The ultimate goal of every presenter, regardless of expertise, is to make their ideas click in the minds of their listeners to the point that they willfully follow them to their predetermined conclusion. Many well-intentioned speakers fall short of this goal because they falsely assume that their audience cares enough about their message to sort… read more

Have you ever received a text message that caused you to stop in your tracks, frown and quote Scooby Doo’s puzzled “huh”? If you’re anything like most people, your answer to that question is yes, which means you’ve had the experience of being inserted into the middle of a conversation by someone who unintentionally failed… read more

One of my fondest childhood memories is sitting at the kitchen table doing my homework, which meant reluctantly struggling through three-digit subtraction problems. Do you remember the problems where you had to borrow from the column to the left? There are two reasons that this experience is forever etched in my memory: (1) it was… read more

One of the questions most frequently asked by aspiring speakers is, “What action can I immediately take to improve my skills?” What they don’t know is, asking that question is like asking which exercise will help you become more physically fit. Depending on your ultimate goal, there can be several right answers. About three or… read more

Last week, I found myself engaged in a tug-o-war with Kylie, a relatively new client, because I refused to accept her haphazard approach to speech development. Her method largely consisted of cobbling together a list of “hot topics” and spontaneously riffing on each one in random order. Although she oozed enthusiasm, the presentation in front… read more