The Promise and Peril of The Comfort Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Er4YY3CWc8 https://youtu.be/5Er4YY3CWc8
The Bells and Whistles of Presentations
Do you have a preferred slide advancer for your presentation? Have you ever considered that question? Inspired by a conversation with my business partner, I contacted two experienced A/V principals, Mike Hennessy of Resonate Video and Joe Rogers of Visionaries Events...
Memorizing is for Passwords – Not Presentations
The Chief Marketing Officer was half-way through her perfectly memorized presentation to the sales team when it hit her: no one was listening. All that time spent memorizing her speech so she could avoid a brain freeze, and look what she got: boredom. Does this sound...
ZZZZZZzzzzzz…Your Introduction is Booorrrrring
It's hard to argue with people who claim that the human attention span has shrunk to an all-time low. Depending on who you listen to, it now hovers somewhere between eight seconds and 21 minutes. And since we don't like to cite statistics we can't back up (even if...
#1 Audience Attention Killer
What will have your audience reaching for their phones in record time? Extraneous Movement. During a recent practice session, a speaker said , “I know you're going to yell at me, but I just have to move anyway!” That statement is funny for two reasons. First, we...
Three Public Speaking Mistakes to Avoid in 2017
Yes, I am jumping on the bandwagon of New Year's Resolutions. Not only is it that time of year when many of us feel inspired to push the re-set button, but I have been thinking a lot about how easy it is to improve a presentation without pulling a muscle. After...
It’s the Last Lap of 2016: How’s Your Focus?
Raise your hand if you saw the 1500 Meter men's race last month. Matt Centrowitz was the first U.S. athlete to win the gold since 1908. I'm not sure who was more excited by the result - Matt or his family in the stands. When he was interviewed after the race, he...
How to Create a Screen-shot Moment During Your Next Presentation
There I was, in the middle of the most bizarre presentation I've ever given. People coming in 30 minutes late, working on their laptops, leaving to take a call, phone ringers set to the highest volume and the most obnoxious ring tones...it was as if I was attending a...
Talk Nonverbally to Me
Raise your hand if you need a break from all the crazy hand gestures made by Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Good. That's what I thought. In my humble opinion, they are all demonstrating what not to do. But what should a speaker do with their hands...
Harper Lee: Clarity, Coherence, Cadence
Every morning, coffee in hand, I look forward to two things – The SKIMM,a breezily written daily news summary,and the poem sent from The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor. Honestly, you should get them both: one is news, the other is art. What’s cool about the...
Showtime’s ‘Billions’ and Enclothed Cognition
I’m nothing short of a voyeur watching Showtime’s new series, ‘Billions.’ It’s a smart send-up of capitalism and democracy gone awry. Two powerful men – a rapacious hedge-fund manager with a shady past (played by the intense Damian Lewis) and an ambitious and twisted...
Spark Joy
A review of the book, Spark Joy, written by Japanese organizing guru Marie Kondo piqued my curiosity. Kondo advocates a minimalist approach to decluttering by determining the value of what we want to keep (or donate to Goodwill). “Does it spark joy? ” is the question...
Is Your Presentation Style Like New England Weather?
The weather on Friday was 75 and sunny. Two days later we have three inches of snow. Flip flops one day, winter boots the other. It's enough to throw anyone off their game. And that's what it's like being in the audience with an erratic presenter - someone who has no...
Don’t be a 100-lb Presenter Weakling!
The Best Advice: Be the You-iest You
Seth was scheduled to speak on the final day of a three-day conference. Day One was unremarkable, but Day Two was contentious. Lots of heated debates that morphed into name-calling. Now, on the morning of Day Three, everyone was tense and edgy. Seth walks to the...
TED ’16 At A Theater Near You
TED 2016 brought good news for those of us who can’t afford the $7,500 minimum attendance fee. This year, for only $20, we got courtside seats to the opening night at local theaters all over the USA. Thank you TED. I bought two tickets and dragged my teenage son...