August 31, 2009 by Jerry
John Freeman, the author of a forthcoming book called, The Tyranny of E-mail, wrote a preview of the book as an essay in the Wall Street Journal in which he said: Brain science may suggest that some decisions can be made in the blink of an eye, but not all judgments benefit from a short frame of reference. We need to protect the finite well of our attention if we care
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August 28, 2009 by Pearl
The Time Traveler’s Wife, currently in movie theatres, is a romantic drama based on Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 bestselling novel. Henry, the main character has a genetic anomaly that throws him into time travel without choice. The story explores the complications created by Henry’s unpredictable leaps in time between him and his lover, Clare. The couple meets when 10-year old Clare is playing in a meadow, and 36-year old Henry calls to her from behind a bush. The plot follows the two through different time periods as Henry jumps in and out of different decades, running into his past, present,
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August 26, 2009 by Jerry
Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the Olympics in Beijing last year, and Dara Torres, who won three silver medals, represented the United States again this year at the FINA world championships in Rome, Italy. Before the race, in an interview in the New York Times, both swimmers shared their methods of dealing with the inevitable butterflies (pun somewhat intended) that go along with such high pressure events. Although these champions have training resources and regimens far above and beyond the scope of any business presenter, their stress levels are no different; all human beings get the same
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August 24, 2009 by Jerry
In my previous post you read about the roots of right and left preferences that trace all the way back to our cave-dwelling ancestors and forward to how we read text in Western languages. The nexus of these two deep roots goes back to the year, 105 AD, when Cai Lun, a eunuch in the court of the Chinese emperor Ho Ti, made paper for the first time, using the bark of a mulberry tree. Prior to that, ancient writing was done on stone with a hammer and chisel. A right-handed person would hold the hammer in the right
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August 21, 2009 by Jerry
(Olivier Fontana of Microsoft, who recommended the subjects of both prior blogs this week, also suggested today’s. It’s become Olivier Fontana Week.) We live in a right-dominant world. Estimates of the right-handed majority range from five to one all the way up to nine to one. This dominance is also reflected in our language; think about the many common phrases that attribute positive values to the right: “It’s all right with me” “All’s right with the world” “My right hand” “Right-of-way” Conversely, think about the many common phrases that attribute negativity to the left: “Left out”
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August 19, 2009 by Jerry
You may be surprised to learn that presenting seated is better, for one very simple, but very powerful reason: when both the presenter and audience are seated and are at the same eye level, they share an empathic bond. When the presenter stands, the difference in eye levels creates a subtle psychological edge. This differential is well-known in photography and cinematography. My ancient college textbook on basic camera techniques calls this “the principle of dominance,” that it defines thus: A larger object dominates a smaller one, and a person higher
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August 17, 2009 by Jerry
Fast talking can be funny or maddening. An actor named John Moschitta Jr. made a career of the former. During the 1980s, Mr. Moschitta appeared in a series of television commercials for Federal Express that promoted the company’s speed of service. In each of the commercials, Mr. Moschitta played a busy executive speaking on the phone, barking orders, and wheeling and dealing at more than 500 words a minute. The funny, catchy ads made “The FedEx Man” a household name. See for yourself in this YouTube video: Fast talking, however, can also be maddening for presentation audiences. In
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August 14, 2009 by Jerry
In my previous post, you read about the seemingly-unnecessary route announcements that airline pilots make during every flight, and promised you my theory on why it has become standard operating procedure. Here it is: Somewhere deep in the depths, or up in the highest reaches of the corporate infrastructure of the airlines, or of the FAA, someone, or some group—marketing, public relations, human resources, legal, or all of the above—decided that having the pilots announce the flight route would reassure the passengers that the airline is in complete control. So it is not just your pilot speaking; it is
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August 12, 2009 by Jerry
Picture this: you’ve settled into your airline seat, buckled your seat belt, turned off your laptop computer, your mobile device, your iPod and, with nothing else to do, you start to read today’s newspaper. The airliner pulls away from the gate, taxis onto the runway, and rolls into a long line behind other jets waiting to take off. And it waits. And it inches forward. And waits. As it waits, the jet’s giant motors keep running at idle, their vibrations gently rocking the cabin with a constant low hum. And you continue reading. And the motors continue to idle
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August 10, 2009 by admin
Shanghai Daily published getAbstract’s Top Five USA Business Books. We are proud to announce The Power Presenter as one of Top Five Business Books on this list. Shanghai daily, an English-language newspaper located in the People’s Republic of China serves as a platform of Shanghai’s foreign publicity. getAbstract summarizes business books, Their mission is to provide executives worldwide with the best in business knowledge. get Abstract delivers this knowledge in concise summaries of the latest, sharpest and most relevant books.
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