This week, I coached a Director at a Fortune 100 company who is preparing to deliver an executive summary presentation. Twice a year, “Steve” must present to senior executives an update that includes what his team has achieved, what they are working on, what their prospects are and what they have contributed to the overall…
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I spoke at a conference for proposal managers last week and was reminded of how much business professionals rely on PowerPoint for delivering presentations. The following is an article I wrote forThe Houston Business Journal several years ago. I have rewritten it to share with you…. Has PowerPoint gone from useful tool to emotional roadblock…
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I just read a great series of articles by Andrew Dlugan of Six Minutes Blog fame. Andrew has reminded us that Aristotle wrote the definitive work on what it takes to be persuasive over 2300 years ago. He defines the three aspects of persuasion, Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Then he writes an article about each…
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Presence is also an external quality that others sense and to which they respond. Other people perceive your presence as a magnetic force and they are drawn to you, because presence is actually a radiation of psycho-physical energy emitted from your body. It is your life force emanating from your body, and it occurs when…
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People with fear of public speaking or stage fright are flooded with negative feelings and thoughts that tell them they are not good at speaking. But the feelings and thoughts are usually more about expectation of perfection than an accurate assessment of their actual talents and abilities. In other words, because they have fear…
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When I am using the law of attraction to open myself to new clients, I look for people who sense that I am the right one to help them with their communication issues. In a meditative moment this morning, I had a thought about persuasion. Persuasion happens when people sense that you are the…
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The trick to awesome speaking is not looking good on the outside, but feeling good on the inside. You must build an inner foundation of comfort in your skin, presence, internal fullness and receptivity to the flow of other’s attention. What trips people up about speaking is often the internal tension that distracts…
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Impromptu speaking or thinking on your feet is synthesis thinking not new thought thinking. You do have to prepare to think on your feet; but then you have to let go and flow. So it uses structure and flow at the same time. In impromptu speaking or thinking on your feet, you are…
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When you want to compel attention and help people change their thinking, use the element of mystery in your speaking. Mystery is a story that takes your listeners on a journey to solve a problem or improve a situation. The clue to a mystery is “Huh? Ahh!” Try saying these two sounds aloud. Make the sound “Huh?”…
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Tim Brown, CEO of Ideo, gave a talk about the relationship of play to creativity. Among his main points he stressed that adults are embarrassed to share their most creative ideas with peers because they are sensitive to critical opinions from others. As a result, most adults only offer their most conservative ideas. In order…
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