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Commentary

06 Aug Top Five Tips for Virtual Facilitators and Moderators

Posted at 12:21h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Laura Mathis

As coronavirus rapidly spreads across the globe, conferences, symposiums, and summits are transitioning from in-person to virtual events. There are pros and cons to this transition. Through our extensive knowledge and understanding of human communication, we've been helping executives who have been placed into virtual conferences learn how to facilitate a virtual event with success.

 

Why does your success as a virtual moderator matter? It matters because you are essentially managing both the event and the participants. It's your job to set a welcoming tone, orchestrate an interesting conversation, handle Q and A, and wrap up the session on time. These are skills that you may not be doing regularly in your current role, and it's essential to learn new tools and techniques to show your expertise. If done well, you will demonstrate leadership qualities that could lead to new opportunities for you and your organization.

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14 May Ten Things Professionals like about Zooming

Posted at 15:33h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Laurie Schloff
Inquiring Communication Coach: What do you like about Zooming? I conducted a non-scientific poll of my business clients to learn: Top  10  Things Professionals Like About Zoom
  1. You can wear your PJ bottoms (just watch the camera shot).
  2. You can look at yourself all day, for better or worse.
  3. You don’t have to smell fish cooking in the microwave.
  4. You get to use your own bathroom.
  5. You can squeeze your stress ball without anyone knowing.
  6. You get to see an occasional baby, kid, cat, dog, or gerbil.
  7. You may get to hug someone between meetings—Awww!
  8. You can wear your most comfy decade old shoes.
  9. You can make coffee your way.
  Number 10 : Write anything YOU like (if you do) about Zooming in the comments below.
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30 Apr Attend our Workshop: Thinking on Your Feet

Posted at 20:43h in Biotech Blog, Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Jeff Turner

90-minute, online, interactive workshop

Thinking on Your Feet

 

Thursday, May 21, 2020
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT

$99 per seat

 

THINKING ON YOUR FEET is always a strong indicator of confidence and competence. Next to controlling nervousness, it's our most requested training topic!

Two things will happen during this 90-minute workshop:

First, you will learn specific techniques that will help you strengthen your ability to think on your feet and express your thoughts with clarity and confidence. We will teach and demonstrate these techniques in a simple and practical manner.

Second, you will practice the techniques in breakout groups. The number of participants will be limited to ensure that every participant will have ample opportunity to practice.

Yes, we are doing all this online! It promises to be an enjoyable and productive learning experience…and you’re invited!

Register Here

     
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14 Apr Five Ideas for Encouraging Participation in Virtual Meetings 

Posted at 10:32h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Laurie Schloff
Research and experience tell us how important equal and energized group meetings are to morale and productivity.  Yet, clients using virtual audio or video conferencing say that engaging all participants, holding attention, and controlling interruptions and overlapping speakers are significant challenges. Make sure you are incorporating these five essentials in your virtual meetings:  
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01 Apr Dr. Dennis Becker at World Speech Day

Posted at 23:29h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Jeff Turner
Dr. Dennis Becker, founder of The Speech Improvement Company, spoke on March 16 at World Speech Day. The honor of representing North America was given to him in recognition of his stature as a worldwide expert in human communication. World Speech Day is a day to celebrate speeches and speechmaking that change the world - socially, politically, in the arts, business, and religion. This is their fifth year and featured a Master Class of speakers from 120+ countries delivering speeches and taking questions from viewers and listeners. This year’s theme was Classical Rhetoric and its Effect on Contemporary Communication. Dennis’ 15-minute live-streamed speech was entitled "Aristotle’s Patterns of Reasoning." He took this 3,000-year-old content and showed its use and value in today's world. Of course, his comfortable and “shirtsleeve" English style benefitted viewers and listeners across the globe.  

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24 Mar Communicating During Crisis (Recorded Webinar)

Posted at 15:28h in Biotech Blog, Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Jeff Turner

30-minute recorded webinar

 

Communicating During Crisis

 

Navigating Essential Conversations

 

Watch Now

 
In these unprecedented times, your people are relying on your insight and direction. Effective communication is every leader's best tool and using it appropriately is the key to moving business forward. Your employees, peers, vendors, partners, and others all need clear, concise, and useful information. Our team of Executive Communication Coaches will be joined by renowned crisis expert Dr. Kevin Becker to give you a framework for essential management communication. During this webinar you will learn the three most important things that must be communicated during a time of crisis and proven techniques for putting it all in place immediately.
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16 Mar Managing Employees Remotely (Recorded Webinar)

Posted at 19:46h in Biotech Blog, Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Jeff Turner

Managing Employees Remotely   Overcoming challenges in communication, motivation, and employee engagement       Watch the Recording Now   The coronavirus is forcing many of us to work and manage remotely. With large numbers of employees working remotely for the first time and reading frightening headlines daily, managers have a whole new set of challenges to...

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10 Mar Running Effective Remote Team Meetings

Posted at 13:29h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Laura Mathis
To curb the spread of coronavirus, organizations are encouraging employees around the globe to work remotely. Setting clear guidelines for how, when, and why teams operate remotely helps form cohesion. How do you create a collaborative agenda with remote meeting attendees, allowing all remote team members to remain engaged during team conference calls? This blog post offers tips based on our experience training companies on how to communicate effectively when using digital platforms and how to collaborate and manage remotely. Admit it, when there is no video aspect to a conference call, it's not unusual for employees to hit mute, (or not), and do a variety of tasks during phone conferences and remote team meetings, such as checking and composing email, scrolling Twitter, eating a sandwich, and (gasp) going to the bathroom?!
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08 Mar Speaking Tips

Posted at 14:48h in Commentary by Dr. Ethan Becker

The PPI consists of 10 questions to ask prior to the business presentation process.  These 10 questions relate to listener analysis, and therefore your needs:   Why am I speaking to these listeners? Why are they listening? What relationship do we have? What relationship do listener...

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04 Feb BUILDING RAPPORT QUICKLY

Posted at 23:59h in Biotech Blog, Commentary by Dr. Ian Turnipseed
Investor meetings are difficult enough because you need to tell your story, what makes you unique, and why you are the right company for them to invest. In reality, though, the most difficult and important part is building the necessary rapport with the investors. Investors need to see a potential business relationship that they can develop. Do you have goals, values, beliefs, and drivers that align? How do you know what those are for your investors? How do you connect in this way? It is not easy. It is one of the reasons our executive communication coaches are brought in to help. It goes beyond process and structure into the psychology of communication and how to apply it. There are three steps you can take to better position yourself to build rapport quickly with investors.
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21 Jan Seven Factors Biotech Companies Should Consider When Using a Public Speaking App

Posted at 07:00h in Biotech Blog, Commentary by Laura Mathis
AI, or artificial intelligence, has taken root in biotech. From lab assistants to drug discovery, AI provides a cheap, quick, and more effective process for advancement. And the AI push is visible within public speaking development, from counting your “uh’s" to determining if you speak with enough passion.   There is no shortage of apps, software, and computer programs that claim to increase your skill as a presenter and public speaker. Many Biotech companies have embraced Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps, software, and programs that offer a "speech coach in your pocket." Should you whip out your credit card and sign up? And if you have joined the AI coaching bandwagon, what do you need to prepare for while using the app? Here are seven critical factors to consider:   1) Technical Difficulties- Utilization of AI for improved communication skills is a reasonably new technology and there are still technical issues to prepare for: Blank screens, constant reinstallations, "free plans" with little value, outdated versions that require a help desk to resolve, restricted content, a lack of continued learning opportunities after a certain point, lessons that won't load, and any other tech issue you can imagine.  This puts a damper on progress.   2) Lack of Context - Your app may flag you for pausing too long, but if you are a skilled speaker, you can hesitate for an extended amount of time and investors will wait with bated breath in anticipation of what you will say. The app may tell you your pace was too fast or slow, but again, a speaker telling a funny story or sharing a heartbreaking loss will utilize different pacing speeds to help create excitement, momentum, suspense, or surprise.  
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19 Jan Strategically Authentic Communication 

Posted at 17:59h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Dr. Ian Turnipseed
To be successful in business communication, you must be authentic. Authenticity, though, is not magic. It is strategic. For any communication you have, here are three steps you can follow to be “strategically authentic.”  1 - Better understand your listeners. The best advice I give to clients is to remember that it’s not about you; it’s about the listeners, so before you speak, ask yourself:
  • To whom are you speaking? What is their title? 
  • How much time do they have for you? 
  • What is your goal for the conversation? What do you think are the roadblocks to getting to your goal? 
  • How does your listener listen – do they want to get to the point or get all the information?  
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07 Jan Three Nuanced Ways to Communicate Confidence

Posted at 07:45h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Robin Golinski
What people want most from communication coaching is the ability to appear, sound, and be confident. We all know when we see a confident communicator and when we don’t. Sometimes a speaker will say they felt confident but they are not perceived that way. Sometimes people will be very self-deprecating about their confidence, and their listeners didn’t see that at all. We are always trying to close the gap between self-perception and reality. It’s important to remember confidence is a  transient condition  even though everyone talks about it as a concrete destination. ALL speakers have felt their confidence come and go.
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17 Dec The Skills You Need to be AGILE

Posted at 19:52h in Commentary, Communication Skills Blog from world class speech coaches by Dennis Becker
  There is a difference between being an agile HR department and being an AGILE HR department. The ideal, of course, is being an agile AGILE HR department. This is especially true as AGILE becomes a way of doing business in more and more companies. The emphasis in AGILE is on speed and accuracy. At the Bank of Montreal, where AGILE has become popular, the Chief Transformation Officer, Lynne Rogers, says that "speed is the new business currency."
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