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28 Dec Conference Confidence – A Valuable Guide for Conference Speakers
People and organizations invest valuable time, money, and effort into producing and attending conferences. But the truth is that all the slides, videos, lighting, staging, and materials are just support tools for the most valuable asset of a conference: the speakers.
Drawing from our 50-year history as presentation coaches and consultants, we developed a guide that offers important advice to ensure presenters connect with listeners authentically and speak with confidence.
It’s free, and you can download it right now.
27 Dec Helping Kids at Ron Burton’s Training Camp
It was such a joy to be able to give back to the famed NFL player Ron Burton’s training camp! The kids in this program have amazing spirit and desire to improve. (more…)
26 Dec Bloomberg Ranks Massachusetts #1
A recent article in The Boston Globe entitled Massachusetts Again Beats California as Most Innovative in US is reason for some hometown pride.
We work with a lot of tech companies, both established and startups including many in software and health sciences, so we train and coach some truly innovative people. From this vantage point, we see this creativity first-hand alongside the people who fund, build, and drive our local innovation economy. It’s great to have them collectively recognized by an authoritative source as the best in the nation. (more…)
19 Dec Are You a Fast Talker?
æHave people ever said to you “Hey slow down, you talk too fast!” Wonder what they are referring to? Being from the Northeast, we hear this comment quite often. When thinking about controlling your communication style, it’s helpful to peel back one more layer and look at what makes up someone’s speed of speaking.
As a Speaker Coach, I break speed into two categories: rate and pace. Rate refers to the speed in which a person puts words together. It literally refers to the amount of words per minute. The average rate of speech in a business presentation will range from 150-180 words per minute. Think about listening to a commercial and often, at the end there is a voice quickly giving you all the fine print details at a rate you can hardly follow. They are speaking at approximately 300 words per minute. Much too fast for the average listener! (more…)
15 Dec What Is Communication Style Coaching?
In his book Style, Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh (1522 – 1618) described language as having a “chameleon-like” quality. Sir Walter’s book is an exhaustive study of the origin, popularity, and decline of the word style. Regarding style, he said, “Good style is the greatest of revealers – it lays bare the soul.” You must be comfortable with your style. You live and work in the real world. It is not theater. Your listeners, unlike the audience in a theater, do not suspend reality. They take what you give them as you. What and how you communicate is what others use to assess and describe you. What and how you communicate reveals much of who you are in real life.
The ability to be natural, to be who you are, and not to be phony, is most people’s goal, especially those in leadership and management positions. Those positions carry enough responsibility in their own ways. It is far too challenging to also be worried about being something that you have to fake or that is not comfortable for you. Not only can it be uncomfortable, but it can also be downright discomforting to try and match a particular leadership or management style that has been dictated or described in a textbook. (more…)
7 Dec Everything Communicates!
As an Executive Communication Coach, my job is to remind clients that when presenting, everything communicates – how you look, how you sound and what you do with your body. Mary Lou Andre, a nationally recognized wardrobe, dress code and corporate image consultant, got me thinking about this after reading her excellent article: Is Hosiery History?
Her advice on this business appropriate accessory reinforces how important clothing is in communicating respect for yourself and others. (more…)
26 Nov Break a Leg?!?
Since we do a lot of training for public speaking, many of our clients find themselves in front of people on a stage. We got to thinking whether wishing them success by saying “break a leg” was an appropriate use of the term. That got us wondering where did that expression come from, and why is it used for performances, primarily among actors, musicians and dancers?
It certainly plays on the superstition that wishing someone well before going out on stage will somehow jinx them, so you hope for the opposite by wishing them bad luck. And while the exact origin is unclear, there are a number of theories for the story behind it: (more…)
15 Nov Speaking About Clinton and Trump…
Let’s forget the politics and instead focus on speaking effectively. The Speech Improvement Company’s President, Dr. Ethan Becker was recently asked to give his post-election observations and advice on the Bloomberg Baystate Business Hour radio program. Check it out!
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…)