Blogs
April 13, 2009 by Jerry
One of the most pervasive pieces of advice bandied about in the presentation trade is to start a speech or a presentation with a joke. Wrong! No one can guarantee the success or failure of any joke; certainly not a business person – but not even a professional comedian. Consider Johnny Carson. The legendary talk show host spent 30 years on late night television telling jokes written by a crack team of professional, experienced comedy writers; but the jokes didn’t always work. Fortunately, one of Johnny’s greatest assets was his ability to recover from failed jokes. Whenever a scripted gag
(Read More...)
March 31, 2009 by Jerry
One of the most important qualities for success in business is the very quality that impedes the effective handling of tough questions: rapid response time. Any business man or woman is expected to react quickly to problems, and to come up with prompt solutions. However, in responding to tough questions, speed can kill. Tough questions are a part of the terrain in business and, given today’s tough economy, the terrain is rougher than ever. In every facet of life, people are in search of answers to their problems, and so their questions are loaded with emotion. If a responder answers
(Read More...)
March 27, 2009 by Jerry
In January and March, I wrote about President Obama’s artful use of the word “you,” the most persuasive word in the language—according to a purported Yale University study. Purported or not, “you” is an essential element in any communication, because it implies the “co-” in “communication,” the two-way exchange that is necessary for results to take place. Those earlier posts traced the president’s use of “you” throughout his campaign, in his Inaugural Address, and in his first address to congress. Yesterday, in his first ever (for any president) internet town hall meeting, Barack Obama was back at it. He kicked
(Read More...)
March 26, 2009 by Jerry
Every form of communication longer than a chat, telephone call, or note, be it a presentation, speech, book, play, or film, requires a clear structural construct. Aristotle 101. The great Greek philosopher understood that audiences, who are passive captives to communicators, need to be given direction or they get lost. Current case in point: Duplicity, an opulent Hollywood caper movie about corporate espionage with superstars Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, opened to mixed reviews because it was difficult to follow. Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal said it all in the title of his review, “Complexity Defeats ‘Duplicity.’” Mick
(Read More...)
March 25, 2009 by Jerry
Last night, President Obama held his second prime time press conference. One of the first media reactions came from John King, CNN’s Chief National Correspondent, who said, “He spoke for 50 minutes plus. The words ‘Iraq’ were never spoken. There are more than 140,000 troops there; the war hit the six-year anniversary this week. He never mentioned the word ‘Afghanistan.’ There are thousands of U.S. troops there. He never mentioned Osama bin Laden. He never mentioned terrorism. You want to talk about a sea change from George W. Bush to Barack Obama.” King was referring to Bush’s repeated use of
(Read More...)
March 24, 2009 by Jerry
The first commandment in all communications is that the messenger is just as important as the message; or in the vernacular, it ain’t what you say, it’s how you say it. In the first blog in this series of variations on that concept, I described two illustrations of that delicate balance of power: Abraham Lincoln’s speech writing and Frank Sinatra’s singing. Today’s post involves two more current examples. Jeffrey Toobin and Andrew Weil, M.D. are, by any standard, on the A-list of public speakers. Each man has—as what is known on the keynote speaking circuit—a solid platform. The term refers
(Read More...)
March 20, 2009 by Pearl
A new face rocked the stage in the art of public speaking. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington a 14 year old boy, Jonathan Krohn, delivered an electrifying address defining conservatism in approximately three minutes. His brief speech was received by the audience with continuous cheers and applause. Soon after Jonathan’s speech at the CPAC aired, he made headline news across the nation, appearing on numerous television programs and radio talk shows. Jonathan’s address currently has had more than 400,000 views on YouTube. According to comments made on YouTube, viewers were generally more impressed with Jonathan’s
(Read More...)
March 17, 2009 by Jerry
In an ironic coincidence, two prominent public figures pleaded guilty on the same day: Bernie Madoff to a judge, and Jim Cramer to Jon Stewart. Madoff, caught red-handed on 11 felony counts of swindling stocks, had to confess; Cramer caught red-handed of hyping stocks, did not. Hyperbole is not a crime—yet. But, if Cramer’s admissions were an effort to tell the public that he intended no malice, he could have done so more positively. Instead, he withered in the line of Stewart’s fire. Jim Cramer certainly had the wherewithal to stand up for himself in a contentious exchange such as
(Read More...)
March 16, 2009 by Jerry
In the opening scenes of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy runs away from her Kansas home and promptly encounters Professor Marvel, a seedy, itinerant con artist whose tacky traveling wagon advertises him as “Acclaimed by The Crown Heads of Europe,” and offers his services to “Read Your Past, Present, and Future in His Crystal Ball.” Professor Marvel, played marvelously by Frank Morgan, takes one look at the naive girl, glances down at her suitcase and says, “You’re running away!” Having missed his glance, Dorothy asks wondrously, “How did you guess?” The Professor replies, “Now, why are you running away? No,
(Read More...)
March 13, 2009 by Nichole
Have you found yourself having more adult-like conversations with children than in the past? I sure have. I’ve come across a lot of children who use multi-syllable words: three-year olds discussing their future jobs, and five-year olds having intelligent conversations about why one cartoon character is better than the other. Oh, and my two year old, (you met Brendan in my last blog) recently asked me, “Where’s my stethoscope?” His Diego Rescue Pack come with a stethoscope for saving animals. Let’s face it, today’s children are far more advanced at verbal communication than my generation (the 30- and
(Read More...)
RSS Feed