February 26, 2010 by Jerry
“You are what you eat,” a phrase that has become commonplace in today’s lexicon, actually came into being in the 19th Century. In 1825, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer, magistrate, and politician, published The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, in which he wrote, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” Over time, Monsieur Brillat-Savarin’s treatise on cooking and eating has become a bible for foodies, and his phrase, in its shorter form, a slogan for dieticians. Brillat-Savarin’s modern counterpart, food guru Michael Pollan, the author of the bestselling Omnivore’s
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February 24, 2010 by Jerry
On the occasion of the submission of his 2011 budget, President Obama assembled his economic team to join him during his speech. In the official White House photograph, the president is flanked left to right, by Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Larry Summers, National Economic Council Director. You’ll note that all of them are standing with their hands clasped in front of them, in what is known in the presentation trade as “The Fig Leaf.” In the Power
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February 22, 2010 by Jerry
After months of ducking the media over charges of marital infidelity, Tiger Woods finally met the press by delivering a thirteen-and-a-half minute apologetic statement to a hand-picked audience, and he did not take questions. That did not stop the media from picking over the event like the leftover carcass of a Thanksgiving turkey. The commentary ranged from the sarcastic (London’s Telegraph commented: “Tiger Woods had bought a new shirt. But, rather like a schoolboy on his first day of term, it appeared to be at least one collar size too large”) to the sincere, as Alessandra Stanley, the television
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February 17, 2010 by Jerry
The blogosphere, the fiber optic cables, and the airwaves have been buzzing with stories about Sarah Palin who, during a television interview connected with her speech at the conservative Tea Party convention, used crib notes written on her palm. You can see the infamous moment on YouTube. To compound the moment, Ms. Palin, threw a stone at the White House from her glass house during her speech when she said, “This is about the people. And it’s bigger than any king or queen of a tea party. And it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter.”
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February 15, 2010 by Jerry
In the previous blog, you read about how the skill of Marques Colston, the New Orleans Saints leading wide receiver, resonates with the listening aspect of responding to questions in Q and A sessions. Now let’s look at another factor that contributed to the Saints’ Super Bowl victory: preparation. A Wall Street Journal article about the run-up to the big event reported that the New Orleans Saints and their opponents, the Indianapolis Colts, combined, spent 514,000 hours of labor per team. The article, based on a study prepared for Journal by the Boston Consulting Group, explained:   Â
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February 12, 2010 by Nichole
Readers of our blogs know that our subject matter is intentionally apolitical so as to remain objective in our commentary on our areas of specialization, presentations and communication. We will depart from that policy today to offer an opinion about a related subject: Freedom of speech as it is affected by the recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporations to provide campaign financing. We object to that decision and support measures to counteract it as expressed in an op-ed piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. The article was written by Ralph Nader, a consumer advocate, and Robert Weissman (no relation) the president of Public Citizen.
February 10, 2010 by Jerry
Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory and to Marques Colston, their talented wide receiver. Mr. Colston, who was the Saints’ leading receiver in the game with 7 receptions for 83 yards, is a four-year veteran who helped his team reach the Super Bowl with 70 catches for 1,074 yards over the season. What makes for a successful wide receiver is a statistic called “Yards After Catch,” or its acronym, “YAC.” It refers to a play in which a receiver catches a pass for a gain of yards and then runs for additional yards.
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February 8, 2010 by Nichole
Visit getAbstract to download a free summary of The Power Presenter. You can download versions of this summary for Kindle, Sony Reader, BlackBerry, Palm, eBook Reader, pdf or listen to an audio verision. getAbstract summarizes business books. Their mission is to provide executives worldwide with the best in business knowledge. They deliver this knowledge in concise summaries of the latest, sharpest and most relevant books. Their summaries are available in English, German and Spanish.
February 5, 2010 by Jerry
In the previous post, you read about how musicians and athletes practice their art to the point of effortless grace; and that presenters, while not performers, must practice their presentations to the point delivering it with confidence and poise. The practice methodology to achieve that lofty state is Verbalization, the subject of prior blogs, as well as a case study in
February 3, 2010 by Jerry
Three musicians and two athletes share a performance quality that any presenter would do well to emulate. The musicians are jazz pianist Art Tatum, violinist Jascha Heifetz, and dancer Fred Astaire; the two athletes are baseball great Joe DiMaggio and any good trapeze artist. All of them perform their specialties with supreme effortlessness or, in the idiom of trapeze artists, without a net. The lesson for presenters is to stand up in front of a mission critical audience and appear supremely confident in describing their businesses. But this is far easier said than done, because presenters, unlike musicians and
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