Last September, the malevolent toadstool you see in the picture on the left thrust its slimy head out of the familiar soil of my front yard. It got my attention. I have rarely had mushrooms in my garden, and never… Read More »Presentation skill #65: Getting attention for the right reasons
Guess what your audience is most interested in? That’s right, their problems and how to fix them. This is old news to anyone who has studied the arts of rhetoric, persuasion, and of course advertising. If you can define the… Read More »Presentation skill: Problem definition
I have recently encountered several people who have been rushed into the emergency room of voice and speech training because their vocal presence is not in optimal health. A CEO of a very successful company has a strong, expressive voice,… Read More »Killer voice and speech problems
A few years back The New York Giants won the Super Bowl with two running backs nicknamed Thunder and Lightning. Thunder was Brandon Jacobs and Lightning was Ahmad Bradshaw. In the first half, Jacobs (aka Thunder, 6’ 4” ; 264)… Read More »Communication Skills: Consider your voice the thunder
In Norman Mailer’s monumental novel The Naked and the Dead, a character named General Cummings gives to his troops a short talk that is an interesting example of leadership communication. The General addresses his troops during a storm on an… Read More »Leadership Communication
When we watch American Idol, we may talk about the competitors’ singing skills, but what we really care about is whether or not they created a little moment of magic for us. When we go to the symphony or the… Read More »The purpose of presentation skills