Just got back from a trip to the West coast, where I was working with people at the top of the food chain in terms of their cognitive intelligence. Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame–brainiacs. My assignment? Help them get presence! I… Read More »Vehemence aids eloquence
The famous American social scientist, Robert Zajonc [ZYE-unts], explored the interplay between feeling and thought–between emotion and cognition. He was interested in determining which influenced the other more strongly. On balance, he came down on the side of emotion. In… Read More »Scientist’s Rx: smile!
I am tired of expert speakers. Content, shmontent. Everyone is expert in something. I want a wise speaker. For instance, presentations are not about your data. They’re about what you think about your data. The Caduceus, the symbol of medicine, makes this… Read More »Content, Shmontent
Speaking with stage fright is like driving with the emergency brake partially on. Your whole body trembles, your mouth gets hot and dry, you can smell the smoke rising from your armpits, and you can’t get to where you want… Read More »Got stage fright?
Whenever you give yourself a compliment in front of an audience, you run the risk of being seen in a negative light. For instance, telling stories about how you won a big piece of business by being a super salesman… Read More »Don’t Boast
I’m getting tired of PowerPoint slides. So are a lot of people. Why? They are another tool that’s controlling us. They are excruciatingly predictable. We tend to use the slides as speaker prompts, not as aids to the audience. An… Read More »PowerPoint Fatigue