“You are really freaking me out!” admitted a challenged communicator. “How?” I said. “Well,” flustered the workshop participant, “You suggest that I make great eye contact, keep my feet still, speed up my pace and smile more. All at the same time?! And what happens when I actually do this thing for real? I’ll be Read More
Actor
Engage or Enrage? The rodeo of Audience dynamics.
Playing a rodeo concert has got to be tough. It’s tougher when you challenge your audience. My daughter is a huge equestrian fan having ridden competitively and now a horse trainer. Her love of these amazing animals took us to a rodeo when she was about 10. If watching the dazzling horsemanship wasn’t enough, the Read More
The Illusion of the First Time. Why pretending pays off.
This day never happened. The familiar morning prep routine is new. Your route to work. Securing your get-started beverage. Powering up your electronic devices. Sitting in that perfectly adjusted chair. None of it has previously occurred. Neither has your interactions with the people around you…. Approaching the 36th show of the run, her performance is Read More
“They don’t know how to act!” Their performance, or yours?
I mentioned my book and blog to a woman at a party the other night. “How to Act in Business?!” she asked with a chuckle, “Oh man, some of my team could sure use you!” I get that kind of comment quite often. It seems that people understand how learning to act (behave, conduct oneself) Read More
“I gesture too much. Don’t I?”
“My 3-year-old also watched them with me, and it was quite funny. She very sweetly pointed out the fact that I use my hands A LOT!” This from an emerging leader who recently viewed her videos after a communication and executive presence skills workshop I led. Participants were offered the opportunity to review their videos Read More
Prevent PANIC! Land the Thought.
Facing their first keynote, this speaker’s clock was wound tight. Panic set in. “I’m freaked out,” her stressing eyes admitted. “And afraid that I’m going to be way nervous up there.” She came to me, flustered, and just ahead of her first big “speech” to a combo live and virtual Audience approaching a thousand. Having Read More
Under the table. Where your real truth lies?
A C-level executive had a foot problem. And we could see it. Looking across the room at a major client meeting, I felt honored to have a key executive, one more hesitant to participate in meetings like this sitting across from me. His years of experience were evident in his presence—he shone with confidence as Read More
The opposite can work. If you let yourself explore it.
Jamie, drunk, was verbally whaling on his little brother, Edmund. Enraged about his own sorry situation, Jamie took it out on Edmund with eye-bulging, vein-popping intensity. If you were at the receiving end of a furious, drunken, verbal attack, what would you do? How ‘bout laugh? After a couple weeks of rehearsal, having responded with empathy and serious Read More
Fix it or Feature it? Your quick decision matters.
We knew he was going to trip. Then he did. A prominent professional speaker started taking about fifty of us through potentially good material in a medium-sized conference room. He presented using a projector but there was an apparent problem: The power cord for the projector stretched perilously across the space where this speaker was Read More
Trust it! Your command performance is already there.
I think I’m going to die. Until a stranger approaches. Jogging is not easy for me. It’s fun when it’s done. But in the middle of it, I’m quite sure I’ll never see home again. Huffing and puffing, struggling to get my breath under control, relaxing my hands that are too high, wiggling out tension Read More