Speak With Confidence

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Was The President Presidential?

By: Monica Murphy Senior Coaching Partner As Speech Communication Coaches, we are regularly sought out for our communication critique. We focus on the delivery style and techniques by speakers. The big question asked of us yesterday was , “Was Obama Presidential in his delivery of the State of the Union?” So what is Presidential? It is subjective for certain, however, as Coaches we know that listeners describe a speaker as Presidential in their style by

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Defensiveness prevents clear communication.

If they are defensive, your message is most likely lost. Something has caused your listener to feel like you, intentionally or not, are attacking their idea or them. This emotion will cause them to focus on defending the idea or their character instead of exploring solutions. They are struggling and it may be your fault. You may not have set the right expectations. You may have used a tone that does not match your intended message.

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Coaches on video

Click the videos to watch some of our coaches discussing the topic [ava_basic 1 /] Author Jeff Turner View all posts

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Steven Slater: Service Traitor

By Laurie Schloff, Senior Coaching Partner Hello people, rationality calling. I feel real bad for Steven Slater.  Most of us would forgive him for reaching the flying freak out point one hot day in August. We got the laugh and the vicarious revenge.  Apparently, many Americans are so fed up with the people or the boss they were hired to serve that flight attendant Steven Slater’s dramatic exit from JetBlue made them green with envy.

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Rebels Rap for Peace – The Power of Symbols

By Dr. Dennis Becker, Principal & Senior Coaching Partner Last week I was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard , along with sixteen other family members.  It’s an annual thing.  We plan it a year in advance and all commit to it.  It’s great..  During the week, two separate  conversations  gave me pause to wonder about how we are interpreting symbols these days.  By symbols I mean those non-verbal , non-audio signs on everything from bill

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Email Etiquette is Vital to Productive Communication in the Workplace

By Tori Aiello, Coach/Trainer at The Speech Improvement Company I recently was stopped by someone on the street who had participated in one of my email training courses and she said, “You’re not going to believe this but one of my friends was just let go for laying off her employees by email.”  I replied, “If only she had taken my email training course!” Imagine how her colleagues must have felt when their termination notice

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Styles and Smiles: Brown’s Victory in Massachusetts

By Monica Murphy, Senior Coaching Partner and Ethan Becker, Senior Coaching Partner As Speech Coaches, we look at how the art of communication persuades a voter. Have you thought about how communication style impacts a voter’s perception? By style we mean: how someone comes across to their listeners. Forget about the healthcare, balance of power in the white house, and messaging for a moment….Let’s look at the communication reasons why some Massachusetts voters eagerly checked

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Britney Gengel–Please be Alive

By: Laurie Schloff Usually I am glad when there’s an empty seat next to me on a plane. Yet when a mom with a beautiful smile apologized for taking the middle seat, her spirit was so warm, I didn’t mind at all. As TV camera people came down the aisle to film her just sitting there. I said “You must be famous.” She told me that she was going to meet her daughter, a student

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The New Boss-Dynamo or Dudsville?

by Laurie Schloff, Senior Coaching Partner Hal Gordon, a member of The Professional Speakers group on LinkedIN provoked my thinking about what style of leadership is working well these days. Mr. Gordon prompted us to reflect on the November 12 issue of the Economist, which included a fascinating article on “The Cult of the Faceless Boss.” According to the article, the recent economic downturn has caused companies to reject flamboyant CEOs in favor of executives

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