busy lives.

The leaders, managers and professionals I work with are attached to their mobile devices (Ok, I admit, so am I!)

That’s why I am so delighted to collaborate with Audrey Mann Cronin, a vivacious advocate for more effective speaking, and the creator of the LikeSo app. (more…)

8 Feb Do I Need to Tell a Joke in a Presentation?

Yes, go ahead and tell a joke if all of the following apply:

• You can immediately tie in the joke with the larger theme for the presentation.
• Your joke is simple and short – audiences can’t remember more than three types of guys meeting Saint Peter at Heaven’s gate.
• Your jokes won’t offend men, women, children, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Seventh-Day Adventists; Republicans, Democrats, Independents; cat, dog, fish, or bird lovers; people who don’t like jokes; and so forth.
• You like telling jokes and not just for speeches.
• Not only that, you’re good at telling jokes, especially for speeches.

Otherwise, don’t tell a joke. (more…)

12 Jan Powering Up with the TEDx Speakers

Congrats to our TEDx Chandigarh, India clients and all who value spreading ideas to change the world, one talk at a time.

We are delighted to add to the brilliance and talents of TEDx Chandigarh.  Chandigarh is known as the Silicon Valley of India, and the conference theme on January 15th is Dream, Ideate, Create!

How do we help seasoned speakers?  We take them to the next level—developing a high impact talk, timing and pacing and best practices in oral and nonverbal delivery.

All this while helping each speaker be as authentic as possible.

Back here in the U.S., many of our clients are creating TED talks. Congrats to all of you!  It takes courage to put yourself and your ideas out there!

11 Jan “We Waste A Lot of Time at Our Meetings”

You have plenty of company.  According to numerous surveys, most businesspeople view meetings as boring, un-productive, and a waste of time.  (In one poll, 43 percent of executives admitted to having dozed off at a meeting at least once.)  Some view meetings as downright unbearable.  Is it possible to leave a meeting feeling refreshed, with a heightened sense of teamwork, and ready to take constructive action?  Use this diagnostic test and follow up with the necessary cure.  There can be more to look forward to than danish and coffee. (more…)

8 Nov I Say “um” Too Much

Vocalized pauses or fillers, including um, uh, ah, and their close relatives like, you know, and OK? are some of the most common concerns brought to a speech coach.  We don’t um want to uh get too um picky here, since 1 to 3 percent of everyone’s speech normally contains hesitations, and folks like Ted Kennedy have spoken successfully in public life despite long aah pauses.  However, a bad case of um-itis makes you annoying to listen to.  So why do so many of us um along in life?  Most often, vocalized pauses function as a way to fill up space as we formulate the next thought.  Though old habits take some time to break, it is possible to banish the ums and ahs forever. (more…)

10 Mar How do best in class organizations prepare speakers

Senior Speech Coaches Laurie Schloff, Tori Hollingworth, and Dr. Ethan F. Becker are on-site at a conference and during a break got together to share the “behind the scenes”  of what happens at big conferences.  How do those speakers nail it?  It may look like they are winging it, but very few do!  How do best in class organizations prepare all of their speakers?  Find out how and why on this episode of Talking about Talking!  Running time 14 minutes. (more…)